– Name; Major; Year
President: Thomas (Tommy) Daly; Civil Engineering; 4/5
Vice President: Catherine (Cat) Oesterle; Chemical Engineering; 2/4
What are your strengths? Experiences?
Whether it’s being leaders in Greek Life, student organizations, being members of honor societies and committees, attending athletic events, or spending countless hours serving the student body and the greater community, we have dedicated our Stevens experience to being active participants in the Stevens community. Our strengths lie in our deep knowledge of the student population and our devotion to understanding what our peers need and want from their college experience. This active participation gives our ticket unique perspective into what changes will benefit the community at large.
In addition our experience within the SGA make us incredibly qualified candidates. Tommy is the current Chairman of the Committee on Student Interests. In this role he oversees all student organizations and serves to represent the interests of the student body. This cabinet experience has given Tommy insight into the role of President and the inner workings of how to manage and coordinate a well functioning Cabinet. Cat’s experience is unique in that she is the Public Relations Committee Head of the SGA. The primary role of the Vice President is managing and coordinating the Committees of the SGA. Her experience as a Committee Head and a senator gives her unique perspective into the needs of the Senate and how to properly guide the Committee Heads.
We believe the primary role of the SGA is to advocate for all students! That means Greeks, students with disabilities, athletes, minorities, the underprivileged, you name the group, we should be representing them.
The SGA is as large and representative as it allows itself to be. We would both love to see a passionate and involved group of senators working as a community to take on large scale projects and campus initiatives. However, the senate is not currently as motivated of a body as we would like for it to be. Therefore we would like to use our experience, our feedback from students and senators, and our friendly dispositions to make the senate a more welcoming and enjoyable place for the senators, cabinet, and those who come to speak at these meetings. If the senators enjoy being a part of the senate they will make the senate a priority. With senators making the SGA a priority the possibilities of our Student Government are endless!
Our student organizations continue to put on events that are nothing short of amazing. Whether it’s ESC’s Unity, IUA’s Diwali, Relay for Life, or THON Dance Marathon the SGA is happy to continuously provide funding and support to these large scale events. However, we need to take a deeper look into the Festivals we host for the campus. Fostering a sense of school spirit is a key goal of our platform and we believe holding Festivals that reach the entire student body are a great way to achieve this goal. With the help of SGA Treasurer Jacob Vanderbilt and the Entertainment Committee the SGA has moved toward the creation of the Festival Guidance Committee. This puts the power in the hands of the students, but it’s important that the senate and the Festival Guidance Committee advise and decide with wisdom. Looking back at TechFests and Bokens that were heavily attended by Stevens Students and still talked about today should give both the presenters and the senators insight into the type of events the student body wants to see.
The answer to this question is inherent in the goals and definition of the Student Government Association. Of course our priority is and always should be representing the interests of the students! If the SGA isn’t acting as an advocating body for the student population what even is it? Of course to make it the optimal organization to provide this representation there are changes that need to be made internally, but our utmost priority must always be furthering the interests, needs, and welfare of the Stevens population. This includes improving academics, addressing the mental health of our peers, advocating for campus organizations, or saving you from a sprinkler watering the concrete on the way to Pierce!
The SGA should always be striving to act as a channel between students and the administration. It is inherent in our purpose to act in this manner. However the SGA is not the only governing body or source of advocacy here at Stevens! We have the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, the Multicultural Greek Council, United Greek Committee, Student Faculty Alliance, and many many more bodies that serve to act in the interests of their constituents. We plan to develop working relationships between the SGA and these committees and councils to ensure we can best act as liaisons for our peers to the faculty and administration.
This question could not be more perfect for our ticket. Tommy has recently created an entity with Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, Sara Klein, called the Programming Committee. This committee will act to unite the Offices of Student Affairs, primarily Residence Life, Student Life, and University Events, and the Student Government Association in creating meaningful programming for the students they serve and promoting cooperation and collaboration not only within these departments, but also with student organizations. That means if SAVE and College Republicans are having a Debate Party, Residence Life, Student Life, etc. will be working with these organizations to host the event and share funds, not creating an event that overshadows it. As for SGA expansion, it is our duty to work with other major organizations to improve the lives of students. We would make sure to include these organizations and committees in our future plans and hope they will provide us with insight and guidance just as we provide the same for them.
Our ticket believes the best senators are those who love their position, which is why one of our main goals is to change the environment of the SGA. We want to recognize senators for all their hard work. This will in turn make the senators want to work harder and let the senators see that they are working on something larger than themselves.
Another plan Cat has for her Vice President position is to host training for all the Committee Heads. She will host goal setting sessions at the onset of each Committee Head’s appointment, using her experience as a Committee Head to help them decide the steps needed to complete each goal. This will ensure the committees have a plan throughout the semester.
Tommy is uniquely qualified in this area given his year on the cabinet. As Chairman of the Committee on Student Interests he was able to develop personal and professional relationships with high officials and members of the administration and would love to use these relationships as a resource for the student population and the officials of the SGA. This would be particularly helpful with our Academic Affairs position. Tommy was on the committee that advised the choice of the Provost and works with Vice Provost Chassapis on his Student Advisory Board. If elected we plan to use these pre-existing and strong relationships to quickly and easily form bonds between our cabinet and the senate. With these relationships the respect of the SGA within the eyes of the administration and our ability to make real change on campus will increase by incredible measures.
Click here to read responses from candidates Colin Aitken and David Roghanian.
Click here to read responses from candidates Darby DeSefano and Cris Collado.
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