The Student Government’s (SGA) role as the representative of the student body to the administration is primarily fulfilled through the leadership and guidance of the cabinet. President Nick Smith, Vice President of Operations (VPO) Olof Persson appointed the new cabinet, consisting of Vice President of Academic Affairs Erin McGee, Vice President of Finance Kevin Pfundstein, Vice President of Student Interest Tanishka Kapoor, Chief of Staff Mollie Good and Secretary Meghana Mamadapur. In an interview with the President, VPO, and the cabinet members, the leaders of the SGA outlined their hopes, goals, and plans for SGA this year.
The president of the SGA, Nick Smith, is a third-year Business and Technology student with a passion for cooking, exercising, and making the Stevens community a welcoming place for everyone. As the president, he works more closely with the administration than other members of the SGA. His primary goals as president are to “improve student-faculty relationships…tackling the problem of information sharing…and being more involved in the Hoboken community.” Currently, Smith is working on unifying the leaders in the student body to attempt to “improve the study experience across all elements.”
Olof Persson is the vice president of operations for the SGA. He is a third-year computer science major, born in Sweden but raised in Houston, Texas. His primary role is being the liaison between the Cabinet and the Senate, and he describes it as a “transparency role,” making sure that there is clear communication and understanding between the branches. While in office, he hopes to accomplish making the SGA both a more unified community while also providing “more opportunities and resources […] for change without running for senator.”
The vice president of academic affairs, Erin McGee, is a third-year double majoring in math and physics in addition to being involved in research, The Stute, the Stevens Orchestra, and gives tours of the school. Her primary role is “to oversee […] the initiatives and activities related to academics that happen in the SGA.” This involves being the student voice in matters concerning “course offerings, research, advising,” and others. While in office, McGee wants to increase access to research opportunities for undergraduate students.
Kevin Pfundstein is the vice president of finance and second-year accounting & data analytics major from Long Island. This is his second term serving in this cabinet position. He manages the finances of the student organizations, and this term has created more roles within the finance side of SGA to spread out responsibilities so Pfundstein can work on large-scale budgeting issues. During this term, he “hopes to continue the work [he] started on improving the transparency and budgeting process for our student organizations.” Through this, he hopes to solve the budget issues that have plagued the student body for ages, which, due to the high work volume of the position, have largely been left unattended to. Overall, he wishes for more students to become more involved and understand how the finances are handled by the SGA. He said, “I would like all students to know that I have worked tirelessly over the past year and will continue to the next year to fix the issues that have hindered student organizations. I hope to have some exciting news in the next few months that I can announce!”
The vice president of student interests, Tanishka Kapoor, is a second-year finance major who is also the treasurer for Stevens Women in Business and occasionally writes for The Stute. She is the primary contact for student organizations and oversees “the process for starting a new org on campus.” During her term, Kapoor wishes to promote awareness of campus resources to support campus leaders along with promoting “a diverse set of events.” She also wishes to create a way for leaders in different student organizations to communicate with each other so that the best ideas can be shared among them.
The secretary, Meghana Mamadapur, is a first-year quantitative finance major with a passion for traveling and tennis. As the secretary, she records notes for all meetings as well as oversees the election and appointing process. During Mamadapur’s term as Secretary, she hopes to help the senate develop “ initiatives that are impactful to the student body” as well as “increase interactions between the student body and SGA.”
This term also ushers in the redefinition of the President Pro Tempore role, now titled Chief of Staff. This cabinet slot has been appointed to sophomore Mollie Good, and The Stute is eager to see how the role has shifted in definition from its predecessor.
Every new cabinet enters the year with a medley of aspirations and new initiatives as well as headwinds and unforeseen challenges. It will be exciting to see what these leaders will accomplish on our campus during their time in office.
