Going into the 2021-2022 academic year, the Student Government Association is searching for a new adviser and student body vice president.
Junior mechanical engineering major Emily Gregory is the sitting SGA president.
“The VP I got elected with ultimately did not end up signing the papers to assume the position,” Gregory said. “What is important now is that we are searching for the new VP.”
Gregory will select the new vice president based on her own criteria. Upon selection, the candidate will go through confirmation by the senate.
“This [president] position is really hard to do on your own. I’m not doing a formal interview process. That process is really time consuming, and I don’t feel like it would be the most productive way for me to choose,” Gregory said. “What I’m looking for currently is student leaders that have some experience in SGA and around campus and with administration.”
Gregory has been looking through different student organizations on campus for a candidate.
According to Gregory, she will have a formal process by Monday, Aug. 23, and a vice president by the first week of September.
Senior Executive Director of Student Life Brad Bayer is the interim associate director of student engagement.
Bayer said that the vice president position will be filled through an appointment process, per the SGA Constitution: “In the event of a vacancy within the Executive Branch, unless otherwise specified, the Appointments Advisory Committee will consider candidates and make recommendations to the Senate.”
Bayer, in his interim role, serves as the primary adviser to SGA and guides the continuing development of the organization.
Finalists for the associate director of student engagement position interviewed last week. A decision will likely occur in the next couple of weeks, according to Bayer.
Gregory served on the search committee for the new associate director of student engagement. “This position is a little bit of a hybrid. It’s not exactly what it’s been before. This position will take over Greek life advising, as well as student government and LIVE leadership. For the finalist interviews, we invited all of the student leaders in those areas to come to a student interview for each of the candidates.”
Gregory said, “Something I really wanted to know was, what was their leadership style. We had a very specific leadership style for so long in student government. Our old adviser was the type to step back and give help when you asked for it.”
The former associate director of student engagement was Jon Bogh.
“Jon was more of a background observer and let the student leaders be student leaders. I did not realize how much he did until we had this interim period. Brad is so helpful and so knowledgeable, but it is just a little different,” Gregory said.
She said, “I think having a new adviser, me being new to the position and then as well having a vice president that doesn’t have a lot of knowledge on how this position works, I think that’s just a longer learning curve. I’d like to start doing as much work as we can as soon as possible.”
There also are nine open positions for students in SGA. Candidates are interviewed by a panel of SGA members for the hiring process and voted into the organization by the senate.
More information on SGA can be found here.