Thursday, Sept. 28, Student Senate welcomed sophomores Hannah Paymer and Hunter Klena, who were inducted as new senators for the Class of 2020. Student Senate then began to discuss this week’s proposed topics.
Associate professor of entrepreneurship and management Dr. Petru Sandu took the floor next to discuss the addition of a new program to the business curriculum. As Sandu proposed, the Business Department is looking to add a new entrepreneurial minor and club to its current entrepreneurial concentration.
This minor and club would allow students to become more involved with their communities while gaining employability and empowerment skills to add to any current major or minor concentration.
Next, associate professor of political science and Director of the Pre-Law Program Dr. Kyle C. Kopko came to the floor to talk about Scholarship and Creative Arts Day (SCAD).
According to Kopko, those involved with planning SCAD are actively looking for ways to improve the program. He announced that the keynote speaker for this year’s SCAD presentation will be Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the niece of former President John F. Kennedy. Kopko then passed the discussion to the senators, taking suggestions on how to improve the current SCAD program.
Student senators proposed many ideas and suggestions to Kopko. These comments included adding round table/panel discussions to the program, displaying art outside, creating interdisciplinary presentation groups, doing more advertising, incorporating classroom research, adding more food options, creating more network opportunities and live-streaming the presentations. Kopko said he and his assistants would take these suggestions into account while planning this year’s SCAD.
Moving into Administrative Reports, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marianne Calenda wanted to discuss ways to improve the administrative and student responses to campus incidents. According to Calenda, the process is underway to change the name and subject lines of the “Campus News” emails to increase student response and knowledge of campus issues.
The Executive Reports section of the assembly briefly mentioned the Faculty Assembly, with the recent approval of biomedical engineering, along with a short discussion of the residential community plan. Student Senate also stressed that the registration for any new clubs on campus ends Saturday, Oct. 14.
Next, junior treasurer Josh Baker took the floor to discuss this week’s old business. He presented on the restoration of the gas reimbursement program. This program, carried out by Student Senate in the past, seeks to compensate any students involved in an unpaid internship for a portion of the travel expenses to and from their place of employment. Baker stated that he hopes the program will be restarted as soon as the upcoming spring semester.
Finally, in new business, many student senators were nominated and elected into committees. Junior Stephanie Hanus and sophomore Dylan Warner were inducted into the elections committee. Junior Cassandra Hoben was nominated into the traditions committee. Junior Chris Schartner was elected into the service committee. Paymer was nominated into the religious life committee. Sophomore Caroline Piergiovanni was elected into the educational assessment committee. Lastly, Klena and senior Daniel Esteves were nominated into the campus life council.
Student Senate meets every Thursday at 3:40 p.m. in Hoover 212. All students are welcomed to attend and voice their opinions. Any additional questions or concerns can be directed to studentsenate@etown.edu.
