Two degrees, 16 years and a whole lot of orange and brown later, Brady Gaskins is still coming back for more.

The former student has climbed through the University ranks as an undergraduate student, graduate student, employee, doctoral student and now is playing perhaps his biggest role by serving on the University’s Board of Trustees.

This school year, he will represent the Graduate Student Senate and all graduate students on the board which meets every month. Alongside University President Sidney Ribeau and other members of the board, he said he will fight for the rights of the students at the highest level of governance at the University.

“We all have the same goal,” Gaskins said. “Deep down the board truly wants to do what they feel is in the best interest of the students.”

And Gaskins wants to do what is best for all students and if there’s one thing he knows, it’s being a BGSU student.

Gaskins was a freshman at the University in 1990 when he came to Bowling Green from Zanesville, Ohio. He graduated with a degree in secondary education in 1994 and continued on to earn his master’s degree in education with a specialization in recreation.

Putting his master’s to use, he moved to the University of Texas in Arlington for three years to work with the recreation department.

But being the falcon that he is, Gaskins flew back to Bowling Green in 1999 to work as the assistant director of recreational sports.

“There’s something special about BG, and I can’t quite put my finger on it,” he said.

Whatever it is, it sucks Gaskins in every time. He lives in town with his wife, Heather, a University alumna who met Gaskins in her junior year, and their two boys Zachary and Nicholas.

“The most important job I have is being a husband and a father,” he said.

Between little league baseball and soccer games, Gaskins is still studying at the University.

In 2005, he began working on his doctorate in higher education which makes him a perfect fit for the Board of Trustees.

Gaskins clenched his seat on the board by first being nominated by students. Then Graduate Student Senate, where he served last year, sent a group of the nominees to a University committee. The committee narrowed it down to five names and sent the list to Gov. Taft’s office.

Finally, Gaskins’ name was chosen at the state level to sit on the board as the Graduate Student representative.

Secretary to the Board of Trustees Linda Dobb is confident Gaskins is the right man for the job.

“He is really on top of the issues,” she said.

Gaskins is most concerned with the Capital Improvement Plan, which lays out the future building plan for the campus – renovations and new facilities.

“Anything to make BG one of the premier universities in the state,” he said.