Graduate student Michael Smith was elected as the new Graduate Student Senate president this fall and hopes this position will help him with his degree in public administration.
“I decided to run for president because I felt that … it would give me first hand knowledge for something I can use for my major later on,” Smith said.
Smith ran against Julia Largent, the vice president elect for next year. The election occurred on March 28.
Rather than being elected by the student body, the president is elected by the members of GSS, said Lingxiao Ge, the current GSS president.
It has been a few years since someone has ran unopposed, said Jodi Webb, dean of students and advisor to GSS.
Smith grew up in Bowling Green, and Webb said this gives him a perspective that connects him to the school and the needs of the students.
“I think he has a unique perspective because he was an undergraduate here and he grew up in Bowling Green,” she said.
Before becoming president, Smith was a senator representing political science.
He also is on the Dean of Arts and Sciences search committee and AROC committee.
He met a GSS senator his first year at the University and he said they encouraged him to run for senator.
GSS interests Smith because he finds it interesting to see how governments run.
“For me, it’s a first hand look at how governments run on a small scale,” Smith said.
Smith will be facing many issues next year, including added fees for graduate students to prevent the decrease of stipends, said current treasurer Michael Salitrynski.
“As treasurer, I think there’s a lot of financial issues,” he said. “There’s a fee that just went into effect that will effect graduate students several hundred dollars each semester.”
Ge thinks GSS is a vital way for graduate students to communicate with the administration.
“A very important function of GSS is to work as a bridge between the graduate students and administration,” she said.
Smith also sees the value in representing students. He thinks it’s important that every graduate student should have their voice heard.
“To me, I’m a president representing the grad students so to me it’s their senate, it’s their university, so I want to take their ideas and put them into action,” he said.
While part of the GSS president’s duty is to represent students, they also participate in other sections of the university, Ge said. The president is a part of the faculty senate and meets with the board of trustees. They must also work closely with others in GSS to make sure the office is running efficiently, she said.
Although Smith realizes he won’t be perfect, he will try to do his best in representing graduate students.
“I know I will not be perfect, there’s no point in even trying to claim I’ll be perfect,” he said.
Salitrynski thinks Smith is a good choice for president.
“He believes it’s important for our voices to be heard,” he said.
