Everything you need to know about the StuGov Senate candidates
Iowa State Student Government meeting at the Memorial Union on Nov. 29.
February 26, 2018
You know the student fees you pay to attend Iowa State? Part of those fees go to Student Government to spend on your behalf. That’s just one of the roles the Student Government Senate plays in representing students based on where they live or which college their major falls under.
On March 6 and 7, you can vote via a link sent to your email for the individuals you feel would best represent you in your college and residency. We asked them to tell us a little bit about what they hope to do if elected. Here’s what we found out.
Candidates who did not submit a statement to the Daily, but are posted as candidates on the Student Government website are listed with their name and major.
SENATE SEATS BY RESIDENCE
IRHA
Name: Vishesh Bhatia
Major: Genetics
Name: Cecilia Millane
Major: Statistics
Name: Sandeep Stanley
Major: Aerospace engineering
What do you hope to accomplish?: I currently serve as the Vice-President of Martin Hall, and substitute at IRHA meetings in the absence of Martin’s normal representative. In the eight years I have spent in Ames, I have absolutely fallen in love with the student community at ISU, and I think you deserve an open and approachable leader. I will provide an update on StuGov/IRHA activities through a monthly newsletter, and I will voice at least three constituent concerns at every StuGov/IRHA meeting.
Name: Jacob Schrader
Major: Economics and political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am currently a senator representing IHRA and am running for re-election as an IRHA senator. I had the honor of being appointed this fall to serve as an IRHA senator. I have been active in securing student friendly rental code in Ames, an advocate for smart spending of student activity fees and a strong representative for residence hall students in the Senate. If re-elected I pledge to continue to bring a common-sense approach to ensuring college affordability and fiscal responsibility.
Frederiksen Court
No listed candidates.
United Residents of Off Campus
Name: Matt Banwart
Major: Marketing and management
What do you hope to accomplish?: People don’t care about StuGov, and here’s why. As the president of the Stand-Up Comedy Club, member of ISUtv, Improv Comedy Club and Entrepreneurship Club, it’s become apparent that StuGov has lost all contact with small student organizations. Spending money on big events is a cool way to get re-elected, but StuGov’s number one priority should be representing, building and funding organizations of all sizes. The heart of what makes Iowa State amazing is the quirky clubs and niche organizations. Big events are great to point to when re-election comes around, but don’t create a sustainable culture on campus that genuinely involves people. Current StuGov reps have become a closed circle who love to build their own egos, but view genuine student concerns as annoying complaints creating a disregard for what is the sincere student voice. If you want students to be more engaged, StuGov should acknowledge them first.
Name: Samuel Freestone
Major: Environmental science
What do you hope to accomplish?: If re-elected as a senator for United Residence Off Campus I hope to continue my work through Student Government to improve the campus environment for students. Over the past year I have worked with ISU Dining to ensure there is a student voice on projects such as Friley Windows and Lance and Ellie’s. In the future I’d like to work with ISU Dining to improve off-campus meal plans. In addition, I’ve sat on the Transportation Advisory Committee to bring a student perspective on parking related issues on campus. I’d like continue my work to better the parking on and around campus. I’d like to continue working to improve the student experience and ensure the voice of students living off campus is heard.
Name: Analese Hauber
Major: English and political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am running for Student Government because I believe that in a school as populous as Iowa State, effective and active representation in governing bodies is critical in achieving outcomes that benefit and please as many students as possible. I am incredibly passionate about education and the power of student voice. I currently serve as the vice president and IRHA representative for Buchanan residence hall, as well as on the ISU Dining Food Committee. If elected, I would like to continue advocating for necessary changes at Iowa State and making the wants and needs of other students heard. I want to make sure the off-campus community’s voice is not only brought to the table, but seriously considered and valued.
Name: Joshua Kettelkamp
Major: Political science and economics
What do you hope to accomplish?: I currently serve as Student Government senator representing the United Off Campus Residency. During the past year, I have advocated on behalf of my constituents in the Student Government, before the Ames City Council and at the Iowa State Capitol championing issues of college affordability and fair rental ordinances in Ames. I am seeking re-election to my UROC Senate seat to continue to have the opportunity to voice off-campus students’ unique concerns at all levels of the government. If elected, during the next session I will strive to find creative ways, through programs like Open Resource Textbooks, to keep down the costs of attending Iowa State and work to promote greater unity between the off-campus and on-campus student body.
Name: Dozmen Lee
Major: Political science
Name: Wendell Lee Jr.
Major: Political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: If elected, my mission will be to hold the Student Government members at all positions accountable when making decisions on behalf of you, our fellow peers.
Name: Anne Miller
Major: Accounting
Name: Stephen Mwaura
Major: Chemical engineering
Name: Ian Steenhoek
Major: Journalism and mass communication
What do you hope to accomplish?: I currently serve as the Campustown senator and public relations chair for Student Government. I’m also currently the president of the United Residents of Off-Campus. I am running for re-election as a UROC senator. My goal is to continue my work increasing safety both on and off-campus, and to increase student engagement with both Student Government and the Ames community as a whole. If re-elected, I will continue finding ways to make Ames a safe place for students to live, learn, grow, enjoy and succeed.
Name: Jack Utterback
Major: Industrial engineering
Name: Kathryn Walker
Major: Political science
Name: Caroline Warmuth
Major: Political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: As I have already served a year as a senator, I hope to make a bigger impact at Iowa State. I am passionate about giving back to my community and currently am working on a Faculty Appreciation Day and hope to see an increase in learning communities and peer mentors in more majors. These are great opportunities for our students to achieve.
Name: Cody Woodruff
Major: Political science and speech communication
What do you hope to accomplish?: I’m running for re-election because my work isn’t done yet. I’ve served as vice speaker of the Senate for the past year, and I’ve represented residence hall students for the past two years. It’s been an honor to serve my fellow Cyclones, and I want to keep doing so as an off-campus senator next year. I’m proud of my work on addressing rising tuition, university budget cuts, accountability and civic engagement with students. We’ve made a lot of progress over the past year, but there’s more to do on these issues and many others. I want to be at the forefront of them and work harder than ever before! Student Government can’t do it alone — we need all students to be active and engaged, because our voices as leaders are only as powerful as you make them.
CPC
No listed candidates.
BY COLLEGE
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Name: Megan Adam
Major: Agriculture & society and political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: My name is Megan Adam and I am on the ballot for CALS Senate because I feel that my combination of agricultural interests and political experience has made me uniquely qualified to represent the College of Ag. As a senator I will listen and fight to represent the students in the Iowa State College of Ag. I grew up on a farm in southeast Iowa, and fully understand the Iowa State mentality specifically that of CALS students. If elected I plan to make it my mission to attend at least one meeting of every club recognized by CALS during my tenure at senator. I feel that this will help me to better informed on needs of my fellow students. I will also work to make Student Government more transparent and accessible to the students of Iowa State.
Name: Kelsey Culbertson
Major: Environmental science
Name: Jillian Kurovski
Major: Animal ecology
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am passionate about keeping Iowa State beautiful and green. If elected, I want to push to make Iowa State the most environmentally friendly it can be. I am also passionate about diversity on campus — making sure each student feels they have a voice. Overall, I want to be an amplifier for students voicing what they want to improve about campus.
Name: Cami Maurer
Major: Agricultural and life sciences education
Name: Madison Mueller
Major: Economics and agricultural business
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am a sophomore here at Iowa State from Denver, Colorado. I chose to attend Iowa State for the incredible academic reputation and, of course, the exceptionally kind Iowan people! I spent last year in Student Government Finance Committee and I want to bring my knowledge of the budget process to all of Senate. My fundamental goal this year is to limit student spending and maximize university funds from the state legislature. Tuition continues to rise for reasons that cannot always be explained, and I want to make sure we cut unnecessary spending and keep more money in students’ pockets so that they are better off when graduation rolls around. Finally, I want to be more transparent about what Student Government does spend money on so students understand where every dollar is going.
Ivy College of Business
Name: Ashley Crandall
Major: Accounting
Name: Carmen Frederick
Major: Marketing
What do you hope to accomplish?: My name is Carmen Frederick and I am a junior in marketing from San Diego, California, and I am running to represent students in the Ivy College of Business as a Student Government senator. I have a wealth of knowledge and experience with the College of Business through years of involvement with Collegiate Women in Business and Business Council. I have proven myself to be an advocate for students through my roles as an ISU Dining student liaison and as an executive member of the Inter-Residence Hall Association. I have also been selected as a Cyclone Aide and community adviser for the upcoming school year, and I am passionate about improving student life on our campus by influencing positive change.
Name: Austin Graber
Major: Finance and political science
Name: Kacie Thompson
Major: Pre-business
College of Design
Name: Kaitlyn Sanchez
Major: Graphic design
What do you hope to accomplish?: My goal next year is to increase the number of printing credits for College of Design students and work toward a better VendoLand. I desire to represent my fellow designers at the weekly StuGov meetings and increase the number of female voices in the room. If elected, I would strive to keep an ongoing dialogue with design students, through personal interactions, social media and email, to effectively represent them.
College of Engineering
Name: Uma Abu
Major: Software Engineering
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am running for senator because I want to represent the College of Engineering as well as be a liaison between the College of Engineering and the Student Government. If elected, I intend to make sure that the voices of everyone in the college are heard and their concerns are being voiced to Student Government. I intend to do this by trying my best to reach out to students and attend as many engineering student organization meetings as possible to hear their concerns and return to the Student Government with any concerns engineering students may have.
Name: Courtney Beringer
Major: Mechanical engineering
Name: Juan Bibiloni
Major: Mechanical engineering
What do you hope to accomplish?: I currently serve as a Student Government senator representing the Inter-Residence Hall Association (IRHA). In this position, I have proposed legislation to address student health and wellness, voiced student concerns at weekly Senate meetings and served on various committees and boards ranging from CyRide where I am vice president to Diversity and Inclusion where I am vice chair. Additionally, I was also the community engagement chair for Engineers’ Week. If elected as one of your Engineering senators, I hope to continue my work to improve awareness of health and wellness resources, voice the concerns of my constituents to administrators in areas such as student spacing and campus climate and take steps toward improving safety on campus.
Name: Maeve McCloskey
Major: Industrial Engineering
What do you hope to accomplish?: As a senator representing the College of Engineering, I want to be an advocate and supporter of CoE students in any way I can. One goal I have is to ensure engineering student organizations understand the allocations process of Student Government. I want to work with Student Wellness to develop programming tailored to engineers and push to have this implemented in orientation classes. I also hope to increase resources for success in CORE Program classes by working with Student Government academics director to establish a Canvas class with resources and study materials. Another goal I have is to better connect the senators with students by hosting a monthly “Studying with Senators” with provided snacks to increase senator and student interaction. If elected, I will be committed to being an effective and driven representative for the College of Engineering. Please check out https://www.facebook.com/maeve4senate/ for more information.
Name: Rachel Origer
Major: Civil engineering
What do you hope to accomplish?: I currently serve as a Student Government senator representing the College of Engineering and I am running for re-election. My goal in being re-elected is to continue to serve engineering students by voicing their opinions and keeping students aware of what is happening on campus. I have always been interested in helping others, and I feel that Student Government gives me the opportunity to do that. I am currently on the Public Relations Committee within Student Government, and I have been involved with student outreach through tabling and publicizing our Town Halls. I am also on the Presidential Task Force on Pedestrian Safety, which looks at solutions to make Lincoln Way safer for pedestrians. If elected, I would continue to communicate with engineering students and educate students about safe walking, biking and driving on campus.
College of Human Sciences
Name: Claire Nauman
Major: Event management
Name: Wyatt Scheu
Major: Kinesiology
What do you hope to accomplish?: If I am to be re-elected as a Human Sciences senator, I would like to continue my work on raising awareness of student mental health and continuing to reduce the stigma surrounding the topic. I would also ensure students hear about the work Student Government does that oftentimes falls behind the scenes. This would open the door for students to have their voices heard about topics they feel passionate about, but haven’t realized that Student Government has already been working on.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Name: Ihssan Ait-Boucherbil
Major: Chemistry
Name: Tiffany Contreras
Major: Sociology
What do you hope to accomplish?: Within the College of LAS I have spoken to other students wanting to have a study area or open space for our college because we see similar things in other colleges. And we might not be able to just build a new space, but we could adapt what we have now, like Catt Hall for example, and make it more open to students. We have learning communities and organizations under our college, but there is sometimes still a lack of community and I want us to be more connected. We just had our first LAS week and I want to continue things like that and have more events for our college to get our students and peers more engaged. As a potential senator for Student Government, it is important for your voices to be heard on issues or even ideas you may have around our college and the campus.
Name: Lucy Dougherty
Major: Economics and political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: I’m running for LAS Senate because I’ve noticed a disconnect between students and their Student Government representatives, and I believe the core purpose of Student Government is to ensure student voices are being heard and their needs are being met. I feel very passionately about working with students to improve their Iowa State experience and have shown that by serving in many different roles with a variety of students in LAS. Through all of these unique experiences I’ve noticed opportunities for improvement. If elected, fair tuition and student access to relevant information, careful scrutiny of every proposed increase in spending by student government, sexual assault prevention and campus safety initiatives, and greater campus and student unity would be among my top priorities. In addition, I plan on being available for all of my constituents to voice opinions and concerns whenever they feel necessary.
Name: Brooke Ginsberg
Major: Public relations
What do you hope to accomplish?: I am running for senator to be a voice for students in the Liberal Arts and Sciences college. I want to be a voice and vision for both the vocal and voiceless. I aim to introduce new ideas comprised of creativity and cooperation and to discuss distresses amongst LAS students to ensure that our only years are also our best. It would be a privilege to speak on behalf of my peers and to utilize my communications background.
Name: Mady Jones
Major: Political science
Name: Titus Kinyea
Major: Political science
Name: Chase Kusel
Major: Public relations
What do you hope to accomplish?: If I were to be elected to a Senate seat, I want to ensure that every voice is being represented, and that there is transparency between StuGov and the students. We need to communicate our issues in a way that everyone has equal knowledge on what is going on, and why we are addressing certain issues. I also want to make it easier for students to voice their concerns so that we know what issues are pressing for them. Communication is key to keeping a healthy relationship between StuGov and students, and making everyone’s adventure here at Iowa State the best it can be.
Name: Sarah Moody
Major: Political science and international studies
What do you hope to accomplish?: If elected as an LAS senator I will work hard to bridge the gap that exists between senators and their constituents. Right now, Student Government has become less about what the student body as a whole wants and more about what the individuals within the organization want. Most students don’t know that they fund Student Government and thus don’t know/take an interest in how that money is being used. As a senator, I would make sure that my constituents were kept up to date on expenditures through platforms such as social media. If elected I also plan to create LAS Senate social media pages and work closely with fellow leaders within the college to keep students updated on what’s happening both within Student Government and college.
Name: Melia Murray
Major: Political science
What do you hope to accomplish?: If elected I would like to be a voice for those in the LAS college and other colleges as well. It is my goal to be an advocate for issues that the college may need help with. I wish to be a goal-oriented liaison for those in Liberal Arts and Sciences and a community builder between my college and those around me. If given the responsibility of representing the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences I would work my hardest to meet the needs of those who come to me for help. I would very much appreciate this opportunity if given the chance to represent you in the LAS college.
Name: Katelyn Noah
Major: Speech communication
What do you hope to accomplish?: My personal commitment to inclusion and acceptance of students with a wide range of abilities inspires my goals in this position. Every student currently has an opportunity for academic accommodations at Iowa State, and I believe that these accommodations (such as private testing, untimed testing, printed notes, etc.) must be made known to those of us who could benefit from them. Along with this, I would like to establish a stronger relationship between the student body and student government. I plan on dedicating my time to make sure every Cyclone has a voice and feels advocated for.
Name: Maria Pimentel-Diaz
Major: Political science and public relations
What do you hope to accomplish?: My goal is to give a voice to all students especially to those who feel that they aren’t being heard. I am currently involved with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as a student ambassador. If elected I would continue the communication with LAS students and faculty started by those before me. I would also be sure that all those who have a voice are being heard, I have always been interested in politics and giving back to those who are in need and what better place to start than at Iowa State.
Name: Tyran Price
Major: Criminal justice studies
Graduate and Professional Student Senate
No candidates listed.
Editor’s note: This story originally listed a Campustown seat, but this seat will not longer exist. Anne Miller, Stephen Mwaura, Jack Utterback and Kathryn Walker were not listed as UROC candidates, but have been added to the list.
