By Ciara Frisbie, News Editor and Rico Johnson, Staff Reporter
Georgia State’s Student Government Association (SGA) swore Sebastian Parra in as its newest executive vice president (EVP) during the organization’s Jan. 15 General Senate Body meeting.
Parra, SGA’s former vice president of Academic Affairs, replaced Osato A. Uzamere who was the organizations former EVP. Uzamere announced she would be leaving her position due to an early fall graduation on Oct. 16.
The vice president of Academic Affairs’ position will remain vacant until there are Senate board member nominations, according to SGA President Lanier Henson.
“We’ll see by the next Senate meeting [about nominations],” he said. “We’re hoping that the interview process will be done for the new VP for Academic Affairs and we can actually have them converge on the Senate next Senate meeting…”
Henson also said this is to ensure SGA won’t have an empty vacancy and lack of leadership in the role for too long.
Director of Student Center Operations and SGA Advisor Boyd Beckwith said the process of Henson nominating senators and those individuals being confirmed by other existing senators is a critical mandate through the organization’s constitution.
“They will have to run for full election in the spring to keep those seats if they want to continue for the next academic year. So they’re actually filling in for the remainder of this term and so those are just appointed,” he said.
Other topics discussed at the meeting:
1. Parra announced that he and Henson would be a part of a committee to discuss Georgia State’s recent consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College (GPC).
2. Parra announced this year’s team of election commision participants. Nyomi Haynes was named as the election commission’s chairperson. Other members include: Brionne Tripp, Kaelen White, John Adeleye and Olayeni Odumosu. Haynes said she and the other members will implement several practices to engage and increase the student body’s participation in this year’s upcoming SGA elections. This will include SGA position seekers submitting 30-second.
3. Senator Justin Brightharp announced Jan. 15 as the official launch date for the Panther Mentor-ship program which is to improve the quality of students’ degrees. Vice President of Public Relations Camryn Bradley drafted the bill along with Parra and Brightharp. Brightharp said he and Bradley will be attending Plaza days to inform the student body of the program.
4. Corey Sams, vice president of Budget & Finance, announced that SGA has used approximately $35,328.47 of its yearly budget. Henson said about $25,000 has been allocated to 18 organizations on campus. Sams said Bradley has used over 98 percent of his budget on SGA-related public relations tasks and has under $200 left in funds. Under 4 percent of the budget has been used on co-sponsorships, according to Henson.
5. Vice president of Student Services Teara Mayfield announced she and her committee would create a programming and events survey for the student body to complete about services on campus. Mayfield also said the Dean of Libraries is considering creating more stress-relief programs such as painting and animal interaction exercises for students during finals week.
6. This week’s ‘Senator of the Week’ was Christina Migles-Schmitt of the College of Public Health. ‘Senator of the Week’ would be a new announcement to be made each General Senate Body meeting, according to Parra.
7. Senator vacancies: two positions in the College of Arts & Sciences and one position in the College of Law.
