The Student Government Association President Jonathan Dominguez (left) said he will continue his term for the spring semester due to adding a psychology minor during the Nov. 4 senate meeting in the Student Academic Center on the Edinburg campus. Also shown is SGA Vice President Jose Herrera.
The Student Government Association has appointed Shadman Sakib, a mechanical engineering graduate student, as a senator for the UTRGV Graduate College and Daisy Vela, a biomedical sciences junior, as a senator for the College of Health Professions.
Sakib and Vela each spoke before their appointment during the Nov. 4 senate meeting.
Sakib said that he would serve graduate students by listening to their concerns.
He said being appointed is an opportunity to show he can be involved in student activities and bring graduate students’ concerns to the senate.
Vela discussed her leadership positions. She said she was the social media coordinator for Volunteers Around the World during her freshman year and that she is the co-chair of Caring for the Valley, which provides medical outreach to underserved populations, according to V Link.
Vela said she wants to open a pharmacy in the UT Health Clinic on the Brownsville campus once she is part of the SGA because only the Edinburg campus has a pharmacy at the moment.
“I strongly believe we need one here, in Brownsville, only because it would be very convenient for most of the students knowing that sometimes they don’t have the funds to pay for the medication up front,” Vela said.
She said the pharmacy will be helpful to students by giving them the opportunity to pay at a later time, with the cost being added to their student accounts.
During the executive team report, SGA President Jonathan Dominguez addressed the topic of his graduation plan because he said his original idea was to graduate this fall semester.
However, Dominguez said he will be completing a minor in psychology, which will result in him staying in his position for the next semester.
“I would like to announce that I’ll be staying here for the rest of the spring semester to finish my term,” he said.
SGA Vice President Jose Herrera said that if the position of president was vacant at some point, he would decide whether to run for the position or not.
In the case that both vice presidents run for president, the SGA would vote during a senate meeting and a debate would be possible.
Herrera also asked the SGA to spread the word about a Parking and Transportation Services survey that will help students voice their opinion about how the department can improve resources.
He said the team is looking to meet with the deans of the College of Social Work and the College of Nursing to discuss senator representation, but no dates are set yet.
Kassandra Garcia, Academic Affairs Committee chair and senator for the College of Sciences, said that after Meet the Deans on the Brownsville campus, the committee will start to look at other ideas and projects.
Kristen Hallas, senator for the Graduate College, said the Financial Affairs Committee has approved 39 travel applications and one special event funding application.
“[On Oct. 28], we met and we approved seven applications for student [travel] funding,” Hallas said.
The Student Government Association will meet again at 2 p.m. Friday in Music, Science & Learning Center Room 1.105 on the Brownsville campus, according to the organization’s V Link.
