Ohio University’s new student trustee said he is here to serve students and that he will listen to anybody.
Justin Kelley was announced as the new student trustee on April 17 at the Leadership Awards Gala.
“I am just a kid from Cincinnati who wants to make a positive impact on the world,” Kelley said.
Before his freshman year of high school, Kelley played a lot of sports but broke his neck in a swimming accident. He adjusted by giving back to the community throughout high school. Kelley said when he came to OU he wanted to find places to give back.
Kelley said during his first year, he would like to focus on being more observant and learn from Austin McClain, who is the other student trustee for the 2019-2020 school year.
Kelley, who is registered to vote in Butler County, said he would like to localize and solve international issues like sexual assault and mental health as a student trustee at OU.
He is also the vice president of operations for the Schey Sales Center, where he focuses mainly on day-to-day operations and looks at analytics.
He is also in the Presidential Leadership Society, where he is a representative for the OU president, Duane Nellis. Kelley is also the vice commissioner of operations for Student Senate. He mainly deals with the budgets and works with the International Student Union, Black Student Cultural Programming Board and University Programming Council.
Kelley said that by working with these organizations, he has been able to make connections and be transparent with students in these organizations. As student trustee, Kelley said he would like to get in front of large groups and organizations like these, so a dialogue can be opened.
There were two graduate students in the final five applicants for the trustee position. Kelley said he wants to build a relationship within the graduate college as well as regional campuses, so he can represent them well. He said something he would like to do is visit different regional campuses to see how they operate and identify different issues they have compared to Athens.
Kelley also worked on a project with the Student Services Committee with the graduate college. He said that graduate students sometimes feel stuck in their college because it is harder to get out of their specific programs, but Kelley would like to open it up.
Kelley is taking Faith Voinovich’s place as the student trustee. Kelley said Voinovich has been an amazing help to him and is leaving the position in a good place for him to take over.
There is an OU Trustees Twitter account that hasn’t been used since the 2012-2013 school year. Kelley said he wants to start using it again, so students can relay information to him easier. Kelley also said that with some of the topics that are difficult to talk to, he would like to see an anonymous system put into place, even if it is a box outside of the trustee’s office.
“I want people to be able to know me early on so they feel comfortable,” Kelley said.
