Student Senate met Wednesday and heard a presentation from Mia Citino, a Student Trustees on the Board of Trustees. Citino’s presentation was a debrief on the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, Housing Master Plan and the presidential search.
Citino’s presentation began with an overview of the Board of Trustees and the role of a Student Trustee. Citino said the Board’s goal is to seek input from faculty, staff and students; however, Student Trustees are more focused on the student body’s views.
“I kind of serve as the liaison between the student body and the Board of Trustees,” Citino said. “We're on the Board of Trustees to provide that student perspective, and it really is valued on the OU Board of Trustees, so it's a very cool position to be in.”
Citino moved to give Senate an overview of the most recent Board of Trustees meeting which included the Academics and Student Success Committee, the search for a new OU president and the Housing Master Plan.
Citino said the Academics and Student Success Committee is focusing on keeping students enrolled at OU this year.
Citino reported updates on the presidential search, citing a series of polls conducted by Collective Genius that collected responses for the most sought-after traits in whoever will fill the presidential position.
The survey received over 3,000 responses, over 45% of which were from OU alumni.
Citino said there will be various program expansions coming to other campus locations. Equine studies are expanding to the Chillicothe, Eastern, Lancaster and Zanesville campuses, and a Bachelor of Arts for both Sociology Criminology and Sociology Pre-Law are expanding to five more regional campuses.
Citino discussed the Housing Master Plan, which was approved at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting.
“The Housing Master Plan is going to keep students happy, make students want to come here and also support the long-term stability of our school,” Citino said.
Citino said renovations—which include minor renovations, major renovations and new construction—will amount to a total cost of over $43 million.
Following Citino’s presentation, Senate moved to fill vacant positions within the Senate body.
Owen Wisniewski was appointed Governmental Affairs Vice-Commissioner.
Katherine Handle was appointed Senator for the College of Health Sciences and Professions.
Emersyn Wolfe was appointed Senator for the Women’s Affairs Commission.
