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NATIONAL ADVERTISERS To place an ad, contact Mediamate at orders@mediamate.com CLASSIFIEDS To place a classified ad, contact us via email at business@technewsiit.com. RYAN KAMPHIUS UTSAV GANDHI campus@technewsiit.com TechNews | Tuesday, March 29,2011 VP COMMUNICATIONS NATHAN WICKER Nathan Wicker’s main priorities are to continue IIT scheduling evaluation and im— prove the SGA website so that progress of proj— ects can be constantly updated and be tracked by the student body. Wicker is in his third year, majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and has served as a senator on the Communications Committee since Fall 2010. At the debates, Wicker further emphasized his experience with improving the SGA web— site (including his plans on utilizing it more than it is already) and his work on scheduling. TechNews would have liked to hear more from him on other possible ideas for Communica— tions, especially given the expanded role the committee has taken on in the past year. KELLY LOHR Kelly Lohr has been involved in the Kappa Phi Delta sorority as Secretary, has been an RHA Housing Chair, held multiple executive positions in Material Advantage, and is found— er and President of Coffee Club. Lohr wants to take on the implementation of UCal, create a permanent forum for students’ concerns about the university, and publicly post up—to—date minutes on all SGA meetings to the organiza— tion’s website to promote transparency During the debates, Lohr proposed that when multiple committees work together on projects, they should be under the wing of Communications to ensure that these cross— over initiatives can be handled efficiently. Be— yond this, though, she offered less concrete plans for the implementation of the changes she would like to see. RANI SHAH A first—year student, Rani Shah has none— theless been heavily involved on campus. She participated in Alternative Spring Break this year, is a member of Tech De Fateh (IIT’s bhangra dance group), and has been on the SGA Communications Committee. Her goals include making faculty and staff members eas— ier to contact and ensuring transparency in all that SGA does. During the debates she pointed out that when it comes to projecting an image, SGA could learn from other student organizations. She also emphasized the importance of brand— ing, pointing out that students aren’t aware of all the initiatives SGA has been involved in. One plan she has is to separate the interests of different group of students to better represent the opinions of all. DANIEL KELLY Daniel Kelly’s got a lot of campus experi— ence under his belt — a semester as SGA sena— tor, involvement in Phi Kappa Sigma, and being part of the Student Gift Campaign are good examples. Better yet is his current posi— tion as President of Greek Council. His main goal? Tackling the “self—perpetuating negative stereotype that IIT has.” An interesting point brought up by Kelly at the debates was that the function the MTCC fulfills at IIT differs from that of student union centers at other universities, followed by the need to bring that function more in line with student needs. His responses mostly empha— sized character — a good campaigning tech— nique — except that this left little room for ideas, vision and plans for the role of Student Life VP GOKUL BUTAIL Gokul Butail has served on the Student Life Committee and is a board member of ISO and ASME. He has also worked with Rotary International in helping teach computer basics to underprivileged children. But his ideas for campus are where he really makes his mark. He would like to see more public safety officers deployed at odd hours in near—campus areas where IIT students live. He would also like to see healthier and more affordable campus din— ing options. One of Butail’s ideas that impressed Tech— News at the debates was to rent out empty rooms in the dorms, hotel—style, to commuter students (for example, to alleviate the added stress of commuting during finals week). An— other was holding a common meeting of stu— dent leaders to promote cooperation and allow the organizations to program more events to— gether, “saving the school a lot of money.” MEGAN CHRISTENSON On top of her work as a senator in the Stu— dent Life Committee, Megan Christenson has been involved with the Food Advisory Board, Kappa Phi Delta, EWB, IVCF, BMES and the Honors Medical Society. She is focused on improving IIT’s shuttle bus service (for those who commute from Lake Meadows or Prairie Shore, for example), continuing improvements to on—campus dining, and ensuring the reloca— tion of the commuter student lounge to a bet— ter space. At the debates, Christenson focused on her plans to make SGA able to help with all student complaints and getting students more involved with dining options on campus. She also ex— plained the need to ensure as diverse a group of student organizations as possible, pointing out the recent approval of a Magic: The Gathering group by SGA as a positive step. UB's transition and updates By Angela Ng UNION BOARD PRESIDENT On March 21st, the Council of Elders — made up of outgoing executive board mem— bers, student leaders, and professional staff — selected the members who will run Union Board for the 2011—2012 academic year. The executive board will be made up of Miriam Schmid (President), Alicia Perez (VP of In— ternal Affairs), Aditi Kumar (VP of Finance), Akshar Patel (VP of Marketing), Vince Pocze— kaj (VP of BOG), Edward Chiem & Archana Singh (VPs of Impact), William Fox (VP of Scarlet Fever), and Mansi Patel (VP of External Affairs). The only new position is VP of Exter— nal Affairs, who is in charge of outreach to IIT student organizations. This past year, the executive board has tried to reach out to other student organizations in hopes to co—sponsor or lend a hand when it comes to publicity or funding. It has also tried to heavily promote its website (ub.iit.edu) which is open and free to all organizations to publicize their events. Since the re—design of the website at the beginning of Spring 2011 semester, there have been over 3,500 Visits! The change of ticket sale process (from on the MTCC bridge to online) has helped with the increase of visitors. The use of this website will drastically change as IIT switches to Gmail next year and SGA’s University Calendar will be in the spotlight for knowing what is hap— pening on campus in all areas of student life and academics. Publicity has been a huge focus as UB bought a full page ad in every TechNews issue since August 2010 to promote any (UB or non) events on our website. UB wants to help students get out of their rooms and have fun; it does so by programming social events and also getting the word out about other events or fi— nancially helping out. UB is a place to go when an IIT student has crazy ideas and wants to see something done about it or to get some sup— port. Many UBers have learned a lot through programming (public speaking, time manage— ment, handling large budgets, contacting ven— dors) and some have gotten the opportunity to become a student leader in charge of a com— mittee. Many thanks go out to all the members of executive board of 2010—2011: Mukarram Amine, Mia House, Clay Houser, Kaycee Ken— ney, Aditi Kumar, Christie Noonan, Kaleo Pedrina, Alicia Perez, Miriam Schmid. I, as outgoing President of Union Board, have led a great group of students including the dedi— cated programmers & designers who complete UB. The list of programmers is rather long, but they have planned events such as musicians, hypnotists, and IIT IDOL in the BOG; Home— coming Carnival and Dance; Blue Man Group; ski trip in Wisconsin with ISO; Chinese New Year event in MSV; Spring Formal; board game nights in Center Court; Harry Potter 7; Bulls/ Sox/ Cubs games; MTCC Late Niite; Mardi Gras Party with CCM; school spirit support at varsity athletic games (Scarlet Fever)...to name just a few of the nearly 30 Impact, 18 BOG, 14 Scarlet Fever, and 6 co—sponsored events that have occurred this past year. I have had a wonderful time and memo— rable experience being part of UB for the third year in a row. There have been ups and downs, but I thank those who have stuck by and made UB amazing with their support and hard work. I am so proud of all the UBers who have helped out and I cannot wait to see the changes the new executive board will make next year. If you want to be involved with UB next year, you can! Apply to be a programmer or publicity de— signer at tinyurl.com/ubprogrammerapp11—12 (application opens today and closes on Febru— ary 5). If you have any questions about this, email us at ub@iit.edu. So come out to UB’s meeting in MTCC Au— ditorium TODAY at 1 pm to see the executive board and get some free food too plus FREE April 19th Cubs game tickets! The transfer of power will take place on April 5 at the UB’s general body meeting (time and location men— tioned above) and lunch and free Cubs tickets will be providedIIII