Student Advisory Committee Announcement & Summer Report 2016

— Student Advisory Committee Announcement—

Last year, as part of my work as your Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA), I met with your district officers on a monthly basis. During these online meetings, officers would provide updates on the work being done in their districts and I would provide updates on the work of the national council. Coming out of the national council’s winter council meeting in January, I started tinkering with the idea of rebranding this meeting and transforming it into an ongoing Student Advisory Committee (SAC). This committee has historically met only during national convention, but the current national council is looking to leverage our students as resources throughout the coming year in the lead up to the 2017 national convention in Orlando, FL. Per the national constitution, the committee will be made up of current district officers. I want to introduce the current members of the Student Advisory Committee for the 2015-2017 biennium:

CHAIR
Zac Humphrey

SED
Michael Bradford-Calhoun
Ariel Marissa Clouse
Jerome Hall
Evan Schlameuss
 
SWD
George Ishii
Robert Morris
Jayden Goeringer
David Cox
Arjun Jeetan
 
WD
Mitch Mikuchonis
Alyssa Maher
Shi Ya Ni
Jake Rocco

The committee will meet at least once each month to have ongoing work sessions. During these online meetings, at least one member from each district will be required to attend with the rest strongly encouraged to attend, if possible. Each month, a different district will be charged with drafting a report that will be shared with all Brothers via the website. Each session will include a brief update from each district. Following these updates, there will be conversation on a topic submitted by the district officers/active students. Following that first conversation, the VPSA will provide an update on the work being done by the national leadership. The meeting will wrap up with a conversation based on a topic provided by the national council. The session will end with final comments and announcements. These will happen monthly until national convention next summer where a final report will be submitted by the district officers of the 2017-2018 school year. Due to the overlapping nature of bienniums and academic calendars, the makeup of this committee may change due to who is elected in the spring of 2017 to district office.

— Summer 2016 SAC Report —

Brothers,

We held the first official session on Thursday, July 7th, 2016. The following committee members were in attendance: Sarah Person of the MWD, Abigail Johnson of the NCD, Shanon Rubin and Miranda Cook of the NED, Michael Bradford-Calhoun of the SED, George Ishii and Arjun Jeetan of the SWD, and Shi Ya Ni of the WD.

During the conversation, after initial updates by the districts, there was discussion on the upcoming Kappa Kappa Psi Presents podcast as well as the current state and functionality of the national website, www.kkpsi.org.

The conversation surrounding the podcast was both exciting and appreciated. This is a new endeavor, and one in which I am learning a lot. Feedback largely revolved around length and content. The committee members liked the content and were interested in what other areas/topics were in the pipeline for upcoming episodes. As the initial set of episodes erred on the long side, once the podcast rolls out on a more regular schedule in the fall, the goal will be to keep each episode to 20-30 minutes. We ended the conversation by saying that this won’t be the last time this topic is addressed as the growth and development of the podcast will be organic and ongoing.

Regarding the national website, www.kkpsi.org, the conversation was extremely productive. It provided a great look into how our active members make use of the website. Most of the issues brought forward centered largely on technical aspects of the website’s design: dead links, circular redirecting links, blank pages, and non-working aspects of the mobile interface. Content wasn’t an issue and when provided with a brief update on the goals of National Vice President for Programs Marco Kcratovich relating to upcoming content, the committee members expressed approval regarding the future of the website. As with the podcast, this will not be the final conversation as the national council is wanting to create a website that will be a useful tool for our brothers, both active and alumni, advisers and faculty, and the public.

I, as your VPSA, am looking forward to the work that is going to be done throughout the year. If you have any questions, comments or concerns or if you would like to submit something for the SAC to discuss, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself at zac@kkpsi.org or the whole committee at studentadvisory@kkpsi.org.

AEA,
Zac Humphrey
National Vice President for Student Affairs