Profiling the Candidates for SGA's E-Board

From March 8-10, SGA E-board elections will be taking place for the 2010-11 school year. Elections for Vice-President and Secretary positions will take place on those dates. Mitch Vieira and Ed Plamowski officially hold next year’s President and Treasurer positions. An open forum with the remaining candidates will take place on February 25 at C. Walsh Theater at 1p.m.

Mitch Vieira – President
Hometown: Seekonk, MA
Year: 2011
Major: Government
Years Served on SGA: 3 (current Treasurer)

“As President, I have an ambitious plan to move SGA forward and to increase its capacity to serve the students of this University:

• Reach out to the students that are not involved in clubs and organizations. By doing this, it will help SGA to gain a better understanding of what the entire student body needs. We are here to serve everyone and it is important that we strive to do so.

• Work collaboratively with the Senators and Executive Board of SGA to improve the image and function of the organization. It is time for SGA to look at itself and reflect on its strengths and identify weaknesses for improvement.

• Increase outreach to student clubs and organizations. This is something that is a major responsibility of the President and is one that I take seriously. We need to work together with all clubs and organizations to better serve our fellow students.

• With the current state of flux in the University Administration, it is time for the students have a say in their university's future. I will work hard to get a student trustee seat on the Board of Trustees. This is essential to making sure that the voice of the student is heard loud and clear. I also believe that this seat should not be filled by someone on the Executive Board of SGA. To go along with this, it is also important that the students have a voice on the various committees that make major decisions that affect us. I will work to make this happen.

• Push the issue of a real Student Center on campus that can properly serve the needs of all of Suffolk's students. There have been many plans put forth and the idea gains steam then hits a wall. It is necessary to force the issue to ensure that the student's needs are being addressed.

• Push for greater transparency in SGA. This can be accomplished by ensuring that the legislation that was passed in the fall semester is properly carried out. This will greatly benefit all students that seek information from SGA.

• This upcoming year brings a mandatory review of the SGA Constitution. It is vital that we give this important document a thorough review that will help SGA operate effectively. To coincide with this review, I will work with the Senate and Executive Board to do Strategic Planning in the organization to help review the Mission, Vision, and Goals of SGA. This process is complimentary to the Constitutional review and will help to ensure the necessary focus on important issues.

Next year will be an important year for Suffolk as many major decisions are made that will affect all of us. It is important to have a proven leader and advocate there to serve you.”

Martha Alvarado – Vice-Presidential Candidate
Hometown: Chelsea, MA
Year: 2013
Major: Government
Years Served: 1 (current Senator)

“I've been on SGA for one year now and have been very involved in the process of unified evaluations as well as the extension of library hours. I'm running for VP in order to improve the one on one relationship between students and the administration. I hope to create better relationships with all students and not necessarily with clubs, because we aren't elected by clubs but by students.

I think that there is a lot of change that needs to happen in SGA and that includes more transparency and more communication with students. I believe that I can bring those changes especially since I bring in a fresh and unbiased perspective.”

Jeff Cyr – Vice-Presidential Candidate
Hometown: Stoughton, MA
Year: 2011
Major: Politics Law and the Courts
Years Served on SGA: 1 (former Vice-President and President of SPSA)

“I am running for the Vice Presidency of the Student Government because this organization needs to be revamped. I've been a class senator; working for transparency between the organization and the university and I feel I am the best candidate to lead SGA in a new direction. Being President of the Student Political Science Association for a year and a half, I have the experience of leading a club on campus; and I feel the transparency between the clubs and SGA are lacking. One of my goals is to improve relations between SGA and the clubs on Suffolk’s campus. I will not sit in the SGA office like the incumbent, but I will be with the clubs in their offices seeing and addressing their needs.”

Nick DiZoglio – Vice-Presidential Candidate
Hometown: Methuen, MA
Major: Public Relations
Years Served on SGA: 3 (Current Vice-President)

“For the past year I have been the Vice President of SGA here at Suffolk University. After being elected I have worked to fill the gap between the students and the administration, helped clubs with problems that they could not solve, using the Student Judicial Review Board at its highest capacity in two years, worked with other universities in Boston to create stronger relationships and solutions that are troubling our schools, and the creator of the Commuter Student Value Meal Card (launching Fall 2010).

To Justify a recent editorial in the Voice, SJRB had no influence on the Diversity Amendment, but I did lead the Diversity Amendment Meeting that SGA held in early Fall 2009 and I also stood up for it in SGA. I have worked with a number of clubs this year from helping with issues, events, and advocated in student involvement for all clubs. SGA has made progress with reaching out to students along with increasing the knowledge of SGA through Orientation tabling, Temple Street Fair and number of emails to the student body. I ran the Special Elections through SGA publicizing, setting the ballot up, and viewing the results. We saw a 100% increase in voters in the Special Election than what we saw in the Fall Elections. That is simply amazing.

Suffolk is my home and I have respect for all those who attend. The SGA office door is always opened when people have questions and I have always respected those who have entered or looked for guidance.”

Ed Plamowski
Hometown: Beverly, MA
Year: 2011
Major: History (History and Law Track)
Years Served on SGA: 2 (current Senator)

“I’m running for Treasurer because I think next year will be a very important one for finances at Suffolk. With times tough economically I would like the opportunity to work hard at making sure our campus student groups are able to keep doing the great things they do for the student body. If we, the SGA, work responsibly with the money students entrust to us through the student activities fee we will be able to do a lot of great things next year while continue to improve our school.

I’ve been a member of the SGA Senate for the past three semesters and for the past two I’ve been a member of the SGA’s finance committee. I’ve also had the opportunity to serve as the Treasurer of two groups on campus. I feel my experience has given me the unique opportunity to run for Treasurer with the perspective of knowing what it’s like to be in a club that goes to the SGA for finances, while also knowing what it’s like to be part of the SGA’s decision making process on finances. My goal going into next year will be to make sure we work hard on perfecting clubs relations with the SGA by listening to everyone’s thoughts and concerns on financial matters.

I'd also like to add that I'm really excited about the field of candidates we have that has stepped forward this year. All of the people running in the e-board races have been devoted to Suffolk in the SGA and would work hard if elected. It’s too bad that there are only four spots on the e-board because they are all good people who care a lot about what they do.”

Bianca Krieling – Secretary Candidate
Hometown: Ukiah, California
Year: 2011
Major: Sociology and Economics
Years Served on SGA: 1 (current Senator and Speaker for Class of 2011)

“I believe our current secretary, Christina Panagiotakos has done an amazing job maintaining smooth operations within SGA itself and hope that if I were to win this election, she would train me on how to follow her lead in that respect. Something different I would like to focus on as Secretary of SGA is "promoting overall SGA awareness and public relations" which is one of the duties of the secretary outlined in SGA's constitution.

I feel that as a community organizer I have a set of skills that would help me to streamline the communication and visibility between SGA to every member of Suffolk's student body. I want to incorporate New Media outlets, such as Facebook, SUConnect, and the SGA website in order to make to proceedings of SGA more transparent and accessible.”

Brad Migliacci – Secretary Candidate
Hometown: Douglas, MA
Year: 2013
Major: Global Business and Finance
Years Served on SGA: 1 (current Senator)

“Although I am a freshman, and relatively new to Suffolk's SGA, I am not new to leadership roles or the Secretary position. I was Secretary for my high school class for four years, so I have a lot of experience with the Secretary position. I also was president of three other organizations and vice president of another in high school. I am very used to and very comfortable with leadership roles, and I am fully ready to take on the responsibility of the SGA Secretary position.

I enjoy being involved. Besides being elected for SGA Senator for the Class of 2013 this past fall, I am currently on the Executive Board of the Residence Hall Association. I am also involved with SOULS, and I will be going on the Alternative Spring Break Trip to Denver, CO for work with Habitat for Humanity.

When talking with students on campus, I've noticed that they all know that there is a SGA, but very few students actually know what we do for the school. I would like to change that. Therefore, a major goal of mine for SGA next year is for the student body to know more about SGA affairs. I want the students to be constantly informed and updated on SGA. To accomplish this, I would like to provide them newsletters, perhaps bi-weekly or monthly, so that they are constantly aware of what is going on with the SGA. I would also like the other Suffolk clubs and organizations to be more involved with SGA. I would like to see each senator be assigned to specific SU clubs/organizations and act as a liaison between the group and SGA, which would provide better representation for the groups and better communication between the groups and the SGA.

Within the SGA, I would like the senators to work together more as a team instead of as individual senators. With so many incredible students in the senate, there is no limit to the positive affects we could have on Suffolk University if we all work together efficiently. Most importantly, I want to stress to the students that SGA is here for them, and I am running for the E-board position to ensure that the students' issues and concerns are being properly represented, addressed and solved.”