Acting as a voice for students: co-chairing the College’s Student Advisory Council
With a mission to act as a voice for the student population, the College of the Environment’s Student Advisory Council (SAC) is made up of both undergraduate and graduate students from across College units. A member of SAC last year, Marine Biology undergrad Clara Kreutziger will act as Council co-chair for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Consisting of 20 members, the Council sets out goals that stem from within the College’s student population. “One of my favorite things about SAC is that a lot of our major goals arise after the first meeting or two and are often brought up by SAC members who are getting feedback or noticing things within their department,” Clara shared. “In this new role of co-chair, I’m very excited to help ensure that our goals are met and that more student voices within the College are heard and acted on. Meeting all our representatives, including new ones, is also exciting, as everyone on the Council has always been very supportive passionate, and inspiring.”
The role of SAC co-chair involves the co-ordination and facilitation of the Council to ensure everything functions and runs smoothly, including planning agendas, facilitating meetings, creating space for new issues to be discussed and keeping members up to date.
Some priorities for this year’s SAC are enhancing accessibility and fostering community. “As of now, our biggest goal is to increase the accessibility of the SAC to the student body. Our work has always been important, but it is much more effective if we have an active dialogue with the student body,” Clara shared. “Our jobs are to represent our units and bridge the intimidating gap between the Dean’s Office and the student body, and this is best done if we can hear from students. A lot of students don’t know that we exist as a resource, so that is an area for a lot of potential improvement”.
“I also hope to work on fostering more of a community within the entire College, as I’ve found that many people don’t get to know each other if they don’t have overlapping classes. Most of the students in our College are big nature nerds with shared interests, and so creating spaces where students from different departments can get to know each other would be really exciting!”
Clara will also be joining the College’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEI) starting in September. “The position is very new and we haven’t yet had our first meeting, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m honored to be a part of this committee this year and hope to help incorporate some more student perspectives into the DEI work the College focuses on,” Clara said. “As a queer woman, I have definitely noticed some areas where the College could be more inclusive, and so I hope to create an easy contact for students who have similar experiences and want to make a difference.”
Being involved in decisions made by the Dean’s Office that directly impact the student body is vital to Clara. “It’s always important to have a checks and balances system in place, and SAC is one of the College’s ways of doing just that. We give our honest student perspective to proposals from many different areas of the Dean’s office, all the way from budgeting and website design to graduation gifts, and so it’s very important to ensure student voices are represented within that decision-making process”, Clara shared.
Sharing about her experience with other organizations that prepared her for her role as a co-chair, Clara notes that a key lesson she has learned is that STEM and social justice go hand in hand. “Working with Grow Dat Youth Farm in New Orleans, a non-profit sustainable farm in my hometown, has taught me that leadership does not have to be loud, and I’ll take that with me wherever I go. Grow Dat focuses on cultivating youth leadership and social justice through the act of growing food, and I gained valuable experience in leading workshops and working with people who are passionate, kind, and open,” Clara said.
If Clara had any advice for students, it’s to encourage them to get involved in Councils and Committees like SAC and DEI. “These groups exist to make student life within our College better, and this can only be done if we, the SAC members, have active dialogue from our departments,” Clara said. “If you have an idea, or even an area of improvement, that you think needs to be brought to the attention of the Dean’s Office, please, please, please reach out to your department’s SAC member in whatever form is easiest for you! You can find all of our emails on the SAC page on the College of the Environment website.”
Stay tuned for a mid-year catch up with Clara once she has spent a few months in her new role as SAC co-chair and DEI Committee member.
