Real People Profiles: Connie Pierson
I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty and staff, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are their responses.
Hometown: Middle River, MD
Q: How long have you been at UMBC?
A: As an employee, 11 years in OIR [the Office of Institutional Research]. Also a student from 1986 to 1992 (B.A. Economics/ Sociology; M.A. Sociology).
Q: In 12 words or less, what role(s) do you play on campus?
A: I provide information and data analysis about UMBC and its community.
Q: What aspect of your UMBC role(s) do you enjoy most?
A: Getting to meet and work with many different people on and off campus.
Q: What is the most important or memorable thing you learned in college/have learned at UMBC?
A: Being a student and employee of UMBC has reinforced the most important thing I learned at home: life is all about family, be it those we love at home, the friends we make in college, or our colleagues at work. In the end, it’s the people that are most important.
Q: Complete this sentence: “I am a big fan of __________”
A: Laughing and enjoying the quirky aspects of life; oh, and my husband too!
Q: Do you have any UMBC stories, little-known facts about UMBC, favorite spots on campus, or anything else you’d like to share?
A: I often see random numbers and think, for example “oh, that was the total enrollment in Fall 2003”…kind of scary.
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I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty and staff, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are their...
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What Does an SGA Executive Branch Officer Do? (Apply...
Full Title: What Does an SGA Executive Branch Officer Do? (Apply Now for 2010-2011)
In earlier posts I’ve described the roles of the
SGA Senate and
Finance Board.
This post describes the role of the Executive Branch: the largest part of SGA, but the one with the fewest elected positions.
Membership: The Executive Branch consists of four elected officers—the President, Executive Vice President, Vice President for Student Organizations and Treasurer—and the staff members they appoint (with Senate approval) to assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities. The students appointed by the President to the positions of Chief of Staff and Director of various departments are known collectively as the Cabinet. Only the four elected leadership positions are available now (the appointed positions will be opened up following the election).
The application form (
follow this link) contains information about the specific responsibilities of each of the four elected positions.
What follows is a general description of the entire Executive Branch’s role in SGA.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and Articulate SGA’s Vision and Priorities: The President takes the lead in establishing SGA’s vision and priorities for the year, working closely with the other elected officers of the Executive Branch and the leaders of the other branches. The President also takes the lead in identifying ways to improve SGA’s effectiveness as an organization, inspiring and organizing other officers to consider and implement upgrades to SGA’s policies, practices and training program. The elected officers of the Executive Branch play a central role in communicating SGA’s vision and priorities to campus leaders and the student body. The President especially is a visible spokesperson for the organization, giving a speech at Convocation, participating in the annual University Retreat and representing SGA in many other settings.
- Run Programs and Provide Services: Appointed staff members in the Executive Branch are specialists: charged with developing and implementing specific initiatives or managing information and communications about particular topics. For example, an assistant to the Treasurer might be tasked with maintaining a log of student organization funding requests and Finance Board allocations. The Director of Academic Affairs is responsible for programs and advocacy relating to students’ experiences inside the classroom, and staff members working for the Director can expect to be tasked with specific projects, or pieces of specific projects, in this area. The value of this setup is that it is relatively easy to coordinate and ensures maximum accountability: You always know exactly who is responsible for following through. It is especially useful in connection with ongoing programs and services, where the bulk of the creative planning work has already happened and the focus now is on implementation.
- Represent the Student Body: The President is the principal voice of the student body to audiences such as the campus administration, the media and state officials. The President also appoints student representatives to certain decision-making committees at UMBC and, with approval from the Senate, also chooses the student body’s representatives to the University System of Maryland Student Council and the Maryland Higher Education Commission Student Advisory Council.
- Manage SGA’s Internal Operations and Support the Senate and Finance Board: The elected leaders of the Executive Branch take the lead in ensuring that SGA members know their responsibilities, have the guidance and support they need, and communicate effectively as they learn about developments on campus and implement their initiatives. They identify and troubleshoot problems as they arise. The President takes the lead in planning and preparing for the fall and spring SGA Retreats. All members of the Executive Branch serve as resources (sources of information and helping hands) to the Senate and Finance Board as they fulfill their own responsibilities.
Guiding Philosophy: The Executive Branch is focused on action. It is organized to ensure maximum productivity, with clear lines of accountability.
While the elected members of the Executive Branch are highly visible, most members of the Executive Branch do the majority of their work behind the scenes, providing the crucial research, communication, relationship building and legwork needed to produce excellent programs, services and advocacy for students.
For the elected members of the Executive Branch, the focus of attention and activity is the total impact SGA is having on the well-being of UMBC students. They ask themselves, could we be functioning more effectively as an organization? What capabilities do we need to develop in order to provide better services, and how shall we develop them? Are we set up to connect with students in the ways that would serve them best, and if not, how should we adjust? How can we support individual SGA members in staying inspired and being as effective as they can be in their roles?
For the appointed members of the Executive Branch, the focus of attention and activity is the specific outcomes expected from their projects. They ask themselves, what are the steps I must take in order to accomplish the tasks that have been delegated to me? With whom do I need to develop relationships in order to position my projects for success? How can I communicate my progress and objectives in order to gain the support I need to succeed? How can I involve students outside of SGA in my work in order to maximize the impact of my projects?
Questions about the Executive Branch, or about running for a position in SGA? Send me an email at
dhoffman@umbc.edu. Be sure to get your
application in by the March 12th deadline!
NOTE: SGA candidate applications for 2010-2011 are due on Friday, March 12th. There are 20 available elected positions (President, Executive Vice President, Vice President for Student Organizations, Treasurer, 11 Senators, and 5 Finance Board Representatives). You can find more information and the application form here.
The SGA Finance Board
Membership: The Finance Board’s members include the Vice President for Student Organizations, the Treasurer, and five Representatives, all of whom are elected by the student body. In addition, the Finance Board can add up to three nonvoting First Year Ambassadors each fall. Also, the President, Executive Vice President and SGA Advisor, as well as UMBC’s President and Vice President for Student Affairs, are ex-officio (nonvoting) Finance Board members.
The voting members elect a Chair, who runs the weekly meetings and organizes the Finance Board’s work, and a Vice Chair who fills in when the Chair is absent.
Key Responsibilities:
- Allocating Funds to Student Organizations: The Finance Board is responsible for managing the portion of SGA’s annual budget that is set aside to support student organizations. Throughout the academic year, student organizations can request funds by completing an Allocation Request Form and submitting it to the Treasurer. The total amount requested each year is far larger than the total amount of funding available.
At its weekly meetings, the Finance Board reviews these forms and (for larger requests) meets with officers of the student organizations that submitted them, and considers whether each request meets the following criteria:
- The rules governing Finance Board allocations do not prohibit funding the request (i.e., it was not submitted after the deadline, the funds will not be used to purchase alcohol, the funds will not be donated to charity, etc.); and
- The proposed use of these funds is so worthwhile that the Finance Board is willing to turn down other requests in order to devote these funds to the group’s objective.
The Finance Board takes a vote on each request, approving it, disapproving it, or postponing consideration until a later date. A majority of members must vote in favor of a request in order to approve it. The President may veto allocations approved by the Finance Board, and the Finance Board can override the President’s veto by a 2/3 vote.
- Communicating with Student Organizations: The Finance Board communicates with student organizations about how to submit requests, the rules governing Finance Board allocations, what makes for a good request, and whether requests have been approved, disapproved or postponed.
- Participating in SGA Decision-Making: The Finance Board shares responsibility with the Senate and other SGA officers in connection with decisions about the annual budget, allocations from the SGA's reserve fund, and approval of certain appointed officers.
- Participating in SGA Initiatives and Activities: Finance Board members work with members of the other branches of SGA to contribute to positive change on campus. It is especially helpful when Finance Board members identify and develop ways to support student organizations more effectively, such as improvements to the event planning and implementation process.
Guiding Philosophy: Student organizations are key forums for students to participate in creating campus life and enhancing the experiences of every member of the UMBC community. When student organizations are active and inspired, they can energize the entire campus. When student organizations are poorly supported, confused and frustrated, their inability to contribute to campus life diminishes everyone’s experience.
However, because financial resources are limited, the Finance Board often finds itself in the position of saying “no” to student organization requests. Sometimes the Finance Board must decline requests for worthwhile activities simply because there is only so much money to go around, and the Finance Board wants to use it to support the most beneficial events and projects. By dealing fairly, openly and courteously with every request, and by making hard judgments to ensure that the available funds go to support the best initiatives, the Finance Board makes an important contribution to every UMBC student’s experience of campus life.
One of the Finance Board’s key concerns is being consistent in its judgments. Two groups with equally good track records who submit identical requests a couple of months apart should not receive different treatment, both because it would be unfair and because it would confuse other organizations about what the Finance Board is interested in funding. So with each decision, a part of what the Finance Board considers is whether it would be able to accommodate other groups making the same request. For example, if the Finance Board receives a request to pay for one group’s t-shirts, it should consider whether it would be willing to pay for any other group’s t-shirts if the circumstances were the same.
Questions about the Finance Board, or about running for a position in SGA? Send me an email at
dhoffman@umbc.edu. Be sure to get your
application in by the March 12th deadline!
I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are their responses.
Hometown: Waldorf, MD
Q: How long have you been at UMBC?
A: 3.5 years
Q: In 12 words or less, what role(s) do you play on campus?
A: I am a student involved with service, justice & leadership organizations/groups.
Q: What aspect of your UMBC role(s) do you enjoy most?
A: Involvement in leadership roles on campus has granted me intimate access to two opportunities that no purely academic class ever has:
- A chance to develop and process a constantly evolving understanding of myself and the people around me; and
- Innumerable opportunities to use that understanding along with the knowledge I gain in academic classes to make positive changes in the world around me.
Other than that, I really enjoy traveling for internships and service events. Having a free meal plan doesn’t hurt either. Believe me, I put it to good use.
Q: What is the most important or memorable thing you learned in college/have learned at UMBC?
A: Most important lessons: How to ask questions, how to express my feelings with words, and how to conjugate irregular verbs like “to wake” in English. I am actually still working on all of these lessons.
Most memorable lessons: When I was a sophomore I took a class called “Foundations of Leadership,” where we played a game called “Win as Much as You Can.” The lessons that I learned from that game hit me like a speeding bus when class ended. My brain had that feeling my mouth has after I eat a mint. Just in case someone may read this and then get the opportunity to play it, I will not divulge the lesson in full. However, I will say that if you understand it the way I understood it, you’ll never look at student organizations, bureaucracies, school cliques, international politics or any other group scenarios the same way again. It also changed the way I interact with friends that belong to organizations to which I do not.
Q: Complete this sentence: "I am a big fan of __________"
A: Controversial books, movies, ideas and personalities. Besides providing content to fill awkward silences with people I don’t know, I believe that you can tell a lot about a couple, a group of friends, neighbors and even a country by the way it resolves conflicts of ideas. I am also a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, Il Divo’s music and Oprah’s existence.
Q: Do you have any UMBC stories, little-known facts about UMBC, favorite spots on campus, or anything else you’d like to share?
A: My favorite spot on campus is very conventional, I’m afraid. It’s my room. I love having that place to retreat. I also have a great view. I can see how long the line is at the dining hall from my window, so I know whether I can walk the 100 ft from Potomac with just a sweatshirt or if I should put on a coat and trek to Chick-fil-a. J
Story: Last summer, I impulsively signed up for a 1-week Alternative School Break service trip to Patch Adams’ Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia as a replacement for someone who had dropped out of the group. Because I was a last minute addition, I didn’t get to attend any of the group prep-sessions or bonding activities, and had only been given a packing list, a departure/arrival schedule and notice that I would be doing gardening, cooking, cleaning and volunteer work.
I assumed that I’d be taking a bus with a big group of students to a gleaming new age medical facility in semi-rural West Virginia. I’d paint murals on recovery room walls and garden tomatoes or lettuce to supplement the cafeteria’s offerings. There was movie about these people, so I knew it was a pretty upscale and high-profile place, and I knew my family would approve of helping out in such an institution. Well, due to some miscommunication with a list-proc, I was not notified about a change to the departure date from UMBC, so I missed the bus. I told my mother what had happened, so we got directions and set out to drive the 7+ hours to Hillsboro, WV. Toward the end of the directions we began getting confused. For at least 30 minutes we’d been on meandering mountain roads with hairpin turns and narrow lanes that were difficult to pass, even with a Honda Civic. I thought, how on Earth does an ambulance make it to this hospital, especially during the harsh, icy Shenandoah winters? Then, at the last turn on the directions we entered a gravel road in the middle of a field.
Okay. There’s a problem with this scenario.
We assumed we were lost, but we were deep (DEEP) in rural West Virginia at night with no cell-phone service and hadn’t seen any other ethnic minorities for the past 3 hours, so we were uncomfortable asking for directions. Well, we asked anyway. We drove onto a horse farm and I asked the owner if she knew where Gesundheit was. She told me that the directions I had were accurate and that I was only about two miles from my destination. So we went back and followed the directions through the field past an abandoned fire truck, a three-story shack and a chicken coop to a huge wooden house whimsically shaped like a combination between a fleur-de-lis and bishop piece of a chess set (You find out why when you visit).
Hmmm, not what we expected, but UMBC student Jerome Graham was in the driveway waiting for us, so we were relieved to be at the right address. “Oh, okay! The volunteer housing and the medical center are in different locations. That makes sense: they needed lots of room for the farming, which could not be accommodated on the medical site,” I thought. He walked us over a bridge, past “the chrysalis” and into the house, where we were greeted by a barefooted woman dressed head-to-toe in tie-dye. We were escorted down to the basement where the orientation video was being played. The orientation video showed Patch Adams discussing his endeavors and achievements and then mentioned the hospital. He stated that the hospital was a part of a larger plan to change health care in the future, and something to the effect of “the hospital isn’t in brick and mortar yet, but it is real. It is in our minds.”
What?! I drove all the way out here to volunteer at a hospital that doesn’t exist?
Then the video showed people with PhDs and MDs wearing tie-dye with untamed hair talking about how “no one leaves Gesundheit the way they came,” and how Gesundheit changes minds and changes hearts with its unique “philosophies,” “mental challenges” and “opportunities.” I kept looking around and everyone in the room had a straight face as though they were expecting to hear all of this—except for my mother. Her discomfort was apparent. At that point my mother had heard all of the buzzwords she needed to confirm that she had just delivered her son to an acid-tripping hippie cult in West Virginia. And then it got better. The video showed Patch Adams and four other people pulling down their pants and launching bottle rockets from their anuses. Mom was no longer uncomfortable; she was shocked and appalled.
After the video, we all went to bed. Against her intuition, my mother left in the morning, trusting that I knew what I was getting myself into and that if something ever went wrong, I would know what to do. And from that point on, I had one of the best weeks of my life.
We all did maintenance on the Gesundheit grounds, performed hard labor setting up an enrichment/empowerment camp for academically talented girls, performed as clowns in a parade through a small town, and maintained an organic vegan diet (except for the day we ate fish that group mates had caught themselves and burgers made with buffalo meat). We met a man who refines his own bio-diesel, attended a concert by a classically trained piano/fiddle duo at the home of famous author Pearl Buck, and traveled to the palatial lodge of a former NIH scientist who abandoned his life in Maryland to travel around North America and create a nature education site that can only be reached by crossing a river in a high-mounted pick-up truck or a boat. Along the way we learned about the disparities between the urban/suburban and rural areas, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the repressed and the genders. Teamwork, collectivism, sacrifice, creativity, ethics and justice were all stressed and I discovered that everything we learned there applies to health care!
The video was right. I left West Virginia with perspectives that radically changed the way I see society and my place in it. I didn’t join a cult, but I did join a group of friends and mentors that challenged me to touch live worms (yuck!) so that I could go fishing, to learn to drive a stick-shift truck so that I could transport lumber from the chopping site to the firewood stacks, and to hug a live, territorial turkey because it could be done.
No standard volunteer shift at a high-end hospital in up-scale suburbs could have provided those opportunities, and because of that experience last summer, I joined the ASB planning team in the Fall so that I could do my part to ensure that more students get to experience the fulfillment that service has given me for the past 3 years.
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I’m asking some of the people you might encounter on the UMBC campus, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, to answer a few questions about themselves and their experiences. These are...
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