Who are we? Why are we here?
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"I’m running for President because I love this University, this community, and the sense of pride we should all take away from being here as students."
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"I want to be your Vice President because I know what the SGA could be, what we could do, to best position students and best project student voices."
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Tim Conceison is a junior Operations & Information Management Major from Littleton, Massachusetts. The current SGA Secretary of Finance, Tim has spent the entirety of his undergraduate career in the SGA working to support student groups. Beginning in his first year, Tim worked to shift the SGA’s budgeting system from one centered around an archaic Excel workbook and minimal student oversight to its current state. Today, every RSO Council is afforded the opportunity to establish Budget Recommendation Committees which allow for correspondence directly between the Ways & Means Committee and the council’s members on a user-friendly platform. As a result of these committees, organizations are able to have their requests reviewed and improved by a body of their peers who are the true experts relative to their councils: from Club Sports to Service & Engagement.
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Jake is a Sophomore Political Science and Legal Studies double major with a minor in Chinese. Jake is currently the Chair of the Finance Committee, Undersecretary of the Registry, as well as the President of the Baker, Chadbourne, Greenough House Council and the SGA Liaison to the Residence Hall Association. Through his work on the Finance Committee, Jake has streamlined and simplified the Emergency Finance process, eliminating the need for confusing excel documents as well as reducing the time it takes to receive funding from weeks to days. Additionally, under Jake, the Finance Committee created a new process in which student organizations can receive loans in the form of revenue funding, expanding the ways in which the SGA is able to help our student groups.
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As a result of this improved system, Ways & Means has been able to fund groups at higher rates, leading to a record $3.3 million being awarded to RSOs and Agencies for the current fiscal year, all without raising a penny in fees. Of all the fees we pay to attend UMass, only one is controlled directly by the students: the Student Activities Fee. Controlled by the Ways & Means Committee and the Senate body, all of this funding is overseen directly by the Secretary of Finance. Tim is the best-equipped candidate to handle the financial oversight of the Student Union Renovation and to fight against needless tuition and fee increases, because he’s done so for the past three years.
Actions speak louder than words, and Tim’s proven track record in empowering students and consultation alongside administrators such as the Vice Chancellor of Administration & Finance, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs & Campus Life, the Director of Student Activities and Engagement and UMass System President Marty Meehan. Here, Tim has consistently fought in the best interests of students, proving he is the best-equipped candidate for the office of SGA President. |
In his experience working with Student Businesses, RSOs, and agencies, as well as his experience as the Chair of the Finance Committee, Undersecretary of the Registry, President of the Baker-Chadbourne-Greenough House Council, Student Representative on the ECSA grant giving board, and the SGA Liaison to the Residence Hall Association, Jake is uniquely qualified to serve in the roll of Vice President.
Jake actually understands the position and has a succinct action plan to make real, measurable change upon taking office. |