The Kent State Undergraduate Student Government is looking for ambitious undergrads to represent their college in the USG senate.

USG executive director Evan Gildenblatt said he encourages all students who have the best intentions of their college to go out and get the 210 signatures required to run.

“Really what we need are dedicated students,” Gildenblatt said. “Whether it be as a college senator, or director, or an appointed senator, each and every USG representative has his or her own mission throughout the year, and ultimately, what it comes down to is enriching the lives and the university experience of all of the undergraduate students.”

Any student interested must be taking eight undergraduate credit hours or more, be maintaining an academic GPA of 2.25 and not be on academic probation or semester warning in order to run for a USG position.

USG advisor Donna Carlton echoed what Gildenblatt had to say, but said she is looking for students that have new ideas to offer not just to their college but to the university as a whole.

“(We are looking for students) to bring fresh ideas and be representative on numerous committees across the university,” Carlton said.

Gildenblatt has appointed Hanna Wiese, director of student advancement, to be this year’s election commissioner.

Students who want to run must have all of their application materials to the USG office in the Student Center by 5 p.m. Feb. 6.

After the application deadline, campaigning will officially kickoff Feb. 8 at 12:01 a.m. Candidates will have a little less than a month to campaign until the March 5 election day.

“It’s vital for the candidates to reach out to all of their constituents, not only so that they can better understand what their mission should be if they are elected, but also to put a better public face to what we’re doing here,” Gildenblatt said. “Really all students should be aware of the resources they have through USG.”

Gildenblatt said that one of the biggest enjoyments that he got out of the campaigning and application process was meeting people that he would later represent to get to know them better.

“For me, it was an opportunity to go out each time that I ran and meet new people,” Gildenblatt said. “I would try to get as many strangers as I could to sign my petition because it enabled me to talk to them about why I thought I’d be a good candidate.”

All of the information to apply and important meeting dates can be found on the USG website at www.usg.kent.edu. Even if you are a student who is skeptical about the process of acquiring signatures and running, both Gildenblatt and Carlton gave the advice to just go for it.

“Basically if they are excited and it’s something they feel like they have the time to do and are interested in: Do it,” Carlton said. “If it’s something that you’re thinking about, obviously it’s something that you’ve already done some research on and you have an interest in it.”

Contact Matt Lofgren at [email protected].