A new senator position will be added into Undergraduate Student Government next semester to represent the College of Public Health.

“It’s necessary to have the student voice represented to faculty and administration of any college,” said Kevin Papp, director of governmental affairs. “And college senators provide just that: service.”

The position for senator of the College of Public Health will be on the upcoming election’s ballot for next year’s government, Papp said.

The College of Public Health entered the university in 2009 and enrollment is growing, said Thomas Brewer, an associate professor in the College of Public Health.

160 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the college last fall, which was the first semester it was available. Enrollment in the undergraduate courses for this semester is up at the Kent campus by 53 percent and 266 percent at regional campuses, Brewer said.

“I understand how important student government is at the university,” Brewer said. “Kent State, as an institution, has a long history of shared government.”

Sitting on the undergraduate student government are 25 senators and directors. Of those 25, four are senators at large who serve as a liaison between the undergraduate student government and undergraduate students at the Kent campus, according to the USG Bylaws.

The USG has the freedom to use the senators at large in whichever way they wish, Papp said. With a need for a seat for the College of Public Health, a senator for public health will replace one senator at large.

Nick Staudacher, sophomore integrated social studies major, was in agreement with adding the school onto the USG board of senators.

“It’s a good idea if this college is represented,” Staudacher said.

Brewer said he agreed that if all the other colleges are represented, the College of Public Health should be too.

“Certainly public health, being a full-fledged college in the university now, should have representation,” Brewer said.

Contact Caitlin Restelli at [email protected].