New Student Body President is in ME

ME sophomore Bradley Tran is the first engineering student to serve as president of the student body at the University of Illinois. The former treasurer of the Illinois Student Senate was elected by fellow senators on Thursday, April 9, and will begin his new term as president on Thursday, April 16.

As the senate's treasurer, Tran oversaw the senate's finances, maintained accurate records, established a successful process for requesting funds, drafted a process and metrics for reviewing expenditure requests, prepared reports and served as a member of the University Budget Committee. In his new role as president, he plans to focus on building internal and external relationships and enhancing transparency. "Many students don't even know what the senate does," he said. "I want to make sure that our actions are visible and that we actively engage students and the larger community."

Toward that end, Tran plans to produce a periodic newsletter for students and to make weekly executive board reports accessible to students, administrators and others in the Illinois community. He additionally intends to increase outreach events for students, increase the senate's interaction and collaboration with other registered student organizations, establish a closer relationship with other Illinois campuses, maintain the relationship with the other Big 10 school student governments, enhance the senate Web site, and host senate social events to encourage teambuilding.

Tran said his greatest challenge as senate president will lie in "remembering that I'm a student." As treasurer, he logged about 20 hours a week, and he is likely to devote even more time in his new role as president.

Still, there are few things Tran would rather do. A former high school class president who served as president of the student body during his senior year, he finds it "exciting to be in a role that's so focused on students and issues that are important to them."