Applications for the Texas State University System’s student regent position are available for students interested in being appointed as the voice of the university.
The student regent position is a non-voting position within the Board of Regents, the governing body within the Texas State University System. Individuals must maintain a 3.0 GPA throughout the term, and must be a student the whole term.
Competition is not only among SHSU students, but also among all applicants of the universities under the Texas State University System.
“The way it is broken up you have three systems: the UT system, the A&M system, and the Texas State University system, which SHSU falls under. There are a bunch of universities [which fall under each system]. In total, I believe it comes to ten universities and systems combined. In each of those, the Governor appoints one student to be on that board,” Current Student Regent Nicole Lozano said.
SHSU falls under the system comprised of Texas State University- San Marcos, Sul Ross State University, Sul Ross University Rio Grande College, Lamar University, Lamar Institute of Technology, Lamar State College-Port Arthur and Lamar State College-Orange.
“Last year when this came around, they picked myself out of the students that applied for the position, and I took seat June 1st. The board of regents is made up of college graduates who have done amazing things in their field, but they are very much business people. Sometimes you can lose focus of what the students really want or desire. The student regent is there to kind of bring that into the fold,” Lozano said.
Governor Rick Perry created the position in 2005, so students could have their representation taken into consideration.
“It was [created] to give students a voice on the board. The best avenue for that was for the students to gain a voice in the higher level of the system, and to give the students a really good representation,” Student Service’s Debbie Nichols said.
Student Government reviews the applications sent in for the position.
“They recommend however many applications we get and depending on the qualifications that are listed in the application form they’ll recommend nominations to us. They can recommend up to five applicants to the president of the university, who makes those recommendations to chancellor of our system and then the chancellor sends those recommendations to the Governor. The governor has the last say, he’s the one that selects the regent from the university’s recommendation,” Nichols said.
Despite the nightmare of a long application, Lozano recommends the position to anybody.
“Just do it. Just sit down and do it. It is not as scary as it seems. I encourage anybody to apply for it. It is definitely a worthwhile experience, and I wouldn’t trade the fact that I am doing it for anything,” she said.