Vice President of Financial Affairs

Statement:

As a person who is passionate about empowering graduate students and the communities that we belong to, I understand that effective management of finances and allocation of funds are essential to support graduate students' pursuit of higher education. Importantly, many students that attend UCSB are from historically marginalized communities (e.g., first generation, low income, BIPOC, etc.). In order to retain graduate students from diverse backgrounds, it is essential to provide different forms of financial support as they innovatively transform their field and contribute to the wellbeing of our society. Within my various leadership roles, I have worked with different teams to help fundraise and host philanthropy events for student organizations as well as manage federally funded grant programs. Currently, I serve as president to a graduate student organization on campus (i.e., Unity in Diversity Graduate Network) in addition to serving as co-chair for the graduate student committee with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). If elected, I would use my experiences in leadership to do the following: 1) provide a platform to uplift and acknowledge graduate students' voices in financial decision-making processes, 2) conduct a community needs assessment to ensure our resources are used efficiently, 3) prioritize the responsibilities of the organization with other committees and administration on campus, and 4) explore new opportunities for allocation of funds to best connect graduate students to resources while maintaining transparency and accountability in all financial matters.