As the semester winds down, the Creighton Students Union executive officers will step down from their positions and new ones will replace them. The University has already elected a new president and vice president of student affairs. Now a new vice president of finance is on the way.
Kelly Nash, Business sophomore, has been nominated to succeed Dillon Miskimins, Business junior, as the next vice president of finance for CSU.
Nash is currently the creative marketing director for CSU program board.
The vice president of finance is responsible for CSU’s budget and chairs the finance committee. The committee handles funding requests from student organizations. The vice president also does the audit at the end of the year.
A nominating committee selects the vice president of finance from a pool of applicants (four people applied this year). The committee is made up of the four outgoing executives and the two newly elected executives. CSU adviser Michelle Starzyk also advised the committee but did not have a vote.
Nash said she applied because she wants to serve CSU in a larger capacity.
“I applied because I really [am enjoying] my time on program board,” she said. “I served as the VP of finance in administration in Gallagher Hall last year, so I’ve had some experience in dealing with students’ money and their funds and providing events for them.”
She also said she looks forward to helping CSU resolve issues affecting campus, much in the same way Miskimins served on the recycling committee.
CSU president, Business senior and former CSU vice president of finance Micah White said the nominating committee was looking for a candidate with passion for CSU and students. She said the committee also considered the candidates’ backgrounds and skills in finance, but those were relatively low priorities because those skills can be learned.
“We picked Kelly because we know she has a strong commitment to students — She’s a very intelligent, organized individual,” White said. “That was pretty much the whole package for us.”
On Dec. 7, the CSU Cabinet will decide whether to officially appoint Nash as the next vice president of finance. The cabinet is made up of the presidents of the student governments for every school on campus, including Nursing, Business, Arts & Sciences and the professional schools.
“The cabinet will evaluate our position and decide for themselves whether or not she’s a good candidate,” White said.
If Nash receives five votes out of eight, she will be appointed.
Nash said her big goals for her term include widening the number of groups who petition CSU for funding.
“My goal is really to get more student organizations to apply for funding,” she said. “I want students to know that this is their money and it’s there for them.
“I want a wider variety of groups so that a wider variety of students can benefit from the funding, as well as when new student organizations are created, I want them to be aware that this funding is there for them.”
However, Nash said, that being vice president will bring some challenges, such as the technical aspects accompanying the new position.
“I’ve heard from talking to to the other executives that this is the most technically-advanced position because of all the paperwork and such you have to deal with,” she said.
She also said she wants to make CSU more visible to the student body.
“I think one of the issues that CSU is tackling now is constituent relations and just letting students know who the members of CSU are and what we can do for them, because everybody there is willing to act and willing to serve. We just need to know what the students would like us to do,” she said.
White said the university can look forward to Nash’s term as vice president because she will be responsive to student concerns.
Ultimately, Nash said she and the other new executives are looking forward to their next year of service.
“I am very excited,” she said. “We’re all very excited.”