The Tennessee Board of Regents is looking for a new student representative. Applications must be turned in by Feb. 25.
The elected student will attend all board meetings, communicate with stakeholders and travel throughout the state as needed. The student regent is in charge of letting policymakers know the views of students.
The current student regent is 20-year-old Nick Russell.
The junior studies mechanical engineering at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville.
“This position has been one of the greatest honors and learning experiences in my life,” Russell said. “By far my favorite part of being regent is the people I have gotten to meet. Everyone at the Board of Regents has been a professional who really cares about students.”
The Board of Regents is the governing body for most of Tennessee’s public higher education institutions and is responsible for almost 200,000 students.
The student representative serves for only one year. “I wish student regents had two-year terms, so they had more time to become acquainted with the position. The learning curve is large,” Russell said.
Most students at the University of Memphis already meet at least two of the requirements: they must be a resident of Tennessee and study full-time at one of the TBR’s institutions.
Apart from that, applicants must have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, be in good judicial standing and have or have had a leading role in a Student Government Association.
Russell has some advice for his successor.
“I would recommend the next student regent to schedule themself in such a way to have a lot of time to devote to the role because there are so many ways you can give back and learn from this position,” he said.
