Student Government Association:

Student Government Association is an organization at Texas A&M International University that serves as a link between the administrators and students to improve the quality of education and college experiences. SGA reached out to the TAMIU community to encourage feedback in order to address important issues or concerns.

Student Government Association is much like the United Sates government system. It consists of three branches of government, which are the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The organization is overseen by the President, Triana Gonzalez, and two advisors from the Office of Student Affairs, Jerry Alva and Miguel Trevino. It consists of 30 members divided into the three branches and the four colleges: A.R Sanchez, Jr. School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, Colleges of Education, College of Nursing and Health Sciences. The colleges are represented based on the number of students in each college. There are also for senators at large who represent the entire student body, Carlos Cortez, Jonathan Gutierrez, Jerry Perez, and Alejandro Ramirez.

Students can run for any position as long as it pertains to the college the students major pertains to. In order to run for senator of a particular college, the candidate must reach out to students and get a minimum of 100 signatures in order to enter the race. Usually, the incumbents run for positions such as, executive branch officers, judicial branch officers, and senators at large to represent the entire student body. The senators at large oversee the senators of each college. The amount of senators for each college is based on the amount of students enrolled in each college.  For example, there are approximately 2,000 students in the College of Arts and Sciences; therefore, seven senators represent the College of Arts and Sciences.  Four senators represent the School of Buisness, two senators represent the College of Education, and two senators represent the College of Nursing.  Elections are held every year in April at the end of the scholastic school year.  The voting process takes place online at www.onecard.tamiu.edu.

The issues being looked at this year by SGA include parking safety, Wi-Fi connections around the university, and possible extension of library hours during mid-term and final testing weeks. The main focus is to gain student input and participation in order to meet the concerns. They are looking at new ways to enhance and implement new and old traditions to gain school spirit. Talks and research are in the works about a possible football team to enhance TAMIU's school pride. "A football program is going to be very expensive and have a lot of planning. It's not necessarily going to be implemented this year, but we are going to set the ground work for it", says Triana Gonzalez, President of SGA.

SGA's main focus is to display what students want to better within the university. They are looking for feedback and have implemented an open door policy for any student wanting to voice their concerns and opinions. Meetings take place every Wednesday at 12:30pm in Student Center room 230. SGA can be followed on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Texas-AM-International-University-Student-Government-Associationwhich contains updates on meetings, issues and events. To join SGA, go by the SGA office located in the Student Center room 225 for an application. 

(For more information you may contact Elisa Zubeldia and Karla Olmos at eazubeldia@dusty.tamiu.edu; karla.olmos@dusty.tamiu.edu)