Students' Association Senators
The Students' Association Senate is comprised of 26 senators serving the seven different academic colleges. If an academic college doesn't fill all of its seats Senators At-Large are sworn in to fill empty seats. Additionally, an executive team is formed at the beginning of each term to serve as senate leadership including the student body president and vice president.
Committees: Finance Committee, Government Affairs Committee, Organizational Subcommittee and University Activity Fee and Budgeting Committee (UAFBC) (Chair)
Year: Senior | Major(s): Political Science and Agricultural Leadership
Campus Involvement: 2021–2022 South Dakota State FFA officer, 100th Little International staff, admissions ambassador and Honors College.
Committees: Finance Committee, Government Affairs Committee and University Activity Fee and Budgeting Committee (UAFBC)
Year: Junior| Major(s): Human Biology and Business Economics
Campus Involvement: Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, Fishback Honors College, Honors Dean's Student Advisory Council, Pre-Dental Club and Admissions ambassador
Committees: Safety and Security Committee, Student Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Student Union Advisory Committee (SUAC)
Year: Senior | Major(s): Nursing
Campus Involvement: Nursing ambassador, Admissions ambassador and Student Nurses' Association
Committees: Finance Committee (Chair), University Activity Fee and Budgeting Committee (UAFBC) and Student Promotions Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Agricultural Business and Business Economics
Campus Involvement: Collegiate Cattlemen's Club and Collegiate Farm Bureau
Committees: Government Affairs Committee (Chair), Student Union Advisory Committee (SUAC) and Student Promotions (Chair)
Year: Junior | Major(s): English and Political Science
Campus Involvement: Hobo Day Committee, Taylor Swift Society, Lead State and Honors College
Committees: Senate Communications Committee (Chair), Strategic Internal Communications Committee and Wellness Center Advisory Committee (WCAC)
Year: Senior | Major(s): Agricultural Communications
Campus Involvement: Little International, Collegiate Cattlemen's Club and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow
Committees: Access, Opportunity and Belonging Committee, Finance Committee, Government Affairs Committee and Student Diversity and Inclusion Committee (Chair)
Year: Senior | Major(s): Global Studies
Campus Involvement: Latin American Students Association (vice president) and School of American
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
Wesley Siira
Committees: Finance Committee, Safety and Security Committee, and Student Promotion Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Animal Science and Agricultural Science
Campus Involvement: Little International, Farmhouse Fraternity, and Agronomy and Precision Agriculture Club
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Madeline Brink
Committees: Campus Planning and Sustainability Committee, Parking and Traffic Committee and Government Affairs Committee
Year: Senior | Major(s): Political Science
Campus Involvement: Concert Choir, Symphony Orchestra and Pre-Law Society
College of Education and Human Services
No Current Senators
Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering
Grant Sternhagen
Committees: Finance Committee, Information Technology Committee, Academic Appeals Committee, and Safety and Security Committee
Year: Senior | Major(s): Computer Science
Campus Involvement: Joint Engineering Council, ACM and Engineering Summer Camp
Moises Dereconfort
Committees: Intercollegiate Athletic Board, Access, Opportunity and Belonging Committee, and Campus Planning and Sustainability Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Construction Management
Campus Involvement: Admissions ambassador, community assistant and Construction Club and BSA
Mason Pulse
Committees: University Activity Fee and Budgeting Committee (UAFBC), University Food Service Advisory Committee (UFSAC) and Finance Committee.
Year: Sophomore | Major(s): Physics and Mathematics
Campus Involvement: Hobo Day Committee, Society of Physics Students and Honors Hall Government
College of Natural Sciences
Victoria Vazquez
Committees: Wellness Center Advisory Committee (WCAC), SDState Health Committee and Academic Affairs Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Human Biology and Business Economics
Campus Involvement: New Student Orientation leader and Prairie Doc assistant
Matthew Schell
Committees: Intercollegiate Athletic Board, Finance Committee, and Safety and Security Committee
Year: Senior | Major(s): Biochemistry, Chemistry and Biology
Campus Involvement: Chemistry Club, On-Call with the Prairie Doc intern, Anatomy Dissection Team, HCSO, Pickle Ball Club and undergraduate research in RAWC Lab
College of Nursing
Grace Barnett
Committees: University Activity Fee and Budgeting Committee (UAFBC), Library Committee and Government Affairs Committee
Year: Sophomore | Major(s): Nursing
Campus Involvement: Fishback Honors College, Pope Pius XII Newman Center, Hobo Day Committee and Taylor Swift Society
College of Pharmacy and Allied Health
No Current Senators
Senators for the Graduate School
No Current Senators
Senator Blake Gibney
Blake Gibney
Committees: Government Affairs Committee and Academic Affairs Committee
Year: Senior | Major(s): Communications
Campus Involvement: Sigma Epsilon Omega, ROTC, Order of Omega, NSCS and Honors College
Senator Taylor Tennant
Taylor Tennant
Committees: Senate Communications Committee, Finance Committee and Strategic Internal Communications Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Agricultural Communications and Journalism
Campus Involvement: Collegian reporter, Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, and FFA Alumni and Agricultural Education Club
Senator Alex Schemek
Alex Schemek
Committees: Campus Planning and Sustainability Committee, Library Committee and Government Affairs Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Biochemistry and Microbiology
Campus Involvement: American Medical Student Association, Pre-Pro, Pride of the Dakotas, community assistant, Chemistry Club and Honors College
Senator McKenzie Hofer
McKenzie Hofer
Committees: Strategic Internal Communications Committee, Safety and Security Committee and Senate Communications Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): History and Communications
Campus Involvement: Concert Choir, Pride of the Dakotas, global ambassador, Jacks for Life and Swing Dance Club
Senator Brandon Kampsen
Brandon Kampsen
Committees: Information Technology Committee, University Food Service Advisory Committee (UFSAC) and Wellness Center Advisory Committee
Year: Sophomore | Major(s): Computer Science and Business Economics Leadership
Campus Involvement: Cross Country, Track and Field, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Fishback Honors College, and Association of Computing Machinery
Senator Emily Robbins
Committees: Academic Appeals Committee, Student Promotion Committee, Finance Committee and Senate Communications Committee
Year: Sophomore | Major(s): Agricultural Business
Campus Involvement: College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences ambassador, Alpha Zeta, Collegiate Farm Bureau, Lamb and Wool Club and Collegiate Cattlemen's Club
Senator Emma Peterson
Emma Peterson
Committees: Academic Appeals Committee, Library Committee, Senate Communications Committee, and Senate Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Year: Freshman | Major(s): Agricultural Business and Business Economics
Campus Involvement: N/A
Senator Eleanor Wehseler
Eleanor Wehseler
Committees: Student Success Committee, Government Affairs Committee and Senate Communications Committee
Year: Junior | Major(s): Agricultural Communications and Public Relations
Campus Involvement: Admissions ambassador and Hobo Day Committee
Senator Sophie Spier
Sophie Spier
Committees: Organizational Subcommittee, Finance Committee and Student Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Year: Freshman | Major(s): Pre-Pharmacy
Campus Involvement: Student Collaboration for the Advancement and Promotion of Pharmacy, Kappa Eplison Service Committee co-chair and Feminist Equality Movement
Elections for Students' Association senators and the student body president and vice president are held in March. Petitions for the election generally become available in February. In order to run in the senatorial election, a student must file an application and petition including signatures from at least 50 students in their academic college (25 signatures for senatorial candidates from the Graduate School). Information about Students' Association elections will be available in the Rabbit Report leading up to the election and on the Students' Association website.
Occasionally, Senate seats will become vacant during the academic year. In these cases, seats will be filled by Senators-At-Large appointed by the Students' Association Board of Directors. Senator-At-Large candidates must file an application and petition including signatures from at least 50 SDSU students regardless of their academic college. When Senator-At-Large positions are open, information will be included in the Rabbit Report and the Students' Association website.
