Everyone deserves the opportunity to have their voice heard, especially when it comes to their education — that’s Nicole McAllister’s philosophy.
This semester, McAllister, a senior political science major and the director of university affairs for Associated Students, wants students just like her have a say in what happens on their campus.
McAllister applied to Chico State at the age of 17. She said she loved the warm essence of a homely environment the campus gave off.
Four years later, she now sits on the Academic Senate, where she gets to vote on decisions the university makes on education.
“I am the student voice for university academics,” McAllister said.
Sitting on education-related committees gives McAllister a chance to affect the curriculum for students, she said. During a meeting of the Education Policies and Programs Committee, she cast a vote in favor of changing the name of the interior design major to interior architecture to better reflect the education students could receive.
“Just the name of the major itself can help them get better jobs and make them more marketable,” she said.
McAllister is one of the two students who help make serious decisions dealing with campus education issues. If there are faculty members that represent each college on campus, there should be students as well, she said.
“The university exists to serve the student,” McAllister said. “We are here to make it the best our campus can be. I am very passionate about the student voice.”
McAllister is planning on getting student representatives from each of the campus colleges and hopes to increase the student involvement on the Academic Senate.
In McAllister’s first year of college, she decided she was not going to graduate in four years. Now that she has two years of experience as an A.S. officer, she does not regret that decision.
“College is not a diploma mill where you just take classes and then graduate,” McAllister said. “It’s where you build relationships and make memories. It is hard to not be involved around campus. I made it a point to not graduate in four years because I want to get the most out of my college experience.”
DJ Morris can be reached at [email protected] or @djthejournalist on Twitter.
