Junior psychology major hopes to provide student insight to top governing body

One day, junior Erin West was a typical psychology major.

The next day, she was sitting on the Board of Trustees of the third largest university in the state.

“It was a little overwhelming,” said West, the latest undergraduate student appointee to the board.

She attended the board meeting Wednesday after finding out she got the job two days earlier.

“I got a call from (board secretary) Charlene (Reed), and she said, ‘In case no one has informed you, you are the new student trustee,'” West said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, good to know.'”

After applying for the position at the end of 2007, a committee reviewed the applicants and made recommendations to Gov. Ted Strickland, who has the ultimate decision.

West was supposed to find out if she would serve on the board in August, but never got the memo. So without much preparation, she was thrown into the world of finances and management.

“Very important people,” West said, remembering her first meeting. “I kind of felt a little out of place, but I like it. Everybody is very nice.”

Reed spoke with her only briefly, but she said she is happy with West, whom the recommendation committee ranked at the top of its final candidates.

“I thought she was obviously very bright,” Reed said. “She seems like the type of student you want to have as a student trustee.”

West doesn’t vote on resolutions, but she serves on committees and offers input.

“Hopefully I can give them some kind of insight,” she said. “None of them are students here. I don’t want to say none of them are in tune with the student body because I’m sure they are. But they’re not 20.”

West is on the External Relations and Development Committee and the Academic Excellence and Student Success Committee.

“More than anything, I just think it’s going to be a really good experience,” she said.

Contact administration reporter Ben Wolford at [email protected].