New BOT student member
Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: News
After two years serving on Pacific University's Board of Trustees, senior Kristen Croxford will be stepping down as the Board's only student member. The BOT narrowed down the search for a replacement from a pool of six sophomores to one: Nathan Gilpin.
Gilpin, an exercise science major, was recommended to Croxford as a potential candidate for the position. As a student member of the BOT, which meets four times a year, Gilpin will have a say in many of the major decisions that shape the future of the university. The board will officially vote on his membership at their next meeting, May 22.
"It was a big surprise," said Gilpin, about being approached as a BOT candidate. "I was immediately interested in the position. I started to get to know more about it [and] what a board of trustees for a University would even do."
Gilpin, who is a Pacific University Ambassador as well as a member of Pacific's Track and Field team, has tried in the past to be even more involved at Pacific, but nothing seemed to work out at the time.
"It's kind of funny, I applied for RA, but I didn't get it. I applied for co-lead of Ambassadors, but I didn't get that either," he said. Then I got this, really by surprise and by chance."
The position is a two-year commitment, which is why the BOT looks for new student members from the sophomore class. Pacific University is among the 2% of private institutions in the nation that include students and faculty as official board members.
"I've had so much fun in this role," said Croxford. "It's nice to be with people who care so much about the university. They care about the students - that's why I'm on the Board.
Croxford had a hand in dealing with a lot of hot topics at the decision-making level this 2008-2009 school year, which was filled with news about a logo change, the chance of football's comeback, and the search for a new president.
"There was a lot of transition this year, so the amount of background information I had to find to make informed decisions was a lot larger," said Croxford.
Gilpin, an exercise science major, was recommended to Croxford as a potential candidate for the position. As a student member of the BOT, which meets four times a year, Gilpin will have a say in many of the major decisions that shape the future of the university. The board will officially vote on his membership at their next meeting, May 22.
"It was a big surprise," said Gilpin, about being approached as a BOT candidate. "I was immediately interested in the position. I started to get to know more about it [and] what a board of trustees for a University would even do."
Gilpin, who is a Pacific University Ambassador as well as a member of Pacific's Track and Field team, has tried in the past to be even more involved at Pacific, but nothing seemed to work out at the time.
"It's kind of funny, I applied for RA, but I didn't get it. I applied for co-lead of Ambassadors, but I didn't get that either," he said. Then I got this, really by surprise and by chance."
The position is a two-year commitment, which is why the BOT looks for new student members from the sophomore class. Pacific University is among the 2% of private institutions in the nation that include students and faculty as official board members.
"I've had so much fun in this role," said Croxford. "It's nice to be with people who care so much about the university. They care about the students - that's why I'm on the Board.
Croxford had a hand in dealing with a lot of hot topics at the decision-making level this 2008-2009 school year, which was filled with news about a logo change, the chance of football's comeback, and the search for a new president.
"There was a lot of transition this year, so the amount of background information I had to find to make informed decisions was a lot larger," said Croxford.
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