The University of Maryland’s Residence Hall Association announced its new executive board at its final meeting of the school year Tuesday night.
Cana Curtis will serve as student groups and organizations liaison, Valerie Kologrivov as national communications coordinator, Bryan Gallion as chief information officer, Helen Liu as public relations and outreach officer, Celeste Corona as finance and philanthropy officer and Annie Bao as administrative officer.
Former student groups and organizations liaison Dana Rodriguez and senator-at-large Tzvi Glazer assumed their new roles as president and vice president, respectively, on May 2.
Curtis, a freshman criminal justice and math major, will replace Rodriguez as student groups and organizations liaison. She hopes to promote health and wellness on campus.
“This organization really directly affects the lives of residents on campus, and I think everyone deserves accessibility for exercising and eating right,” Curtis said.
Kologrivov, a sophomore government and politics major who served as chief information officer this year, will assume the role of national communications coordinator for the upcoming year.
Kologrivov’s primary duty will be communicating with other residence hall associations in the region and the country, according to the RHA Senate executive board’s webpage.
Former national communications coordinator and sophomore government and politics and management major Rick Mikulis said he feels “incredibly confident” that Kologrivov will take her new position “to even greater heights,” both regionally and nationally.
“I want to further make a presence in the region for Maryland RHA and form more relationships with people in RHA,” said Kologrivov, a sophomore economics and government and politics major. “I’m excited about representing [the University of] Maryland and showing other schools what we do best.”
[Read more: UMD RHA Senate has chosen its leadership for the next academic year]
Kologrivov will pass along her former position as chief information officer to Gallion, a sophomore journalism major. He’ll be responsible for maintaining the RHA’s website and the Hall/Area of the Semester database, an internal point system that incentivizes councils.
One of Gallion’s goals will be to revamp RHA’s website, he said.
“I think it could better represent what we do. I want it to be more transparent in our actions,” Gallion said. “I’m going to work toward archiving a lot of the stuff we’ve done in the past, and continue that tradition moving forward.”
Liu, a junior information systems and marketing major, will retain the position she held this year as public relations and outreach officer. Her goals for next year include increasing traffic on the RHA’s Facebook page and building stronger relations within and between senate hall and area councils.
“The Leonardtown and Courtyards [hall and area councils] are what we call ‘satellite councils.’ They’re kind of isolated from the main campus,” Liu said. “One of my goals is to figure out how to get these two councils more involved and more invested in RHA.”
Liu said her position has taught her a lot about advocacy-related marketing, and that the constant need to communicate with others has allowed her to “come out of [her] shell.”
Corona, a freshman environmental science and policy and government and politics major, will serve as finance and philanthropy officer next year.
This year, Corona served as the RHA’s Sustainability Committee chair — the same position her predecessor, environmental science and policy major Samantha Bingaman, held her freshman year. Bingaman said Corona’s passion for environmental issues will drive her philanthropy efforts.
“I hope to work with various organizations in relation to philanthropic endeavors, like raising awareness of food deserts in College Park,” Corona said. “I hope to continue helping out with sustainability and sustainability policy in RHA.”
“[Corona] is definitely in tune to a lot of social and environmental justice issues, and I think that’s something that any philanthropy officer really needs to be focused on on this campus,” Bingaman said.
[Read more: UMD RHA unanimously approves resolution to expand diversity and inclusion efforts]
Bao, a freshman computer science major, will take on sophomore psychology major Emily Franzone’s former role as administrative officer. The administrative officer is primarily responsible for overseeing logistical components, such as keeping attendance and tracking minutes during meetings.
Bao, who served as president of the Cumberland Hall Council this year, said she is excited to put her newly gained leadership, communication and organizational skills to use.
“I’m looking forward to getting to work with all of RHA as a whole this time around, instead of just with my one council,” Bao said.
Glazer appointed freshman government and politics major Daniel Laffin, sophomore government and politics major Ben Reichard, junior kinesiology major Cairan George and freshman economics and government and politics major Rachel Hanrahan to serve as next year’s senators-at-large, according to a resolution he authored. These students were selected at the meeting with the necessary two-thirds approval from the new senate.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified Helen Liu as a senior information systems and marketing major. She is a junior information systems and marketing major. Additionally, due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated Annie Bao served as vice president of the Cumberland Hall Council this year. She served as president. This story has been updated.
