The new ASUO Executive Staff was announced by ASUO President Laura Hinman Monday, and the new members are already excited to begin working. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Laura*Hinman@@
University junior Greg McAteer was appointed to a newly created position called Legislative Affairs Director. His job is to work to let the ASUO know about legislation or bills that affect students on a financial basis. Since McAteer has held internships with state senators in Seattle, he believes this kind of work is right up his ally. @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12@@ @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Greg*McAteer@@
“Laura came to me and said she really wanted me to fly with this,” he said.
McAteer has never been a part of student government, but is excited to begin.
“I am excited to get some fresh faces in the ASUO,” he said. “I am also excited to see what Laura has planned.”
In the past, the ASUO had one communications director, but Hinman decided to split in half. The two sides are a Personal Relations Director and a Media Coordinator. Filling the PR position is Brian Bradley, who will be working closely with the Emerald and other news outlets around the campus and the community. He also has a role in helping Executive members work with language on certain policies they will be writing. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Brian*Bradley@@
“I am excited to work with the staff,” Bradley said. “We have a very diverse Executive staff.”
Bradley said he has been working closely with the Media Coordinator and they have figured out which roles each position will play and ways to make both positions as effective as possible.
“We have known what we want to do and how to do it,” Bradley said. “We also talked about ways to make these positions as big as possible.”
A position that ASUO Vice President Nick McCain is excited about is the academic affairs director, which will be held by former ASUO Senate president Harlan Mechling. Mechling will be responsible for obtaining relationships with the academic senators and attending University Senate. Since he has a personal relationship with University Senate President Robert Kyr, Mechling hopes he can open the channels of communication between ASUO Senate and University Senate. @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Harlan*Mechling@@ @@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Robert*Kyr@@
One thing Mechling said he will have to get used to as an Executive member is working under a boss and taking orders from people.
“In Senate, I worked for the constituency, but never really had a boss,” Mechling said. “I’m excited to work in a team setting. This will be more of a team sport.”
He is also looking forward to working with a lot of people from fraternity and sorority life. Mechling is a member of Phi Delta Theta and says he has a lot of common with many of the new members of the Executive.