Famesh Patel
Working with the Honors College, the College of Science (B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science), and various other organizations on campus has given me the various tools and nuanced perspectives to best serve the students in the College of Science at the University of Arizona. I hope I will be able to improve on our weaknesses, while also augmenting our successes.
I want to bring funding for the different clubs, student ideas, and events focused more on retention rather than recruitment. I know the University spends a lot of effort recruiting amazing students into the College of Science but I want to give more attention to the current students of the College of Science. I will be working to change that and make current students feel like they made the right decision to join the College of Science through interactive events and discussions with students. I want students to be able to thrive and I believe that will be possible by spending funds on various clubs attached to certain majors, giving funding to “idea incubators”, and even funding bigger events for current students to meet their peers and build a sense of community. I believe these efforts will help in improving the sense of community and student development within the College of Science.
Along with funding the innovative ideas of our students, I want to be able to bring the students closer to the faculty without the fear of being a burden, closer to their peers without fear of rejection, and closer to more opportunities without fear of missing out. Talking within the departments to help bring all the various opportunities to students through things such as focused career fairs, faculty-student “potlucks”, and major “field trips”, will be one of my many goals. I will use all my connections and knowledge of the medical school, grad school, Honors College, and College of Science to bring together all the best things this University has to offer. All these changes will hopefully make the information that will inevitably shape a student’s career path much more accessible for all the students so they can feel more successful during college and even after they graduate.
Along with these very College specific changes, I want to be able to make smaller, but still important changes around campus, such as making the library open 24/7, bringing more student job opportunities, and improving on office hour/think tank tutoring methods.College of Science majors will benefit a lot from these changes, but I don’t think these changes should be gatekept from other majors that could benefit from them.
In my term as College of Science Senator, I want to focus on the students. This University is usually people’s second home away from home and I want everyone to thrive here. If I am voted to be your Senator, I will work with the students and change my goals to be receptive to your needs as the College of Science continues to change over the years.