Christina Shatford
Hi everyone, I’m Christina Shatford, a G4 in computer science. I’m running for External Relations Delegate because I love the Lakeside community and believe that I have the skills and experience necessary to make a meaningful impact in the role.
As an undergrad, I ran the student advisory board for the math department and was the student liaison for the math tutoring center. I have experience advocating for the needs of those I represent and am always ready to push for their voices to be heard and changes to be made.
As the Lakeside External Relations Delegate, I would bring Lakeside residents’ concerns to all relevant external bodies and continually check in to ensure that they are being addressed in a timely manner. In particular, as someone who lives in a townhouse that has experienced HVAC issues, a broken dishwasher, a broken washer, a broken door lock, and other problems, I know how frustrating it can be when there is no clear communication (or any communication) about repairs. That’s why I would ensure that the move toward providing more communication from ACC and Facilities continues.
Thank you for reading, I hope you consider voting for me!
Carla Crucianelli
Hello everyone! I’m Carla, I’m a G4 in ORFE. This is my third year living in Lakeside and I’m happy to be able to call this place my home. I’m excited to be running for External Relations Delegate.
Why am I running?
I want to construct a community where everyone feels heard and valued and at home. I believe that serving in the committee is one of the best ways to give back and make sure Lakeside continues to feel like a home away from home for all of us
Why me?
I have experience in other leadership positions: I’ve been part of the LGSA board for two years, helping to organize events to develop the Latino community on campus, and served as part of the ORFE Departmental Graduate Student Committee for one year. I believe that my skill set will be a great fit for the role of External Relations Delegate because I am organized, diligent and a good communicator and I’m excited to put those skills to work for our Lakeside community as External Relations Delegate.
I’m excited for the opportunity to contribute on this role and hopefully I can count with your support!
Yiying Tan
Hello! My name is Yiying Tan, and I’m a fifth-year graduate student in Economics. I’m running to be re-elected for the role of external relations delegate on the Lakeside committee.
In my past year as the external relations delegate, I have:
1. Acted as Lakeside’s representative in the Graduate Housing Advisory Board, Graduate Dining Advisory Board, and GSG Assembly Meetings (as a non-voting member). In this role:
- I advocated successfully for residents who run for committee positions to receive the same priority benefits regardless of their year of study (compared to priority only being available to earlier stage students).
- I consistently raised the repeated maintenance issues faced by Lakeside residents in GHAB meetings, especially when it comes to long running HVAC issues- in particular, the fact that (1) communication and responsiveness/ handling of maintenance requests leaves much to be desired; (2) residents have concerns about the extent to which ACC can be held accountable for lapses in maintenance.
- Results: Communication has been flagged as a key area to improve by Housing. Due to the entire committee’s effort to highlight HVAC as an issue, we learned at the last town hall that HVAC at Lakeside is going to be updated systematically.
Ongoing Priorities in this Area:
- Continue to raise Lakeside residents’ concerns in GHAB about the contractual relationship between Housing and ACC, and explore solutions so that residents may be confident in ACC’s accountability and responsiveness.
- Work in my capacity as a GHAB representative to ensure that the transition to StarRez and technical requests made going forward reflect Lakeside residents’ needs. In particular, I will advocate for efficiency in administrative processes and maximum autonomy for student representatives/ residents in communication.
2. Coordinated and led the effort to implement long-requested improvements to our common space, especially when it comes to adding strength-training gym equipment.
- With Jan Ertl and the previous president (Isabelle Chen), I (1) designed and implemented of survey presenting evidence of near unanimous support, (2) sourced potential sources of supplementary funds, (3) engaged with the Graduate School and Housing.
- We learned at the last town hall that a subset of requested equipment has been approved and will be added to the Lakeside gym upon the removal of some existing equipment (quotes are being obtained).
Ongoing Priorities in this Area:
- Continue efforts to secure supplementary funds from various campus partners (current focus: Tigerwell).
- Ensure timely implementation and collect resident feedback/ suggestions regarding the changes.
3. Redesigned the Lakeside Feedback form to add structure and informative links, so that urgent queries could be more efficiently answered, and the most recent feedback (timing and nature of the issue) are apparent in meetings.
Ongoing Priorities in this Area:
- Maintain and update the form as needed, and consider ways in which data about repeated issues (e.g., HVAC, package deliveries) could be better collated to so as to catch/ identify clear evidence of systemic issues.
I believe that my experience, and the working relationships I have cultivated in my past year as the external relations delegate, give me momentum to keep up current initiatives as well as push for more positive changes.
I hope to be given the opportunity to build on the work I have done to further support the interests of Lakeside residents. Thank you!