Cady Stribling
News Editor
cstribling1@murraystate.edu
After a record amount of applicants, the Student Government Association announced the new executive council for the 2021-22 academic year on Wednesday, March 10.
Ian Puckett, a junior from Mayfield, Kentucky, was elected president with 226 votes. Puckett was a former senator at-large and ran for president uncontested. He will be the next student regent on the Board of Regents.
“I am very excited to have the chance to serve all of our students at Murray State,” Puckett said. “I have served in several capacities in my time at MSU. I was a Summer O Counselor my freshman and sophomore years, IFC President as a sophomore and I have been in SGA since January of 2020. Dedicating myself to serving others has always been my mentality and that will not change while I am President. I can’t wait to work with everyone!”
Puckett is looking forward to helping transition back into normality next semester, as well as focusing on mental health.
“Mental health has been a huge priority for me for a long time and I will work tirelessly to revamp ‘Racers Empower’ so we can garner more mental health awareness on campus,” Puckett said.
Puckett also wants to focus on diversity and inclusion, saying that he wants to try to make Murray State the most inclusive, welcoming and friendly university possible.
Junior Molly Logsdon was elected executive vice president with 231 votes. Logsdon was also elected the executive vice president for the 2020-21 election cycle and ran uncontested for executive vice president.
“I’m honored and excited for the opportunity to continue to represent and serve the students of Murray State,” Logsdon said.
Amy Krazl, junior nursing major, was re-elected vice president of administration with 223 votes, running unopposed.
Eight students were elected senators-at-large: Hayden Terry with 9 percent of the vote, Clayton Bobo with 11 percent of the vote, Jacob Watters with 9 percent of the vote, Beau Osborne with 10 percent of the vote, Cole Wells with 11 percent of the vote, Emma Roach with 10 percent of the vote, John Foster with 9 percent of the vote and Will Lovins with 8 percent of the vote.
The academic colleges and residential colleges elected 21 senators. Find the full list of senators at here.
Warren Norman, outgoing SGA president said this year’s SGA election cycle ran just like every other year with a record number of applicants. Because of COVID-19, the SGA elections were livestreamed on their Facebook.
“We had 47 applicants, which we feel is a very high number considering the pandemic,” Norman said. “We attribute this to more social media outreach utilizing our great public relations committee more than ever.”
Norman said he was an unbiased resource for the candidates during the election cycle. Konnor Kirkwood, the election ways and means chair, and Jeanie Morgan, advisor for SGA, took care of the voting results.
As Norman spends his last few months as president, he said the position gave him some insight into the inner workings of the University.
“This has been a very rewarding time in my life, and the position gave me the opportunity to make decisions to better Murray State,” Norman said. “I have been blessed to be the voice of the students and can say that I have given my all to Murray State this year because it has given me so much. The memories, experiences and great friends that I have kept me going when the job got tough. Jeanie Morgan and Claudia Burcham hold our office together day in and day out along with Amy Krazl, Molly Logsdon and Hannah Daab supporting SGA in the way that they have this year. These women have shown me so much and pushed me to be the person I am. They are the true backbone of SGA, and I cannot thank them enough for their continuous hard work and dedication.”
For anyone still interested in getting involved with SGA, the vice president of finance position is still open and available to apply for online.