The Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, welcomed in a new batch of executive board members last night with a familiar face remaining at the top of the organization.
COGS President Stefan Fletcher was voted by the full council to remain at his current position to lead the graduate and professional student government for a historic fourth term. Dan Seike and Dennis Martell have been the only other COGS presidents to serve more than two years as the top man, according to the COGS website.
All COGS executive board members are limited to only two consecutive terms. But if the full council sees fit, the bylaw can be waived with a two-thirds vote from the full council members.
Fletcher ran unopposed and was unanimously approved by the full COGS council.
He first began his tenure as a graduate student at MSU in 2008, pursuing a law degree at first. After earning his law degree, he now is pursuing a degree in higher, adult and lifelong education.
He said he considers himself fortunate for all the opportunities COGS has provided him and is thrilled about the re-election to a fourth term.
“The position has offered me the position to serve my peers … as well as go beyond the academics, teaching and research (to) represent the many of my counter parts and try to organize different social activities and leadership activities and bring graduate and professional students together on many different bases,” Fletcher said. “I have been fortunate to work with many different individuals.”
COGS has worked with the Council of Medical Students, in the past including social events and branching out to students who are off-campus, and Council of Medical Students President Ryan Jones gave high marks on how Fletcher operates the student government.
“I think it’s excellent,” Jones said when asked how Fletcher runs COGS. “I think he’s really organized with his operations and gets things done efficiently.”
Like Jones, MBA Association representative on COGS’s full council Gregory Wittcoff had high remarks on the engagement Fletcher has done with the MBA program.
“Overall, I think he’s done a great job for COGS in trying to include the business school and MBA program with COGS,” Wittcoff said. “We’ve had a closer relationship with COGS compared to previous years.”
Fletcher said next academic year will be his final year with the organization, even though he won’t graduate for another two years.
“I enjoy being in this kind of public service role, but I firmly believe at that point that someone else should take (the COGS president) position,” Fletcher said.
Other executive board positions filled at the meeting last night included Kent Kovac as vice president internal affairs, Dionisia Quiroga as vice president external affairs, Kathryn Meyers as recording secretary and Chris Harvey returning to his position as treasurer.
All of the candidates elected to the executive board ran unopposed and all officially took over their duties this morning at 12:01 a.m.
There also are three other executive board positions that will be filled through appointment at a later date of the spring.
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