Evan Wood nominated for MSA Operations Committee chairman
The MSA Senate will vote on the nomination Oct. 28.
Published Oct. 23, 2009
After about three weeks of deliberation, Missouri Students Association Senate Speaker Amanda Shelton announced sophomore Evan Wood as her nomination for the Operations Committee chairman. The Operations Committee approved Shelton's nomination of Wood, and the full MSA Senate will vote on Wood assuming the position at the Oct. 28 Senate meeting.
Oct. 28 is also operations chairman Josh Travis's last day in MSA before his indefinite retirement from leadership within the organization. Travis announced his resignation Sept. 30, and applications to take over his position were made available shortly after.
"We had three applications at the end," Shelton said. "I heavily reviewed them, conducted interviews and spent a great deal of time thinking about this. This was one of the hardest selection processes I've ever had in my tenure as Speaker."
Shelton is still conducting the process of selecting a new Academic Affairs chairperson, a position vacated by Erica Zucco shortly after Travis resigned, as well as a chairperson position for the new Campus Dining Issues Ad Hoc Committee.
Wood is the Operations Committee vice chairman and served on the committee last year.
"When I first joined the operations committee late in the fall semester of last year, I was really intimidated all the time," Wood said. "This committee is frequented by the speaker, president and vice president so it's a hot room to sit in. Eventually I started coming out of my shell and expressing my thoughts on issues."
Travis and Wood are both sophomores who met in Operations last year. Travis said Wood is ready to take over his position and fulfill the duties it will entail.
"He's an objective thinker, he's open minded, a forward thinker," Travis said. "All of those attributes are very important for the operations chair, and the leadership qualities that I've strived to provide."
Wood said he views the role of Operations chairman as being more of a facilitator position.
"All of us who have been to full Senate know that Josh Travis is the most gifted orator of our generation," Wood said. "I don't have all of his rhetoric tricks and techniques, but I am good at facilitating discussion and keeping discussion and debate in-time."
Blake Lawrence, Operations Committee member and Residence Hall Association Speaker of Congress, agreed with Wood's opinion of Travis's speaking skills.
"Josh is definitely more a rhetorically oriented chair and Evan will be more procedurally oriented," Lawrence said. "Those are both strong styles to have."
One thing operations has become known for in the past is the tendency to run meetings long due to extensive discussion on issues MSA deals with.
Wood said he hopes to cut down on the length of meetings but at the same time keep in mind that operations deals with some of the most important issues coming through MSA.
"My ultimate goal as operations committee chair would be to come out with a victory every Tuesday night," Wood said. "We set out to accomplish something and do so in a manner that will satisfy the vast majority. We will get the work that our committee is charged with done effectively."
