Communications

The Communications Committee promotes Student Senate activities, manages Senate social media accounts and the Student Senate website, designs the annual Senate apparel and marketing items, oversees the use of the Student Senate logo, and facilitates communication between the Senate, the student body, and the SMU community.

For more information, email the Communications Chair, Natalie Bell, at ngbell@smu.edu.

Outreach

The Outreach Committee is in charge of coordinating the schedules of student senators to facilitate their engagement with various student organizations. This committee manages outreach efforts to enhance communication and strengthen connections between the Senate and the student body.

For more information, email the Outreach Chair, Reese Mellor, at rmellor@mail.smu.edu.

Finance

The Finance Committee oversees the Senate Funding Process which is available to student organizations and individuals across campus. This process includes reviewing semester budget requests from chartered organizations every semester as well as seeing funding requests during weekly meetings throughout the semester. Requests that the Finance Committee funds have included campus-wide events, sports, and academic competitions, organizational conferences, individual research conferences, and operating expenses including meeting food and office supply costs for individual organizations. The ultimate goal of the Finance Committee is to ensure that the student fees allocated to the Senate are spent responsibly and in a way that brings the highest return back to SMU students and the SMU community.

For more information, visit the Finance page or contact the Finance Chair, Omar Jaber, at ojaber@smu.edu.

Membership

The Membership Committee coordinates and conducts student body elections. Additionally, the committee screens and recommends qualified students for vacancies within the Senate and for general members of Senate committees. The committee also holds periodic bonding events for Senate members and works to increase general member engagement with the rest of the Senate. Each spring, the Membership Committee reviews and revises the Student Senate Election Code before the annual spring elections.

For more information, contact the Membership Chair, Jude Lugo, at jalugo@smu.edu.

Organizations

The Organizations Committee reviews groups applying for chartered status. The committee makes recommendations concerning those organizations in the process of becoming officially recognized by the University as a fully chartered organization. The committee reviews, oversees, and makes recommendations regarding all SMU student organizations.

For more information, visit the Organizations page or contact the Organizations Chair, Joey Grey, at joeyg@smu.edu.

Scholarship

The Scholarship Committee is responsible for awarding the Student Senate Scholarships to SMU students. There is an initial screening process for all applications and a deliberation period, after which the finalists are contacted for an interview. From these interviews, the scholarship recipients are chosen by the students on the committee and confirmed by the Senate.

To apply for a scholarship, click HERE.

For more information, contact the Scholarship Chair, Zoey Hess, at zhess@smu.edu.

INVESTMENTS

The SMU Student Senate investments chair oversees the Student Senate Investment Fund. The goal of the fund is to preserve the long-term real purchasing power of the assets under management and grow the fund over time regardless of major volatility in financial markets. To achieve this, the fund employs a low-risk, "endowment-like" investment philosophy that diversifies assets under management across U.S. equity markets and fixed income investments. The investments chair oversees the strategic allocation of assets, rebalances the portfolio, and evaluates specific investments.

For more information, contact the investments chair, Vimal Kotecha, at vgkotecha@smu.edu.