Emily Faber will be Student Association President Lonny Mallach’s Chief of Staff. Both are new in their respective positions but have spent much time working together on projects in past cabinets.
When asked why he chose Faber, Mallach replied, “she was the best candidate ? highly organized, highly motivated.” He also took into account her experience in past cabinets.
The two have very similar opinions on how to handle most issues on the agenda, according to both Mallach and Faber.
“That is not to say we don’t disagree,” Mallach said. Faber noted that the two have a running joke ?”Someone is always on call. He goes to bed at 6 a.m. I get up at 6.”
As the Chief of Staff, Faber essentially takes on the tasks of a vice president, making her second in command after Mallach. Her job is to organize projects and keep those projects on track. Her goals are to keep the cabinet groups functioning smoothly and to make sure they have the resources necessary to do so.
Cabinet member Greg Stein stressed that Faber is, “influential in getting projects off the ground.” Continuing he said, “I can’t picture anybody doing a better job.”
Faber, originally from St. Paul, Minn., is a Spanish and political science major who spent the spring semester of her junior year abroad in Brazil.
She is a TA for Spanish 101 and served as a cabinet member under the two previous SA presidents, with the special task of Vice President of Communications last year under President John LaBoda.
Normally, the Chief of Staff
position is announced near the end of the spring semester, immediately after the SA president is elected to office. This year, however, her appointment to the position was not confirmed by the SA Senate or announced until the fall term of this year because Faber did not return from Brazil until the summer.
Throughout his campaign, Mallach ran without a choice for Chief of Staff. Though Faber was apparently his top candidate, he waited until her return to the United States to formally ask her to take the position.
Within a week of her return Faber began preparing for the upcoming year. Both were on campus, working together in person two weeks before the fall semester began.
Faber said she has enjoyed her past experience within presidential cabinets. “It’s something I like to do,” she said. She sees herself as someone who has a good idea of how to get things done on campus. She says she is personable?someone who is, in her own words, “easy to get along with.”
In Mallach’s cabinet this year are 22 students, all of whom are separated into committees. These committees focus on a project and are headed by a senior cabinet member acting as Project Chair. Each of these project chairs has a corresponding equivalent officer in the SA Senate and the committees are all joint ventures between both the presidential cabinet and the Senate. Some of the current project chairs include junior Greg Stein who is head of the Wednesday night Block Donation Program, senior Lana Knox, head of a program to simplify the process by which new campus groups gain SA recognition junior Chris Calo who is in charge of the committee to expand the Corner Store and junior Josh Fink, head of both a group on budget review and the Pub Committee.
Other project chairs include sophomore Stacey Poloskey, who headed up a committee on the recent class council elections, junior Matt Strabone, head of a committee on disciplinary and security policies and junior Noah Kuschel, who is in charge of a committee on expanding the selection of DVDs in the campus Multimedia Center.
The general consensus among cabinet members is that there exists a very positive outlook for this year with Faber as Chief of Staff. “I have the utmost respect for her,” said Knox. “I am always able to get a new, fresh perspective from Emily.”
Merkley can be reached at rmerkley@campustimes.org.
