The Student Fee Board reviewed its subcommittees’ progress and appointed several additional administrators at its biweekly meeting Friday. 

The Board welcomed former UPUA President and Fee Board Chair Katie Jordan, who kicked off the session by reflecting on her experience as the Board’s leader. 

The Board then elected UPUA Speaker of the Assembly Bhavin Shah secretary, and appointed Madison Starr Director of Communications. Starr also serves as the UPUA associate director of communications.

Starr is the Board’s first director of communications — the position was established this year to streamline media contact and enhance Fee Board transparency. 

“Having [the media] come straight to someone within the Fee Board is going to be very important with how I handle things over the course of the year,” said Fee Board Chair Tyler Akers. 

The subcommittees on Research Travel, Standardization, Summer Fee Assessment, and the Liquidity Program then updated the Board on their recent work.

The Subcommittee on Research Travel focused on its efforts to evaluate Penn State’s student research spending and policies, while the Subcommittee on Standardization discussed the process of standardizing meeting minutes and the Board’s allocation request form.

The Summer Fee Assessment subcommittee summarized its work to assess the summer fee payment structure and summer budget formation. The Subcommittee on the Liquidity Program emphasized its plan to contact other Big Ten schools to understand alternate Associated Student Activities (ASA) office structures and coverage of student organization travel. 

UPAC Chair Daniel Stauffer also updated the Board on his organization’s recent work. Stauffer noted that as of last week, UPAC had allocated funding for 89 of the 162 budgets it has received. He also announced that the committee will conduct its public review of Movin’ On October 2 at 6:30 p.m. in 134 HUB.