2011-12 Election Winners :: NSGS/Milano
The following candidates were elected to the USS for the 2011-12 year for NSGS/Milano.
Kathy Litchfield
Nearing my half-way mark at The New School, I’d like to get my hands a little dirtier at Milano. I want to understand more about what makes us all tick, and how that all manifests itself through the university. If I can do that, and be an effective sounding board for your concerns, all the better. The opportunity to represent fellow students on university-wide committees with faculty and administration to try and find solutions to student problems would be well-served by my ability to listen and communicate with any student on any issue. I will do my best to accurately represent all student concerns, and will do so with the sarcasm that you all know and love-where appropriate! My time teaching allowed me ample opportunity for event planning-I know, seems odd doesn’t it? And my time in AmeriCorps as an electrician further amplified my commitment to social justice and community service. I have lots of war stories from both, and hope that if you’re curious, you’ll ask. I have served as a student representative before, both in high school and college, and not to toot my own horn, but I did win an award in my collegiate position-you’ll have to ask if you want to know. It’s one of my deepest, darkest secrets. I promise to treat your concerns with the dignity and seriousness that they deserve, but I also promise to inject a little levity wherever I can, so be warned. I hope to increase communication and the dissemination of information to Milano students, and I hope to get some fun stuff in there too-after all, we’re all headed back to the real world after this, aren’t we?!
Melissa Holmes
You might notice that my hair color changes as often as my mind when discovering new ideas. I could be considered a character actor of sorts, always seeking a new role to better help me understand this curious world around me, all the while connecting others’ ideas and thoughts— in my world, and in the newly evolving world of Milano and The New School for General Studies.
Being an active member of the 2010-2011 University Student Senate, I have worked to unite students across all divisions to strengthen our community through collaborative efforts and address student concerns. I was lucky to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of The Cradle Will Rock, the USS’s inaugural Intercollegiate Collaborative Art Project, an artistic endeavor that commissions students for their creative work. I also led our senate team to establish a new funding allocation system for students, creating a simplified process in which students have more accessibility to funds.
In my new position as the Ashoka U Student Program Manager, we will work to establish systems that connect students and foster social innovation on campus. I believe that collaboration is key to making our community—our world— a better place.
I encourage you to begin your involvement by connecting with the Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @leaders4change.
In my role as the Milano Marketing Coordinator, I’m on the 7th floor of 72 5th Avenue most days. I’m happy to share tea-time stories from my experiences in Peace Corps Kazakhstan, or information about what is happening around school. I am also a SafeZone Allie, and am always available as needed. I’d love to hear your ideas, and I bet you’d love to see the color of my hair. Please find me, anytime.
Myrianne Clitus
I’m Mimi, a non-traditional student from the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY entering my third semester at Milano/GPIA. I’m pursuing a M.S. in Nonprofit Management and a Certificate in Organizational Change Management. I have also been conducting research for the Social Justice Initiatives for a month. Before amassing ten years of workforce development experience moving within the nonprofit sector, I taught test preparation skills and remedial skills to H.S students for two years. I learned the skills I needed with adults in the workplace were the same skills I needed to deal with younger high school-aged children in the classroom. I decided to go back to school when I realized there was very little difference between my aspirations and those of the people I had worked to serve over the years. I couldn’t just keep talking about progress to them. It had become time for me to as well.
Since coming to Milano/GPIA I’ve collaborated with and befriended other students in a way that has only enriched my experience. Regardless of the differences between people, I’ve recognized we want to be appreciated and acknowledged, not despite of those differences but also because of them. I’m learning while experience is something to be respected, it doesn’t necessarily foster creativity, compassion, or allow opportunities for individuals to develop fervent character and harness their potential. Experience and Inexperience are both great teachers. Without passion, patience, a willingness to cooperate and a willingness to meet people where they are, we run the risk of burning out with or without experience. The Real World is right here at TNS. I hope to join you in connecting more with like-minded students and in developing and advancing your own agendas. For this reason, I would consider it an honor to work with you as a student senator.
Bronwyn Lewis
As a Global Studies student at the New School for General Studies Bachelor’s Program, governance is an especially important issue to me. Our voice is critical to the success of the university, but I think that many of us still aren’t being heard. I would like to help change that by representing you on the Student Senate.
I have managed interdisciplinary teams, conducted crisis management for multimillion-dollar projects, co-organized innovative culture and technology conferences, and I am an active global citizen. With this real-world experience, I can bring a new and dynamic voice to the Student Senate and help truly represent the diverse NSGS student body.
My leadership style is very diplomatic, but I am also an advocate of transparency, equality, and diversity. And I promise to fight for the students of not only NSGS, but also all divisions of the New School.
About me: After 6 years in the corporate world, I decided it wasn’t for me. So I returned to school to study Rights, Justice, and Governance in the Global Studies program at the New School. After graduation, I plan to join the Peace Corps before tackling a master’s degree in International Affairs. In my spare time, you’ll likely find me volunteering, biking around town, taking photos, or planning my next great adventure abroad.