As the academic year comes to a close, Drexel University’s Undergraduate Student Government Association and Graduate Student Association are welcoming in a new slate of representatives as well as new leadership. The incoming and outgoing boards, along with members of Drexel’s administration, held their annual transition dinner at the Academy of Natural Sciences on June 1 to celebrate.
The night began with an awards ceremony honoring the students, staff and faculty who have made an outstanding impact on the Drexel community in the past year. For the first time, GSA joined USGA in recognizing its own recipients for each award. Georgina George and Nolan Wazni were awarded the Father Charles Brinkman Award. Kayode Oluwasegun and Zarina Morgan were awarded the Dianna C. Dale Emerging Leader Award. Amber Bolli and Tasneem Taifa were awarded the Constantine Papadakis Award. Victoria Villarreal and Rohit Varma Nadimpalli were awarded the Anthony T. Caneris Award for Outstanding Leadership.
The Honorary Dragon Award was granted to Jen Tifone, Director of the Student Organization Resource Center, by USGA and to Chris Spahr, Executive Director of the Dornsife Center for Community Partnerships, by GSA. USGA cited Tifone’s contributions in advancing student life at Drexel through the resources and support that SORC provides to student organizations. Spahr joined Drexel in April 2024 and in the year since has expanded the Dornsife Center’s programming for the community and engagement with student organizations. GSA lauded his efforts to uplift the community and foster collaboration.
Ash Karale, the late President of GSA, was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Leader Award for his contributions to the graduate student community at Drexel. Karale unexpectedly passed away in April, passing leadership of GSA onto Anil Karapa for the rest of the year. He was described as “a dedicated leader and a valued member of [their] community.” During his term, GSA expanded its reach and increased its collaboration with USGA, which resulted in the joint dinner and award ceremony.
“This year we have brought student orgs together, brought student governments from across Philly together, and most importantly brought people together,” remarked Katie Moorcones, outgoing Vice President of USGA. Moorcones, along with Joelynne Jacob, outgoing President of USGA, worked on re-forming the Philadelphia Student Government Assembly during their term in partnership with the student governments of other Philadelphia schools. The pair signed PSGA’s charter on April 5th before leaving their position.
Their successor, Sanjna Srinivasan, told the Triangle that during her term as USGA President she hopes “there’s a lot more collaboration” that stems from the PSGA. She also addressed recent uncertainties in the Drexel community: “I think right now there’s a lot of changes going on at a university level, at a nationwide level, so obviously there’s a lot of nervousness around that… but I think now is also a time to kind of embrace that change and go right into it head on and do what we can.”
Much of Drexel’s academic transformation was spurred by dropping enrollment, which has impacted the university’s finances and directly lowered the activity fees which SAFAC distributes to student organizations. With USGA being a recipient of one of the largest portions of that budget, Srinivasan said they “do recognize that, you know, funds are definitely an issue, especially with, you know, university-wide budget changes, and so we do hope to better support student organizations as best as we can.” She emphasized her goal to create partnerships across the university as well as outside of it, which she says USGA has been experimenting with in the past year.
Present at the dinner was another incoming Drexel leader: president-to-be Antonio Merlo. Merlo is still serving as Dean of NYU’s Faculty of Arts & Science until July 1, but has moved to Philadelphia in preparation for his new role. He intends to be present at the ongoing graduation events and ceremonies, including commencement.
When asked about him, Srinivasan says “he’s very open to working with students… so I think in a student life aspect there should be a lot more changes coming through.” Kayode Oluwasegun, incoming Executive Vice President of GSA, told the Triangle that “he’s been described as a prolific fundraiser, so he knows how to bring the money.” He hopes Merlo can “do more to bring grants and more resources for faculty and also for the grad students.”
Oluwasegun says he plans to “do more advocacy for students, and get to know more of the basic needs of students” during his term. He specifically identified food, health insurance and campus safety as concerns. He says that “GSA now is pretty much an open space for everyone to come. You know, send us information… and we can take all of that to the people in the highest authorities.”
Rohit Varma Nadimpalli, incoming President of GSA, remarked that the transition “feels a little sad… because I think my board is going,” but was hopeful because they “want to do something great this year, too.”