“Senate Spotlight” Promethean 
Article 3/3/2011 

Mazza Administration Off to a Strong Start 

We would like to extend our congratulations to all of the new senators on the 
General Board, as well as the new members on the Senate Executive Board, and welcome 
back all of the returning senators. For those of you who don’t know, our current Senate 
is made up of: President Alexander Mazza, Vice President Justin Devendorf, Secretary 
Therese Daly, Treasurer Shawn Reap, Chief of Staff Joseph Kaczmarek, Executive 
Assistant Jess Esposito, Parliamentarian Ben Thomas, Comptroller Steve Pietruniak, 
Communications Director Cara Hannigan, Press Secretary Mary Beth Dineen, 2011 Class 
President Thomas Gelok, 2011 Class Representative Kelsey Higgins, 2012 Class 
President Tara Keough, 2013 Class President Cassie Jane Werking, 2014 Class President 
Ryan Murphy, Commuter President Adam Herman, SCRB Representative Patrick 
Creegan, RHA Representative Christie Ziegler, SEB Representative Megan Lesperance, 
Senator-At-Large Paige Maccabee, Senator-At-Large Allison Collins, Senator-At-Large 
Nicholas Esposito, Senator-At-Large Amanda Fogarty, and Senator-At-Large Eleni 
Papadopoulos. 

We would like to thank the Archer administration for all of their hard work and 
look forward to continuing the initiatives worked on throughout 2010-2011. A few of 
these initiatives include: getting finals out of the ARC, reviewing the academic advising 
system, establishing the Residence Hall Association (RHA), and continuing Alex’s 
Lemonade Stand. 

Our first endeavor is to gather feedback on getting finals out of the ARC. The 
initiative to get finals out of the ARC originated based on students’ opinions that it was 
not the best testing environment and did not promote academic excellence. To do this, 
we asked each senator to speak with various students to get their opinion on taking finals 
in alternative locations. This initiative is multi-faceted because it also increases the 
visibility of the Student Senate. We are working on better informing students on what the 
Senate is doing, so that there is more opportunity to give constructive feedback and 
opinions. 

Currently we’re also working on plans for the three major events that Senate 
holds annually. Tommy Gelok, a member of Senate’s Community Committee, is the 
chair of Musical Mayhem, the event hosted by Senate at the beginning of SienaFest, 
where the opening act for SEB’s yearly concert is determined. In a change to the event 
this year, many different artists will be allowed to take part in Musical Mayhem. 
Conventionally only bands have been allowed to enter, but this year DJs and other 
various artists will be encouraged to participate. 

The chairs of the Senate Services Committee, Allie Collins and Jess Esposito, are 
working with Alexander Mazza to have the best Campus Clean-Up Day yet. Campus 
Clean-Up Day is an event held every spring after SienaFest where administrators, faculty, 
and students are encouraged to get together and clean up Siena’s campus in honor of 
Earth Week. This year, as in previous years, Senate will be teaming up with Emily 
Merritt, the president of Sustainability Club, to host an event that will hopefully yield 175 
plus participants. 


Additionally, Joe Kaczmarek will coordinate Senate’s third event, Alex’s 
Lemonade Stand. Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a foundation to benefit childhood cancer, was 
started at Siena College by Steve Archer. The model he developed has spread to many 
other colleges in the region. In conjunction with Joe Kaczmarek, Senate will work to 
hold the biggest Alex’s Lemonade Stand yet. 

One aspect of campus that the Mazza administration is thoroughly looking to 
improve is technology. In conjunction with ITS, the Internet speed on campus has 
already doubled. Going forward, we wish to tie the newly established campus calendar to 
SCTV (Channel 17) in order to display Siena events, similar to how the TV Guide 
channel displays TV shows. We are also looking to purchase HD monitors, like the ones 
found in Roger Bacon, and place them around campus to display the calendar, as well as 
provide an opportunity for clubs and other organizations to create commercials and have 
them aired. While this will promote clubs and events, we also want to see this used as a 
primary means of communication by administration to help resolve the flooding of Siena 
students’ e-mail inboxes. The Senate knows that there is a growing issue with e-mail on 
campus. We believe that exploring other means of communication and improving 
Siena’s overall technological capabilities will make great strides in dealing with this 
persistent issue. 

We previously mentioned a few of the committees on Senate – these function as 
the working arms of Senate. At the beginning of each Senate meeting (Tuesdays at 4 
PM, SSU 241) there is an open forum where we encourage students and faculty to bring 
up their opinions or thoughts regarding issues on campus. After being presented at open 
forum, the ideas are usually designated to one of the three committees – Academics, 
Community, or Services. Once brought to a committee, an idea is deliberated upon and 
then brought back to Senate to be resolved. The Academics Committee, chaired by Joe 
Kaczmarek and Nick Esposito, is meant to provide the opinions of the student body to the 
Office of Academic Affairs, and vice versa, in order to ensure the best education 
possible. The Community Committee, chaired by Cara Hannigan and Paige Maccabee, 
is meant to build unity on campus, first and foremost among students, but also to 
incorporate faculty, staff, and administration in events and activities. The Services 
Committee, chaired by Jess Esposito and Allie Collins, as mentioned previously, is meant 
to ensure that the environment on campus is safe and helpful to the student body and to 
make sure that the services provided by the college are adequate to the student body’s 
needs. 

The Student Senate is eager to work with students and faculty to identify and 
resolve many of the issues found on Siena’s campus. We look forward to your continued 
support and hope to see you every Tuesday at 4 PM in Sarazen Student Union Room 241. 
We encourage each of you to attend our meetings and give feedback on the initiatives 
we’re working on, or present initiatives of your own, for Student Senate to consider. 

Contacts: 
Alex Mazza, Student Senate President, ar29mazz@siena.edu 
Mary Beth Dineen, Student Senate Press Secretary, m04dine@siena.edu 
Student Senate, senate@siena.edu