Adheli Gonzalez

Adheli Gonzalez

Adheli Gonzalez SEAS'21 is from Chicago, IL and is the Vice President of Communications for 2019-2020. She is studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering. She is a student representative for the Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Committee, an undergraduate researcher at the Columbia Robotics Manipulation and Mobility (ROAM) Lab, and a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). She has been a part of the Furnald Hall Council and One-to-one Tutoring.

Student Council

Adheli was elected to the Engineering Student Council as the Vice President of Communications for 2019-2020 in her junior year, along with her Executive Board party SEAS the Change Δ. She has also held the positions of Sophomore Vice President and First-Year Class Representative. Throughout her years on council, she has consistently chosen to be on the Communications Committee.

Goals To improve the communication between students, faculty, and administration, improve distribution of information/resources to students, improve documentation of ESC institutional memory through website, increase social media presence, as well as increase the transparency of ESC.

Completed Projects/Duties Summer 2019 and 2020

• Website - Solely designed ESC website and updated regularly throughout the school year to include institutional memory, council initiatives, meeting times, meeting minutes and livestream of general body meetings, methods of contacting members of council, and showcase what council is working on.

Completed Projects/Duties 2019-2020

• Peer Mentorship Program - Spearheaded and expanded ESC Peer Mentorship Program by over 120%, where underclassmen and upperclassmen in the same major are paired to receive guidance. Hosted a celebration for all mentors and mentees to meet and mingle, as well as receive feedback about the program. Advocated for funding for the program to help increase communication and improve relationships among mentors and mentees.
• Suggestion Box - Regularly check Suggestion Box Google Form where the student body can provide the council with feedback. This link is displayed on the website, SEAS Flash video descriptions, and there is a “Feedback Friday” theme on ESC’s Instagram to serve the same purpose.
• Semester Reports - Created a document (with an outline including member position, name, headshot, etc. as well as a sample) for all council members to include their accomplishments for the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 Semester Report. Shared them through social media and are on the website.
• Transition Documents - Created documents for ESC members to detail their positions, the initiatives they pursued, contacts they used during their term, their contact information, and advice for future ESC members. This allows for a smooth transition between generations of ESC.
• Social Media - Regularly update social media with council events, opportunities, statements, pictures of events hosted, wellness tips, and important updates (eg. COVID-19 related, statements, deadlines). Given moderator access on all Facebook Columbia Class pages, shared events/opportunities/information with all students. Increased social media following on Facebook and Instagram.
• Internal ESC COVID-19 Affairs [ESC Taskforce on COVID-19] - Served on the internal Engineering Student Council Taskforce on COVID-19 as a quick, pointed response to the coronavirus pandemic. In action, the Taskforce sent and gathered the COVID-19 General Concerns form, the COVID-19 Academic Related Inquiries form, and the COVID-19 Housing / Dining / Facilities form. These concerns were then communicated to the relevant administration (Engineering Deans, VP Scott Wright, Dean Cristen Kromm, Office of Financial Aid, etc).
• Council Meetings - Thoroughly annotate agenda to accurately represent council’s ideas and initiatives. Took care of all of the tech to livestream general body meetings, project the agenda. Once the semester became virtual, ESC met through Zoom and meetings were recorded. Kept track of attendance of ESC members for general body meetings, and held members accountable for their attendance as per the rules stated in the Constitution.
• WikiCU - Kept information as updated/accurate as possible on WikiCU for the general student body to access as an informal info-route (created by students, for students).

Proposed Initiatives

• Schedule a Chat with ESC - Created a Google Form to give the student body a way to schedule a meeting/meet-up with a member(s) of ESC to discuss initiatives, policies, or concerns they may have. This makes ESC more approachable, as well as a resource to students. This form is checked regularly to schedule the requested meeting as soon as possible.
• CSA Advisor Evaluations - After hearing many students unhappy with the help they receive from their Center for Student Advising advisors, suggested that an evaluation be made for CSA advisors, similar to professor and class evaluations filled out by students at the end of the semester. This way CSA advisors could be held accountable for their actions and could receive constructive feedback from students. The administration liked the proposal and approved it; this idea will be implemented soon.
• Campus Shuttle Services - Brought up the initiative to extend the campus shuttle services, especially to Carlton Arms, for the safety of our students. This was an issue I had heard from many of my peers, and student safety is a necessity. Provided a contact to help find what hours would be best for students to have access to the campus shuttle services during the school year.
• Mechanical Engineering Student Lounge - Advocated for a mechanical engineering student lounge to Stanley Sakry, Director of Facilities and Space Planning after hearing concerns from mechanical engineering students and faculty. Other departments have this type of lounge for students, and the mechanical engineering students could benefit from this addition, encouraging students to work together and help each other, creating stronger bonds, friendships, and skills. This discussion was paused due to COVID-19.

Events

• SEAS Gala - Assisted in organizing the first-ever SEAS Gala which was held on Valentine's Day. It was widely-successful and will be continued as a tradition in the years to come.
• Yule Log Ceremony - Provided welcoming remarks at the annual Yule Log Ceremony for the 2019-2020 school year as a representative of the Engineering Student Council.
• Photos at events - Took pictures at events hosted or co-hosted by ESC to post on our social media accounts and website.
• SEAS Calendar - Regularly update the SEAS-wide Google Calendar which students can subscribe to, with upcoming events and opportunities for undergraduate engineering students. Reached out to student clubs on campus to include their events on the calendar.
• SEAS Flash - Make fun newsletter style videos to advertise upcoming events and opportunities for undergraduate engineering students to increase SEAS student representation and presence at these events. Created an ESC TikTok account to post short videos on a widely used platform.

Preceded by Asher Goldfinger

ESC Student Body President  2019-20

Succeeded by ?