Student trustee named

Graduate student Sacha Willsey returned from class Monday morning to find her husband at the door, waving his arms, telling her to call the Governor's office -- she had been appointed to a two-year term as IU student trustee.\nWillsey said she didn't expect to get the position but was hoping. She only knew she was one of 10 graduate students nominated for the student trustee position.\n"I am very excited," she said. "I am very grateful, and I am very honored. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."\nWillsey, 32, applied for the position in January knowing it would be a "tremendous learning experience and a very exciting opportunity."\nThe wife of City Councilman Jeffrey Willsey (D-4), Sacha Willsey has two children, a boy aged 4 and a girl who just celebrated her second birthday.\nWillsey, who came to the United States from Switzerland 10 years ago, received her undergraduate degree in Religious Studies in May with highest distinction.\n"I am very interested in different cultures," she said. "I am interested in different habits of thought, and how people approach the big life questions."\nNow a graduate student in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Willsey sees her future in non-profit management and fundraising.\n"I want to stay in Bloomington and be involved with the variety of philanthropic endeavors here," she said.\nBut that's in the future. Right now, Willsey has only one thing on her mind -- she is the newest member of the nine-member board that governs IU.\n"I am not nervous at all," she said. "I am not intimidated at all by the appointment. Members of the board called me and gave me good wishes. President Brand sent me an e-mail. Everyone has been very nice and welcoming."\nWillsey will be briefed by Robin Gress, the board's secretary, Friday. She will attend her first trustee meeting Aug. 16.\nAt that meeting and all the meetings that will follow during her two-year term, Willsey hopes she can simply represent the students, all students, to the best of her ability.\n"I want to bring a student perspective to the board, which could be different from the other board members, a different focus and different angles. I have the life history of an international student so I am also hoping to increase awareness of the international student body."\nAt 32 years old and a graduate student, Willsey understands she will be challenged to keep in touch with all of the students at all the IU campuses.\n"First of all, everyone can e-mail me," she said. "What I plan to do is stay in close touch with all the student body presidents. I am hoping for a very active relationship, so they will to have to often contact me and let me know what is happening. I am very active on the Bloomington campus. But the best way is for people to e-mail me. That would be the best way to keep me directly involved."\nTrustee Cora Breckenridge said it is important the student trustee represent all students.\n"I think they should be there for all 92,000 students," she said. "I think they are like all the rest of us on the board, we are here to do our best to represent the issues and the interests of those persons that are being served by the University, and foremost of course are the students."\nWillsey will be replacing Dean Hertzler whose term ran out June 30. Breckenridge said Hertzler will be attending the IU School of Medicine as a graduate student in the fall and is now travelling in Europe.\n"I thought he did extremely well. He was a very excellent trustee," she said. "He remained a very strong and capable student. He served the students of all eight campuses. He made it his aim to be accessible to the students and he was."\nGress said 10 students were selected by a committee and sent to Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who made the final decision. She said the candidates were nominated by the committee that met throughout the 2000-2001 school year, and which represented six of IU's eight campuses. The committee interviewed 19 semifinalists before sending on the final 10.\nThe finalists were graduate students Thua Gbosowa Barlay, Marcie Alene Brown, Victor Cardenas, Christopher Alan Cosby, Jacob John Manaloor, Sarah Joy Young, Megan Nicole Moore, Paul Anthony Ruggerio, Joseph Brian Walterman and Willsey.