RHA elects new executive board

A new executive board for the Residence Halls Association was elected last week, and it will take office April 1.

Tuesday, students across campus voted to elect a new RHA president, vice president of internal affairs, vice president of student affairs and vice president of programming.

After the tallying of the votes, four RHA members were announced as the executive board for the 2014-15 academic year.

Junior Stephanie Corona, currently the center president of Collins Living-Learning Center, will replace senior Claire Houterman as RHA president.

“I love the ways that RHA provides leadership opportunities for students in the residence halls to grow, learn and have a real impact at Indiana University,” Corona said. “While working with RHA, I have grown a lot, and I am really passionate about making sure that that experience happens for others.”

Corona began as floor governor at Collins. When she became the Collins finance director she was a voting member of the RHA funding board and began attending RHA General Assembly.

Corona was elected Collins president this past year, and since then RHA has consumed the majority of her time, she said.

Corona will be joined by Mark Wise, who is the new vice president of internal affairs. Wise has served RHA for three years.

He said he hopes RHA can more effectively collaborate with other student organizations.

“One of my goals is to make RHA more visible to the Bloomington community,” Wise said. “I am going to strive to increase awareness of and student involvement in RHA by attending student government meetings in every residence hall each semester.”

Lexie Heinemann and Megan Van Pelt, who both ran unopposed, complete the executive board. Heinemann is the vice president of student affairs and Van Pelt is the vice president of programming.

Houterman said through working with all four officers in the past two or three years, she has been able to see them develop into leaders.

“I’m truly excited to see what the four of them can accomplish,” she said. “Each brings a different area of expertise to the organization, and while there will certainly be a learning period, as there is for every new exec board, I believe that the four new elects will be successful.”

In the past year, RHA has built stronger partnerships with Union Board and the IU Student Association, Houterman said.

RHA works with Union Board to plan the Welcome Week Concert and with IUSA to organize Culture of Care Week.

Houterman said RHA has also restructured the Programming Board to increase collaboration between both RHA members and other student organizations on campus.

Though RHA has increased its name recognition among IU students, Houterman said she hopes it can take that a step further in the coming year.

“In listening to platforms and talking to the four elects, I know they are passionate about continuing to build relationships with other student organizations,” Houterman said. “I know they are also focused on building off of our name recognition goal so that more people understand what RHA does, not just what it is.”

Once the executive board takes office, it will have a month to organize before students leave for the summer. It hopes to quickly get center president and directors comfortable with RHA, Corona said.

She said she hopes RHA can establish working relationships with other organizations and administrators so they can begin work right when students return in August. They will also begin work on the Welcome Week Concert immediately, she said.

She also said in the past year, the current administration has gotten RHA’s name out better than ever before, but they now need to back that up with action.

“Right now, we have so many student leaders at the center level who don’t even know that they are a part of our organization,” Corona said. “I want to really make sure that RHA has a strong presence in all of our residence centers and that our leaders are empowered to make a difference in their communities.”