SGA president and vice president elections set for runoff; Athletics student fee increase passes student body vote

By ABIGAIL SHEARER

Tiger Media Network

On Thursday, the 2025 Student Government Association election results were published. Mickey Mason and Marcell Dely received 427 votes, Jackson Sinsel and Brenna Schwien received 313 votes and Grace McCord and Madison Albers received 296 votes.

Since none of the tickets for president and vice president received a majority vote, a runoff election will take place April 10 between Mason/Dely and Sinsel/Schwien. The vote will be administered via campus email.

The $2 student fee increase for FHSU Athletics passed 657-385. Since the increase was more than 99 cents, it needed to be approved by a majority vote of the FHSU student body. Athletics will now be funded at $11.97 per credit hour for 2025-26, generating nearly $1.1 million for Athletics from the student fee.

FHSU Athletic Director Curtis Hammeke told Tiger Media Network before the election that the increased money will be used for “transportation needs and the associated operational expenses.”

Senator results:

Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship (4 seats)

Cory Cimaglia: 581
Luke Hampl: 619
Jordin Myers: 615

Peter Werth College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics (6 seats)

Anna Briggs: 631
Anthony Arial: 613
Brynn Kinderknecht: 642
Cesar Saludes: 611
Hannah Gideon: 626
Jadynn Doyle: 617

College of Health and Behavioral Sciences (9 seats)

Benjamin Wilkerson: 611
Corbyn Marquess: 644
Star Parham: 632
Olivia Pince: 5

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (4 seats)

Cade Becker: 680
Daniel Bechle: 590
Elyssa Rucker: 611
Lucina Parsons: 561

College of Education (2 seats)

Tanner Grant: 5

International Student Seat (1 seat)

Shreethika Reddy Vangala: 785

Graduate Student Seat (1 seat)

N/A

At-Large (5 seats)

N/A

During SGA meeting reports, President Ella Burrows talked about the commencement program update.

“I have a meeting with President Mason on Tuesday to discuss the booklets,” Burrows said.

SGA posted on Thursday asking for feedback related to FHSU’s decision not to print physical copies of commencement programs for this years’ commencement ceremonies. No programs were printed for the winter ceremonies.

Thursday’s guest speaker was Jeff Briggs, dean of the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. He provided an update on all six academic departments in the college: Nursing, Social Work, Psychology, Allied Health, Human and Health Performance, and Communication Sciences and Disorders. The college has experienced an overall enrollment increase of 7.5% this spring.

Briggs also discussed a $15 million expansion of Stroup Hall, which will double its current size and will include two stories.

“We are in the design phase, and you should see some construction beginning by summer,” Briggs said. “This expansion is important because it will allow the various programs to collaborate more effectively, similar to how a typical medical center operates.”

The Department of Nursing will now accept 80 students into its program each year, an increase from the previous limit of 60. It will also offer a hybrid program.

The Department of Allied Health is expected to move into the new Stroup Hall by the winter of 2027 and will increase its student acceptance from 35 to 50 students each year.

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has introduced a Speech Language Assistant Program, which does not require a master’s degree. This program is available on-campus and online. The department now offers 90 different majors and is the fastest-growing department.

Both Social Work and Psychology are also expanding rapidly, presenting numerous new pathways and opportunities for students.

Health and Human Performance is the largest department in the college, with more than 500 students in the program.

“Of the on-campus students, 35% are part of the Health and Human Performance department,” Briggs said.

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