Hello! I am Mercy Akanmu, a member of the Envision slate, and I am happy to introduce myself as a candidate for a Board position in the Student Government Board (SGB)! Presently, I am majoring in Neuroscience and History/Philosophy of Science and completing the Spanish and Chemistry minors. I am also on the First Year and Academic Affairs Committee for SGB, and part of Science Olympiad at Pitt, and HOSA.
As a potential board member, I want to make sure that you are able to have a safe and enriching experience at Pitt. For this reason, I will be focusing on the following initiatives:
- Improving transportation at Pitt, specifically with TransLoc and SafeRider. I believe it is important for us as students to have a safe way to get back to our dorms, especially at night without long wait times. Firsthand, I have experienced the annoyance of waiting more than 30 minutes for a shuttle to upper campus, and how frightening that can be when it's past 10pm. I want to improve the accuracy of TransLoc and make sure SafeRider is always an option for students to use. Even if the frequency of the shuttles cannot be increased, TransLoc should always give correct information about its shuttles, and SafeRider should be readily available during its allotted hours.
- Increasing disability and racial/cultural education on campus. The history of individuals with disabilities and racial minorities in healthcare, engineering, the arts (and more), have been greatly overshadowed or undiscussed in education. However, the job industry continues to move forward and seek individuals with an understanding of other identity groups that you may not be a part of yourself. This puts any student without a fundamental knowledge of these topics at a great disadvantage to other candidates when starting careers in the future. More education on disabilities and racial/ethnic minorities in your field allows you to have more opportunities to thrive in your future careers, and makes you stand out as an applicant for jobs. I will work to increase diversity education experiences related to your major, helping you highlight the core competency skills that employers value from graduates.
If there are other issues you are concerned about, please contact me at maa598@pitt.edu! I want to represent you and your ideas- so please do not hesitate to reach out.
While these are more personal initiatives, I am also excited to be working with the other members of the ENVISION slate - Evan Levasseur and Neal Gupta - to further their goals for the campus. They are extremely qualified and kind individuals, and I am certain that with us, you will be able to envision a better Pitt.
I hope to serve you as a member of the SGB Board in the 2024-25 school year! Thank you so much for your consideration.