Aboli Kesbhat (she/her)

Board Candidate
Brightside Slate
Cincinatti, OH
Neuroscience and Psychology

My name is Aboli Kesbhat (she/her) and I am a junior studying Neuroscience and Psychology, with minors in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Chemistry. Outside of SGB, I am a member of the Blue and Gold Society, Student Alumni Association, and Omicron Delta Kappa honor society. I am also a Research Assistant at Children’s on a traumatic brain injury study and love to volunteer at Shadyside to chat with the elderly. I am incredibly excited to be running for a position on the Student Government Board. SGB has played a large role in making me the Pitt student I am today. As a first-year, I was a member of the Allocations Committee; as a sophomore, I became the vice chair and as a junior, I am the chairwoman of this amazing group of people that work to fund, better, and diversify the Pitt experience. Being a part of SGB has taught me to put myself in the shoes of my peers and make decisions in their best interest. This is what has encouraged me to run for Board! If elected to be a board member, I will implement initiatives involving the three A’s: Allocations, Activities, and Awareness. With Allocations, I will support student organization independence by working with SORC to establish supported use of outside bank accounts and Venmo. Additionally, I will utilize Allocations reserve fund to develop scholarships that will properly value the diverse population of students this University is lucky to have. Lastly, I will encourage student use of Allocations by simplifying its practices to financially support the organizations that are at the heart of a student’s collegiate experience. With Activities, I will facilitate communication across student groups, such that groups with similar interests have access to a community of students with analogous objectives, creating a network of students that can bounce ideas off one another, aggregate resources, and collaborate on large scale projects/initiatives. In organizing these conversations between student leaders, SGB is able to intervene with the resources to best support their ideas, such as in the form of grants created from the Allocations reserve fund to subsidize large scale collaboration events and allow for activities to impact a greater number of students. With awareness, I will increase the communication between students, department heads, deans, Pitt administration, and SGB to make the University as transparent as possible. This could be in the form of semesterly Q&As between students and department heads/professors to review academic requirements, research opportunities, and potential careers. Similarly, I will set up a form of regular correspondence between University officials (deans, Pitt administration) such that students are able to provide direct input on decisions that affect their Pitt experience. Lastly, I will establish meetings between board members and student leaders to assess their needs, as well as invite them to provide their input on specific SGB initiatives. The initiatives stemming from the three A’s are meant to provide Pitt students with the funds, resources, and knowledge to craft the Pitt experience you all deserve. As a Pitt student, you should have access to every opportunity to enhance your undergraduate career. As a board member, I will make sure that these opportunities are clearly presented to you, rather than expecting you to search for them in your times of need. Although this year has tested us in unimaginable ways, it’s time to look on the Brightside and, using the three A’s, I’ll guide you there.