In its first meeting of the 34th Congress, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate elected its president and committee chairs Tuesday night.

Pollock/Nittany Sen. Michelle Wood was appointed to be president of USG's primary legislative body. Wood said she would represent the voice of the entire Senate even if she does not agree with it.

She said her role is to help senators achieve their platform goals, which can be better attained through the bylaw changes she worked on in the last Congress.

Wood has served as the Senate's USG Academic Assembly liaison for the last year and worked on the USG elections code.

Pollock/Nittany Sen. Erin Ferris said Wood is always in the office to make herself available to senators and to help them achieve their goals.

"She doesn't want to lead our Senate on her own personal agenda," Ferris said.

But West Halls Sen. Zach Hamman said that Wood not emphasizing her goals may not be a positive thing.

"I see no initiative in her speech," Hamman added.

Wood ran against Town Sen. Brian Battaglia, who announced platform goals and proposed four of the five pieces of legislation Tuesday.

Senate tabled the legislation until next week because its meeting lasted more than six hours, until after 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

East Halls Sen. Matt Ritsko said Battaglia was taking a proactive stance by placing legislation on the table so soon. But Town Sen. Mike Yohannan worried that Battaglia had a very specific agenda that was a "radical departure" from the Senate term that just ended.

The Senate chose Ferris to serve in the newly created position of vice president. Ferris said her position is meant to be more of an internal one and that she would focus on setting up a "great" support staff.

South Halls Sen. Ace Ekhtiarzadeh was elected as the Senate's Internal Affairs (IA) Committee chair.

The IA Committee screens all legislation, and evaluates executive and judicial branch candidates before the Senate votes on their appointment.

Ekhtiarzadeh said he wants to allow students to develop trust in USG and get them to know what the organization stands for.

The Senate chose Town Sen. Liz Cheehy to become Operations Committee chair.

Cheehy said she has already been working on projects involving the efficiency of Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) busing.

Also, the Senate voted Hamman to be the Student Services Committee chair.

Yohannan was elected Governmental Relations Coordinator, a position left empty during most of the last Senate. This position is responsible for conducting lobbying for the Senate.

Yohannan, a self-proclaimed "political junkie," said the position involves more than budget issues at the state level, such as working with the State College Borough Council.

Town Sen. Kristen Kofmehl was appointed Town Caucus chair.

Before the appointments, Town Sen. Julia Graham announced her resignation, saying it would not be fair to students if she could not give as much time as her job required. Graham was the Student Services Committee chair in the previous Senate.