Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Academic Assembly may not have had a normal year after its original president resigned and a competing student advocacy group was recognized, but representatives say the semester has been a success.

Assembly President Ricardo Torres said the two things the assembly accomplished this semester that he is most proud of are the two letters sent to associate deans and department heads requesting cooperation in raising student awareness.

One was about the current policies that can influence advising, course selection and drop/add procedures; the other was about a current policy on classroom problems.

"I think under the circumstances and with everything that happened, we did pretty well because we have a strong relation with the [University] Faculty Senate, and we still have a lot of input from the students as far as academics go," Torres said.

He said as next year's president, he hopes to get students even more involved with addressing academic concerns. Torres added that he wants to have a full assembly ready to engage in the projects for students, despite the university recognition of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) as the official student voice.

"For next year, I've already started working with Faculty Senate on making sure the academic voice of the students stays as strong as it has been for the last couple of years," he said.

Don Leslie, the assembly's adviser, said the group was probably distracted this semester by having to deal with the issue of whether USG would continue and the implementation of the UPUA, but he commended the assembly's leadership in attempting to remain productive.

"Our interest is continuing to have some organization representative of the student voice in the university to assist us in the academic side of the house -- whether it's organized through what we used to call USG, through what USG will become next year or through some sub-group of UPUA," he said. "Academic Assembly has been that prime voice for many years."

Leslie said attendance was lower than usual this year, and the assembly members didn't come out with as many reports, but those who were there every Monday night were "certainly committed students."

He added that the work the assembly did with the Schreyer Honors College on the pilot study of online Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness (SRTE) surveys and its attempt to resurrect the "Take a Faculty to Lunch" program were both particularly commendable.

Cathy Neiderer, former vice president of programming, worked this semester to expand the student councils within the colleges and foster a better relationship between the assembly and the councils. She said that project could have been more productive because only people with the strong student councils showed up, and the purpose was really to help the smaller or nonexistent student councils.

She said overall, the semester went well and the assembly was productive.

"I think the people who will still be involved next year are very dedicated, and they have their goals ahead of them and know exactly what they want to do," Neiderer said.

The assembly also investigated the drop/add period and overrode a veto by former USG President Galen Foulke, prohibiting members of USG from dually serving on the Penn State Board of Trustees.

Former Assembly President Ashley Harris did not return multiple phones call by press time.