There are 48 candidates running in the 2013-14 University Park Undergraduate Association elections, up from the 43 candidates who ran last year, according to information posted online at vote.psu.edu.
Candidate names are posted online for presidential, vice presidential, at-large representative, off-campus representative, on-campus representative and academic college representative positions.
One presidential and vice presidential ticket includes Aaron Dillen (junior-rehabilitation services management) and Elias Machina, who is listed as a provisional student in the Penn State Student Directory. According to the online University Undergraduate Advising Handbook, a provisional student has earned a high school diploma or equivalent but "lack[s] the credentials required for admission as degree candidates."
On the opposing ticket, UPUA Vice President Katelyn Mullen (junior-supply chain and information systems) and Brenden Dooley (junior-political science and economics), who has previous UPUA involvement, are also running for president and vice president, respectively.
Seven candidates are running for six open at-large representative seats. Those who are running include Steffen Blanco, Michael Kramer, Rishi Mittal, Anthony Panichelli, Stephen Payne, Laurel Petrulionis and Evan Riddick. Kramer, Mittal, Payne, Panichelli and Petrulionis have previously been involved in UPUA.
Twelve candidates are also running for 12 open off-campus representative seats. Those include Mike Augustyn, Christopher Birster, Pawel Chrzanowski, Katie Esarey, Jon Garfield, Kevin Horne, Dutch Markward, Emily McDonald, Theodore Ritsick, Gokul Sundar, Scott Tomensky and John G. Wortman. Esarey, Horne, Markward, McDonald and Ritsick have previously been involved in UPUA.
Eight candidates are running for seven open on-campus representative positions. Those who are running include Caleb Fernandez, Lindsey Hannon, Richard Herbold, Dray Krishnan, Hannah Lindsay, Shannon Rafferty, Kathryn Taylor and Victoria Woods. Fernandez, Krishnan and Woods have previously been involved in UPUA.
Additional candidates are running for 11 available academic representative positions, with one position available per college. The candidates running for academic representative positions are listed below, and an asterisk denotes those with previous UPUA involvement:
College of Agricultural Sciences: Lina Montolpoli and Yundi Lang
College of Arts and Architecture: Jeff Holzer*
College of Communications: Ryan Belz
Division of Undergraduate Studies: Taylor Olson* and Kathleen Tully
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences: John-Paul Milton, Jacob Maruschok and Dominic Ramunni
Eberly College of Science: Tim Rinehart*
College of Education: Emily Miller*
College of Health and Human Development: Madison Benfield*
College of the Liberal Arts: Melissa McCleery* and Chase Englund
Schreyer Honors College: Michael Mancini* and Kevin Wynosky
Smeal College of Business: Anand Ganjam*
Elections will be held from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, and all undergraduate students at Penn State-University Park are eligible to vote. Voting will be done through the website vote.psu.edu, according to the 2013 elections code, and can be done using any computer with access to Penn State's wireless network. The UPUA Election Commission will also establish a public polling area in the HUB-Robeson Center for those who decide not to vote using their own private computers or those present in computer labs on campus, according to the code.
