IUGA Vice President

Overview.

As the Vice President of the Informatics Undergraduate Association (IUGA) at the University of Washington, I play a key role in bridging communication between students and faculty, advocating for student interests and facilitating events that foster community engagement. My responsibilities include enhancing the academic experience for students, internally managing the IUGA team, and assisting in the planning of workshops, networking and social events, and career development opportunities. This experience has contributed to my development as a motivated and organized leader.

Personal Importance of Work.

The work I’ve done and will continue to do within IUGA is important to me because of the shear number of students we can connect and provide for. Being at UW for almost four years, I’ve witnessed many students and their needs and want to enhance their college experience, or to just make it bearable. I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum when it comes to comfort and happiness at college, and so I understand how students feel when they have little opportunity or support. The work I do contributes to providing academic support for informatics students, creating social environments free of judgement and oppression, and bringing professional career opportunities to students looking for internships or jobs.

Tasks Accomplished.

• Maintained a team of officers and meet with them every week.

• Managed and worked closely with first-year representative students.

• Organized and facilitated events for informatics students. 

• Provided support to my officers when needed.

• Collaborated with other iSchool RSOs to put on events together.

• Provided strategic input on organizational goals and priorities.

• Advocated for curriculum improvements by gathering student feedback.

• Represented IUGA in meetings with faculty and the Informatics department.

• Led and assisted in informal outreach efforts to engage first-year and transfer students.

Leadership Competencies Gained.

Diversity.

In my role, I had a big responsibility to create an inclusive environment for informatics students and their community. We organized events while collaborrating with cultural and affinity-based RSOs to ensure we were reaching a wide net of students. We wanted everything we do to cater to all students, no matter who they are. A great example of this is when we paired up with several iSchool RSOs such as Women in Informatics (WINFO), Black in Informatics (BINFO), iMuslims, and iQueeries to host Hack for Social Good, an event put on by WINFO to provide middle and high schoolers with opportunities to explore informatics through UX/UI design. This was a fantastic leadership building opportunity as it allowed leaders from all sorts of backgrounds, identities, and skillsets to come together and collaborate on a massive scale. This along with many other events, reinforced the notion that for communities to thrive, inclusive leadership and representation is key.

Motivation.

Being able to balance multiple responsibilities required being a strong self-motivator. I learned to maintain a high level enthusiasm and dedication while dealing with a wide array of factors. One struggle that lowered my motivation at first was when any time we held an event and there was a low turnout of students. Of course, I understood that every one is student and has other responsibilities and things going on in their life, but it never felt good seeing an almost-empty room of students and a team of eager IUGA officers ready to engage with them. However through these experiences, I learned that it isn’t just about size or quantity of what you can affect, but how deep you can. Although some events had little turnout, they were still successful because of the high level of engagement and interest between our officers and the students. This is a constant motivator for me as both a leader and learner, and to understand that motivation can stem from very different ways. It’s all about perspective.

Synthesis.

This was my first leadership role in college where I was working with students, faculty, staff, and administration simultaneously. It was difficult at first because you almost have to conform your thinking to each group, which can make it difficult to provide an outcome that everyone will be happy with. One instance where I learned how to gather people together was when I assisted in the planning and execution of an “Introduction to Informatics”. I reached out to and had several advisors attend the event where they were able to speak directly to students and answer questions, address concerns, and receive feedback. Many of our students left that event feeling much more prepared and informed on the informatics degree at UW, as well as who their advisors were and how to get in contact and speak with them. This instance was a low-level example of how I practiced synthesizing within a student organization. 

Receiving Feedback.

As a student leader, I frequently sought to receive feedback from peers, faculty, and students to better understand how I can grow and develop. For a leader, it is vital to be able to take feedback and criticism in a positive way instead of thinking of it as negative comments. Receiving is a great way to better understand your actions and is part of most processes in college. One example that I always think of is whenever I ask students how an event went after it ends. Capturing what students really think about an event through constructive criticism is key to refining your future actions, plans, and goals. In my mind, feedback is at the end and beginning of every leadership role no matter what environment they’re in. 

Plan.

Effective planning was critical in ensuring events ran successfully while also mitigating pain points. Planning is important on a team scale just as much as it is on the individual scale. Being able to plan accordingly based on certain parameters, deadlines, and circumstances defines how versatile and flexible a leader really is. In  IUGA, I had to assist the president and my officers in planning many different types of events for many different communities of students, some at the same time. While I often found myself planning in a linear path, it can also fluctuate depending on conditions that we were against. This helped exercise my leadership mindset into planning effectively and thoughtfully.

Idea Generation.

Whether you're working in a team or as an individual, it is critical to be able to generate new ideas, as well as being able to communicate them to your shared team or audience. As a leader who had to understand a little bit of everything about other officer's roles and duties, being able to generate new ideas that were inclusive and structured was an important skill to have. During many of our meetings, I was constantly pushed to think critically about how to create new events for students based on their preferences and what we think would be best for them at the given time. This incorporated getting feedback from students, synthesizing everything into one idea, and planning that idea so it has structure and support. This was a common occurrence and made me more efficient and open-minded when creating and sharing my ideas. 

Future Oriented Statement.

This experience has strengthened my leadership, problem-solving, and advocacy skills, all of which will be invaluable in my future career. The ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders and organize impactful initiatives has prepared me for roles in both the technology and policy sectors. Moving forward, I plan to apply these skills in professional environments, particularly in positions that require strategic planning and community engagement. Additionally, my experience advocating for student interests has reinforced my commitment to working on projects that promote equity and access to resources, shaping my long-term career goals.

Artifact.

Below is the official website for the Informatics Undergraduate Association which was built by IUGAs wonderful IT leads from the past two years, Eric Kim and Michaela Tran, and their respective committees! Here, students can find information about who we are, our purpose, mission, and goals, as well as a wide variety of resources for iSchool students and information about the officers and committee members who help IUGA run smoothly! I love directing students who have more questions or who are curious about how to find or use resources within the iSchool, especially because I don't know everything! Lastly, the website also allows students to login with their NetID so they may RSVP for upcoming events we have and can be found in our Events tab. Check out and explore the website!