<p>How many international students are heavily involved and/or hold positions?</p>
<p>Also, is UA incumbency driven? As in, do a lot of people who weren't involved their freshman year run in subsequent years, or is the culture of UA such that you have to start as soon as you step onto campus?</p>
<p>Hey!</p>
<p>Your question came up on my Google Alert. I’m currently a member on UA Exec, so I can answer any questions you have about the UA or Penn Student Government in general.</p>
<p>1) The UA general body has 35 representatives in total. Out of 27 representatives already elected for the 2011-2012 academic year, there are 2 international students, including myself. We’ve had two UA Chair/Presidents in the past that were international students, one from Australia and the other from Canada. </p>
<p>2) Incumbency definitely helps. If anything, having established name recognition is going to make subsequent elections a lot easier. However, a lot of students also join the UA as elected members later on and end up taking on significant leadership roles. New student elections (in the fall) are quite different from the spring elections in that they are much more driven by popularity and sloganeering. Spring elections tend to be more substantive - many major student coalitions endorse at that time, so actual competence and project experience matter a lot more. </p>
<p>The take-away is that everyone has a different “career trajectory”. The UA is extraordinarily inclusive given its structure which constitutionally favors elected members. But even if you’re not an elected representative, you can become very active as an Associate Member. A good half of the UA’s leadership started out as AMs or joined after freshmen year!</p>
<p>If you have more questions or would like to talk in a more private setting, feel free to email me at <a href="mailto:speaker@pennua.org">speaker@pennua.org</a>!</p>
<p>Hey Cynthia,</p>
<p>How influential or active are AMs? Are there requirements to maintaining AM membership, or is it a voluntary, drop-in sort of thing? In what capacity do AMs serve in the UA?</p>
<p>The site describes AMs as such:</p>
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</p>
<p>but I would appreciate any specific or anecdotal instances of AM members being actively involved in a particular project. Any stories?</p>