Halston Hales, incoming Student Association vice president, said SA does a great job, but he is ready to work toward some changes.
“The Student Association has done a great job letting the students know what their actions are and collaborating with faculty to work toward them,” Hales said.
Hales said he has outlined a few main points he wants to address during his time as vice president.
Transparency and collaboration between SA and students are main points of Hales’s platform. He said he wants to do a better job with publicity programs and make it easier for students to get across to the association.
Some ways he said he plans to achieve this are through improving the Speak Up MSU program and requiring senators to get to know their constituents. A couple of proposed methods for the latter are to have a monthly meet and greet with senators and requiring senators to talk to a set number of students regularly.
Crystal Perkins, senior human sciences major, said this plan could be very successful.
“It would be good to have a way to have more access to the senate instead of having to go through a third party with your ideas,” she said.
Another part of Hales’s platform is making research opportunities more accessible to students.
“There’s no consolidated listing of all research opportunities available to students,” Hales said.
Research is a large part of MSU. Hales said MSU was recently designated as a very high research activity university by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This is the highest rank of research activity for doctorate-granting universities in the nation.
Mississippi State is one of only 108 universities in the nation and the only university in the state to hold this title.
Hales said he plans to create a readily available list of research opportunities on  the Internet for students to browse and get involved in research projects that interest them.
This system will be similar to the career center but based around research rather than careers. This will take research from being a subject that is only discoverable through meeting with a faculty member to one any student can access easily.
Colton Keel, sophomore mechanical engineering major, said Hales’s plans for the research database would be beneficial for both professors and students.
“I think research accessibility would be great because many students don’t know the many research opportunities available,” Keel said. “More accessibility will help professors to complete their research and students to improve their resumes.”
Hales said the Shackouls Honors College is already doing something along these lines, and he has met with them about their similar goals.
Another of Hales’s major points on his platform is the prevalent subject of sustainability.
He said many student groups are working toward a more sustainable campus, but the size of SA might help bring progress to the efforts of these groups. SA is one of the largest student groups on campus, which could help to make more of a difference with the cause.
Hales said he is excited about all of his goals, but he is especially looking forward to getting the senate more involved with the student body.
“The student outreach program is something I’m really excited about,” Hales said.
Along with improving the relation between senate and students, Hales said he also wants students to know how important it is to have a good senate.
The senate needs to be a body of students who deserve to be there and who have ideas to work toward.
“I want to get the right people in those jobs and get them what they need to realize their goals,” Hales said.
The senate is made up of students representing each residence hall and each college on campus. With the senate elections approaching, Hales said he encourages anyone with ideas to run for the office. He said the senate is, after all, a group of students working together to achieve goals.
“It’s one senator going out and finding something they want to do and bringing it back to the group for discussion,” Hales said.
He said he also invites any students interested in running for any office to talk to him about their ambitions.