At the September 27 Student Government (SG) meeting, the SG body concluded the freshman senator elections, heard an explanation on the RIT Early Alert system as well as an extended update on The Link @ RIT

Freshman Elections

The final 3 candidates for the position of Freshman Senator were Jill Petersen, an Industrial Design major, Tymoni Correa-Buntly, a Journalism major and Heetae An, an Engineering Exploration major. They were each given three minutes to present a speech and time was set aside afterwards for questions from senators and representatives. After ballots and votes were counted, Jill Petersen was elected the winner.

RIT Early Alert

The 12 year old RIT Early alert system has been updated with help from Starfish Retention Solutions. The main goal of the program is to warn undergraduates when they are struggling or in danger of failing a class, while also encouraging them to seek help and reach out to advisors and support centers. Professors are expected to send out reports to both students and advisors between weeks four and six and again between weeks nine and 11. Students can access their early alert page in myCourses and through the Student Information System (SIS). The goal of this system is to bridge the gap between advisors and students to ensure communication is steady.

Updates on The Link @ RIT

Rebecca Delaney, assistant director of marketing and events services at RIT, presented The Link to the senate and further explained its benefits and purposes. The Link @ RIT is a program used to help with the Division of Student Affairs. A video was created and will be sent out to further advertise The Link @ RIT. Some special features for clubs include a built-in election system and programs that sync with Facebook and Twitter. Future features of The Link @ RIT will include EVR, which will link with the events calendar and track attendance for events. This will be available online on October 15.