New Officers Begin Terms in ODU's Student Government Association

With the close of the 2010-11 school year, a change in personnel at Old Dominion University's Student Government Association (SGA) is under way.

The new SGA president is Luis Ferreira, a master's student in international studies. The Annandale, Va., native is a December 2010 ODU graduate in political science and international studies. Ferreira was the 2010-11 SGA chief justice, and served on the Constitution Review Committee in 2009-10.

The new SGA vice president is Fred Tugas, of Norfolk, a music major in the class of 2013. He has no experience in SGA, but has been heavily involved in programming for ODU's Office of Student Activities and Leadership. Tugas served as 2010 Homecoming chair, a job he'll do again in 2011, as well as an undergraduate fellow for NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

SGA Secretary Stephen Hedley is a newcomer to student government. The political science major from Virginia Beach is scheduled to graduate from ODU in 2012.

Treasurer David Bakhshaee, from Worcester, Mass., is also a political science major in the class of 2012. While he has no experience in SGA, Bakhshaee is a former member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and a current member of Virginia 21, a lobbying group that works for increased funding for higher education from the commonwealth of Virginia.

The 2011-12 speaker of the senate is Justin Ferrell, a class of 2012 double major in philosophy and political science. From Danville, Va., Ferrell was an SGA senator in 2010-11, chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Multicultural and Diversity Committee during the 2010-11 school year.