Bradley Tran, sophomore in Engineering, rose through the ranks of the Illinois Student Senate more quickly than the usual senator. Tran, who served as treasurer of ISS this year, was elected student body president on April 8 for 2009-2010.

“One of the things that I really want to work on this year with the student government is ensuring that we remain transparent and visible on campus,” Tran said. “I want to ensure that our presence is not only known, but that we actually respond to student issues and effectively tackle them.”

The new president began his ISS career as an intern to the treasurer during the fall of his freshman year.

Tran said he is aiming to extend relationships with students, peer administrators and the rest of the University community.

“I want to make sure we understand student issues, and that we come up with a mechanism for assessing them,” Tran said.

Tran was elected over opponent Yousif Al-Rawi, senior in LAS, in an internal senate election with 64 percent of the vote.

David Wall, freshman in LAS, was elected vice president of external affairs, while Carey Ash, graduate student, was elected vice president of internal affairs. Wall received 88 percent of the vote, while Ash ran unopposed. Jeff Schroeder, sophomore in Engineering, was elected treasurer.

“President Tran is an exceptional, articulate leader,” said Wall. “He’s well organized, enthusiastic and a motivation to all new and returning senators.”

Tran also serves as executive director of the Association of Big Ten Students and as the external vice president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Besides the swearing in of the new executive board, Wednesday’s meeting also served as a farewell to old senators and a welcome to the new.

Jason Webber, graduate student and former external vice president, spoke to the new session of senators. —linebreak—“There should always be some dissent to something you do,” Webber said. “Even if it’s puppy dogs and lollipops, somebody’s not going to like puppy dogs and lollipops.”