The Marquette Student Government Senate welcomed a new face to the executive board in a formal inauguration last week.

Laura Herzing, a junior in the College of Communication, will officially take office Friday as the organization's new communications vice president and is already planning for next year.

In addition to continuing to keep operations smooth in her upcoming term, Herzing said she wants to establish an MUSG Web log.

The online resource will allow the MUSG vice presidents to post announcements and other information and offer a way for students to respond or post comments.

"It's more interactive than other forms of publicity," Herzing said.

The newest vice president said she wants to promote the communications office with an open mind.

"Creativity doesn't just come from the people in this communications office," she said. "It comes from everybody."

In order to do this, Herzing said she encourages other people inside and outside of MUSG to share their ideas with her.

In keeping with the MUSG president and vice president's goals to reach out to students, Herzing said she is planning to have information tables about senior week ticket sales.

The communications office also plans to disperse senior week information at local bars, which seniors may frequent.

About two weeks ago, the Senate passed a bill to add a marketing/sales position to the Office of Communications in order to help support DogEars, a Web site on which students can exchange books and rate teachers.

Herzing said this will be a great resource to sell advertisements. For the time being, she will hire just one person for the position but she will "play it by DogEars" if the situation calls for an assistant.

"I'm very excited to see what the possibilities could be for that medium," she said.

Although Herzing was the only candidate for the communications vice president position, she said the interview process was intense.

Herzing submitted her application March 17 and was interviewed by a selection committee April 5.

According to the MUSG constitution, the committee is composed of the current communications vice president, the dean or a designee of the Office of Student Development, one senator, one student-at-large and is chaired by the current MUSG president.

Selecting Herzing was not a hard task, according to Alex Hermanny, MUSG president and a College of Arts & Sciences junior.

He said Herzing was a qualified candidate with experience at several internships and worked as art director in MUSG's communications office this year.

"I think it's been kind of a fast experience," Herzing said. "I do feel ready for the position."

In previous weeks Herzing has talked about the position with her predecessor, Nicole Garland, a College of Business Administration senior.

Garland said one thing that will be different with Herzing's new position is the task of managing three sections of the communications office: art, public relations and Web site maintenance.

"I really have confidence that next year she will be able to pick up the ball and just run with it and take the organization from good to great," Garland said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 14 2005.