On most days, MUSG Executive Vice President Zach Bowman can be seen through the window to the Marquette Student Government offices working at his desk, past the room where senators work, his left foot tucked under him on the chair.

The junior in the College of Arts & Sciences spends at least 20 hours a week in his role as EVP, working with senators, meeting with administrators and chairing the Student Organization Funding Committee and the ad hoc committee reviewing the SOF process.

This spring, the busy Bowman will add even more to his plate when he runs for MUSG president.

“I’ve always been one that wants to get involved,” Bowman said. “I think I could point to my mom and say that she’s always been one that took on way too many things. She was always super involved in my high school things and my grade school things and in the community. I guess her example led me to want to get involved at a similar level.”

The Millstadt, Ill., native had a similar level of involvement before he became EVP . As a freshman, he joined the Marquette College Democrats and the Residence Hall Association. As a sophomore, he served as president of the College Democrats and a senator from the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as taking on the additional senate role of president pro tempore for a time. He even tried his hand at being a resident assistant—a job he decided did not fit him.

Those who know him well say his drive to be involved with the Marquette community comes from his fiery personality.

“I think that Zach is an extremely passionate individual,” said Off-Campus Senator Mary McCarthy, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. “Everything he does – no matter how it comes off – he’s always thinking about the bigger picture and how he can help things. And I think that passion goes into other aspects of his life.”

Bowman describes himself as headstrong, and others in MUSG say this aspect of his personality gives the organization an advantage.

MUSG President Sam Schultz, a senior in the College of Art & Sciences, certainly feels that way. The spirited Bowman often provides a stark contrast to the even-keeled leadership style of Schultz.

This was illustrated best, Schultz said, when Bowman and he met with Marquette Board of Trustees Chairman Charles Swoboda to discuss including a student on the presidential search committee.

“There were three of us in that meeting,” Schultz said. “The questions I was asking were more about the logistics of the president search and how this was all going to go down, and how we were going to move forward. And then Zach was like ‘I’m going to call you out on this. We really need to have a student on this thing.’ It provided a good balance there.”

MUSG was ultimately denied a student seat on the presidential search committee, despite Schultz and Bowman’s efforts.

But this is not the only issue Bowman undertook. Last semester, Bowman began working heavily with McCarthy and Off-Campus Senator Natasha Hansen on issues of gender and sexuality on campus.

As a gay man at a Catholic university, Bowman said he wants to see the campus become more welcoming to all kinds of different people. He tackled this issue in his standard zealous way, helping to create and distribute a gender and sexuality survey last semester, taking part in a university climate study and now working on a gender and sexuality action group.

The senators who took the lead on the issue were thankful for his help.

“Knowing he was the person who was in those conversations was reassuring for me,” McCarthy said. “I knew that even though I couldn’t be involved in some of those conversations, I knew that he could be a voice for students who felt there was a lack of clarity on the administration’s part.”

Marguerite Biagi, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, will join Bowman’s ticket as his executive vice president in the spring elections.

The duo will begin campaigning after all the tickets are finalized Feb. 28.