Associated Students Inc.’s goals for this school year are to promote awareness about student government and to increase student involvement.

ASI President Terry Martin will talk about ASI’s major goals during the annual address from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Hinde Auditorium.

In previous years, ASI’s strategic plan consisted of three or four main points. Martin said ASI is going with a shorter strategic plan this year that will only have two major goals, but more details.

“Past ASI boards have the terrible habit of setting goals that are really unattainable,” Martin said. “We do not want to overboard ourselves with goals that do not get accomplished.”

The board of directors will vote on a final strategic plan at the Oct. 13 meeting. Martin said the board is still looking at ways on how to address ASI’s two set goals.

Martin said one way to promote awareness about ASI and its programs and services is through Dollars for Organizations and Clubs, which provides grants to clubs and organizations for events and promotion.

“This year we are working on DOC because it is one of the better ways we can not only make ASI more known; we can make ASI more useful,” Martin said.

ASI is working with Student Organizations and Leadership to create more awareness about Dollars for Organizations and Clubs’ funding by setting aside 10 minutes at the end of the mandatory Nuts and Bolts meetings, held at the beginning of the semester, to answer questions about Dollars for Organizations and Clubs, Martin said.

To address the second goal, which is to increase student involvement, Martin said ASI will launch a Know Your Directors campaign and create joint councils for the different colleges on campus.

ASI directors from each of the seven colleges would create and chair his or her own joint council, which would have club and organization members representing each college.

This would allow clubs and organizations to become more involved with and provide feedback to ASI through meetings and events, Martin said.

“Starting a Know Your Directors campaign makes sure (students) know they can have somebody they can take issues to and someone who knows the campus and their departments well,” said ASI Executive Vice President Rylan Gervase.

Students can be involved on campus by joining ASI and university committees, such as the University Budget Advisory Committee and the Student Fee Advisory Committee, Martin said.

Senior kinesiology major Adam Tinney said ASI should hold events like Phlagleblast to get students’ attention.

“People are usually passive. Give an award to students. Do something big and fun,” he said.

Gervase said students can also have a voice in fee and budget cuts when actively involved with ASI.

“Having the Legislature’s support of students involves informing them of how their decisions affect students on a personal level by going to the Legislature’s office and putting personal stories to issues,” Gervase said.

Martin said ASI is encouraging students to attend the address, which will have an open forum to ask questions.

“We want ASI to be truly a student-focused machine,” he said. “ASI isn’t so much a government as it is a resource.”

Michelle Curtis can be reached at [email protected].