Sacramento State’s Associated Students, Inc. Board of Directors appointed two new directors, filling the remaining vacancies on the board during its meeting Wednesday.

Francisco De La Torre III, a third-year political science major in the Honors program, was appointed to the position of vice president of academic affairs. 

The position opened up after former vice president of academic affairs Samantha Elizalde was promoted to executive vice president in January. Donna Walters, who was elected as the executive vice president for the 2020-2021 school year, resigned in November 2020.

De La Torre previously served as president of the Environmental Student Organization club in fall 2020, which hosted guest speakers such as the Millenium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere communications director and city council member Jeff Harris.

“Advocacy is an important part of ASI, and it is something that I wish to empower through this position,” De La Torre said.

Graduate student Wayne Cheung was appointed as the director of graduate studies. Robert Moon, the former director of graduate studies, resigned in December 2020. 

After getting his bachelor’s in kinesiology from UC Stanislaus, Cheung is working on his master’s in school counseling at Sac State and said he is wanting to use this position to further advocacy of students, specifically graduate students.

“Not only do I want to actively listen to their wants and needs, I want to understand where they are coming from and respect why they are coming to me to be that voice,” Cheung said.

The board also passed a motion to allocate $50,000 to the Transfer Peer Coaches program, a program that provides guidance to Sac State transfer students who earned an associate degree prior to coming to Sac State. Funds for this program will come from the Dollars for Organization and Clubs fund and ASI’s remaining club travel funds that have been unused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The funds allocated to the Transfer Peer Coaches program will support the student wages for the Transfer Peer Coaches to respond to the unique needs that transfer students have when enrolling on campus,” ASI’s resolution stated.

Sandra Gallardo, ASI’s executive director, said the funds help pay for 16 peer mentors’ wages. 

“While we pay attention a lot to our first-year program, or our ‘native’ students, we don’t see as much programming going to the transfer students,” Gallardo said.

The board also allocated $500 from its strategic priority funds to make a creative space in collaboration with the Center of Race, Immigration and Social Justice on its Un/Equal Freedoms art exhibition.

The funds will be allocated for awards for participants in the project, with Sac State artists getting priority.