Tim Ryan wants to be an advocate for students at Fresno State.

Ryan is a junior running for Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) president next year. He is the current senator for the College of Social Sciences.

“I have the willingness and the dedication necessary to be a student leader and to be a successful advocate for the students,” said Ryan.

Ryan got involved with ASI his freshman year when he ran for senator at-large but lost. Rather than disassociate himself with the organization, Ryan applied for a position as a student research assistant with ASI at the start of his sophomore year. Ryan is a junior now, and the current senator for the College of Social Sciences.

As well as being involved with ASI, Ryan is a Smittcamp Family Honors scholar and has been a member of Alpha Sigma Phi since his first semester at Fresno State. Ryan was Philanthropy Director with Alpha Sigma Phi as a freshman, and the next year he was the scholarship director. As a junior, Ryan started a Student Leadership Council for the College of Social Sciences, for which he is the chair of currently.

“I’ve been in [a] leadership position in the past and from my experiences I’ve gained from that, as well as the experience working with current leaders and the executive team and senators last year, I think I have gotten a good understanding of dedication that is really needed in order to be successful in this position,” said Ryan. ­

Ryan is a third generation student, both his parents and grandparents attended Fresno State.

“I’ve been living in Fresno all my life, and for as much flack as it may get from people, I think it has a lot of really cool things about it, and I really enjoy being able to live here,” he said.

One of the biggest issues Ryan wants to work on is increased student financial burden.

“Something that I really want to address, and something that one of my slate members, Nick Stephens, who is running for vice president of finance wants to address is transparency issues, making sure students know where their tuition and student fees are going and making sure they are involved in the processes of understanding how to see fees raise as well as looking into options for reducing costs of textbooks,” Ryan said. ­­­

Ryan said he wants students to be aware of possible upcoming fee increases, and to be involved in the voting process that could potentially impact them.

“Regardless of the outcome, we know that students were involved, and that the student voice was heard in the voting process,” said Ryan. ­

While students are facing proposed fee increases, Ryan wants ensure students have as little added cost to the education as possible.
“Currently I am sitting on a campus-wide committee that is looking into implementing open ended educational resources on campus,” Ryan said. He continued saying that he hoped to keep this committee moving forward if he was elected next year.