The Associated Students of New Mexico State University held a candidate fair on April 9 from 6-7:30 p.m. via Zoom, prior to the beginning of Spring 2021 election campaigning on April 12. 

The Senate Candidate Fair gave ASNMSU Senate candidates the opportunity to share a little bit about themselves and their platforms with students. A total of eight candidates of the ten running for a Senator position were present at the fair. 

Led by Chief Elections Officer Megan Balkin and Deputy Elections Officer Armando Burciaga, candidates were asked a total of five questions and allowed two minutes to answer. 

Manuel Armendariz 

Armendariz is a junior majoring in Biology and is currently serving as a senator in the College of Arts & Sciences. Armendariz has noticed a lack of unity amongst clubs he wishes to address as senator. Armendariz also explained that he would like to see more funding spent on personal protective equipment as well as more counseling sessions for students. 

Alex Nichols 

Nichols is a junior majoring in Biology and is currently serving as a senator in the College of Arts & Sciences. Nicholas has also noticed a lack of connection within the College of Arts and Sciences and would like to make it easier for groups to reach out for help. Nichols would like to see funding given to students to aid in purchasing necessary school materials. 

Haleigh Haven 

Haven is a junior majoring in Counseling and Community Psychology and is campaigning for a seat in the College of Education. If elected, Haven plans to work on student involvement and awareness of resources. Haven would like to see funding continued to be spent on activities and materials for students to help cope with the stress of the pandemic. 

Andrew Pantoja 

Pantoja is a sophomore majoring in Civil Engineering and is currently serving as a senator in the College of Engineering. Pantoja explained that himself and other students in the College of Engineering have experienced issues with the timeliness of grading which he plans to address as a senator. Pantoja would like to see more funding given to the various college council departments. 

Shravya Dharba 

Dharba is a doctoral student in Management and is currently serving as a senator in the Graduate College. Dharba has noticed issues within the Graduate School such as with travel funding that she would like to continue to address as a senator.  

Harmanpreet Kaur 

Kaur is a doctoral student in Plant and Environmental Sciences and is campaigning for a seat in the Graduate College. Kaur discussed two problems she would address as senator—one being the lack of awareness of the compost club and the second being the rising cost of student health insurance. Kaur believes that funding should be used to help reduce the cost of insurance.  

Deblina Misra 

Misra is a doctoral student in Biology and is currently serving as a senator in the Graduate College. If re-elected, Misra would like to ensure international students have helpful resources more readily available as well as greater collaboration between clubs. Misra has noticed that research materials for experiments are taking too long to reach NMSU and would like to see funding spent on decreasing this time.  

Naga Narendra Reddy Potlapalli 

Reddy Potlapalli is a doctoral student in Molecular Biology and is campaigning for a seat in the Graduate College. Reddy Potlapalli would like to address the rising cost of health insurance, stress within the Graduate School and create more internships for students during holiday breaks. Reddy Potlapalli would like to see funding spent on materials for TA’s to help them with teaching as well as materials for research.  

Official voting will kick off on April 19 at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the week until April 23 at 5 p.m. Students will be able to vote via a link on the ASNMSU social media or the ASNMSU website.