Student Association Senator Christine Wang was voted as the first female Senate speaker for the upcoming one-year term, which begins after the last session of this term in May.

The duties of the speaker include leading the legislative branch allocating the SA budget that provides services to students and appointing individuals such as the deputy speaker, according to the SA Constitution and Bylaws.

Wang, a sophomore accountancy major, was nominated by SA Senator Jordan Clayton-Taylor during a March 27 SA Senate meeting, along with Deputy Speaker Robert Kreml, SA Senator Demone Williams and SA Senator Giuseppe LaGioia. Only Kreml and Wang remained in the running by Sunday. Wang won with a vote of 18-14-1.

Wang said she plans to focus on diversity within the SA, educating the student body about the SA and fostering an open forum format during Senate meetings.

“It is one thing to have great ideas but another to implement them,” Wang said. “I think I’m qualified to do both.”

Wang is a presidential scholarship recipient, the secretary of the Honors Student Association and member on the administrative program prioritization student task force.

Both speaker nominees were allotted five minutes to address the Senate, after which the floor was opened to questioning from senators. After both nominees completed their addresses and questioning, senators were allotted 30 minutes of debate and discussion about the nominees, who were not in the room.

While senators were questioning Wang, they brought up concerns about time management with the SA.

During Kreml’s time to address the Senate, he discussed his plans to focus on food security on campus, change the academic catalog and continue the SA’s No Shame campaign, which focuses on eliminating negative stigmas about mental health.

Both nominees focused heavily on increasing voter turnout during SA elections, as turnout during last week’s elections had only 843 voters in the presidential race, compared to the 2,315 voters in the 2015 presidential race.

“I feel that having new leadership will be great for revamping the Senate,” said SA Senator Jessica McKay.

Wang said her first order of business as SA Senate speaker will be creating transparency within the SA, which she said is not currently evident.

“I want to catch [incoming students] while they’re hot,” Wang said. “When new students come in, they’re always energized and ready to go, so I plan to have a sort of town hall meeting with students to make sure that their ideas are being heard.”