Student: Tyler Beasley

Tyler Beasley, a longtime Pirate, has now put East Carolina University on a state-level map.

As the first graduate student representative for the UNC Association of Student Governments, ECU can expect its voice to be heard in the upcoming year.

According to its website, the association’s purpose is to advocate for the collective best interest of students in serving as a liaison between students and the Governor of North Carolina, the North Carolina General Assembly, and the Office of the President of the University of North Carolina.

As a member of the ASG executive board, Beasley will be representing more than 46,000 graduate students in the UNC system.

As a member of the ASG executive board, Beasley will represent more than 46,000 graduate students in the UNC system.

In his role, Beasley will engage, support and provide resources to graduate student senates across all 17 institutions, assist in the recruitment of prospective graduate students to the association, and report the affairs of graduate students in a local, state and federal capacity to the Department of Campus Outreach and the association’s executive board.

He will also stress direct concerns and questions to ASG President Bettylenah Njaramba, who represents student issues on the Board of Governors. Njaramba and ASG Vice President Anderson Clayton established the graduate student representative position to get input from as many students as possible.

Beasley has three major platform ideas he intends to focus on as the graduate student representative: inclusivity, safer campuses and ensuring thorough representation for every student.

“Each campus has concerns that students are passionate about. Whether that issue is a monument or namesake or something else, I think that is a way that students might not feel included on their campus and that is something the system and BOG needs to address,” Beasley said.

Beasley will work on getting graduate students involved with their respective student bodies to help tackle these issues.

Beasley also has concerns he wants to address for ECU.

“Finding resources for graduate students in the system, but specifically for ECU, is really important for me because I don’t think that we have a lot of funds for our graduate population and their research,” Beasley said.

Beasley’s choice as the graduate student association representative will likely bring more awareness to ECU, he said.

“When they had the option to choose a candidate from any of the schools, and they chose one from ECU, I think that should speak to the caliber of student that ECU is capable of producing,” Beasley said.

Another reason is to celebrate having someone on the executive board who knows some of the issues that ECU faces because of its location or social makeup can insure that problems are addressed, he said.

Beasley is a master’s degree candidate in the Department of Sociology and his research focuses on the sociology of higher education, specifically first-generation college students at ECU and the struggles they face.

“My end goal is to make recommendations for policy change at ECU, which is something that being in the systems level or BOG level will help me learn how to do,” Beasley said.

STATISTICS

College: Thomas Harriot College of Arts of Sciences

Major: Sociology

Classification/Year: Second-year master’s degree candidate

Hometown: Elizabethtown

Hobbies/interests: Playing the piano, traveling, cooking and fine red wine

Clubs and Organizations: Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Honors Society, Alpha Kappa Delta The International Sociology Honor Society

FAVORITES

Favorite hangout: Pitt Street Brewery

Favorite place on campus: The courtyard in the center of the Flanagan Building

Favorite place to eat: Dickinson Avenue Public House

Favorite class: Qualitative Research Methods/Ethnographic Research Methods

Professor who influenced you the most: Dr. Christine Avenarius

Favorite TV show: Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove”

MOTIVATIONS

Dream job: Chancellorship

The one thing you cannot live without: Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Role model: My father and Dr. Virginia Hardy

Your words to live by: Be kind to everyone

What advice do you have for other students?: Dedicate your life to helping others, and to making a meaningful difference in our beautiful world.

What is something cool about ECU that you wish you knew during your first year?: The secret parking spots around campus.