Now that the waiting is over for the next student regent, he is preparing to deal with upcoming issues the Arizona Board of Regents will address next year.

Jonathan Schmitt, a UA agriculture and resource economics junior, was confirmed by the state Senate earlier this month. The student regent has full voting privileges on the board. The position rotates among each of the universities every year.

"It's nice to get that part of the process over with," said Schmitt, who replaces NAU's Mark Davis July 1.

Schmitt said the issues he is interested in and expects the regents to focus on include the publishing of faculty course evaluations and examination of the tenure system and affirmative action programs. He said he is preparing for the additional workload.

When the UA's Faculty Senate approved the publishing of faculty course evaluations April 1, the board began considering a policy to force the other two Arizona universities to follow suit, Schmitt said.

ASUA initially proposed the measure and its student legislative bodies approved it. Schmitt said the board just wants the other universities to see the value in publishing evaluations.

He said Arizona State University's faculty has formed a committee to examine the evaluations issue and will decide on the it in the fall or early spring. Northern Arizona University's Faculty Senate, however, has tabled the issue for at least another year, he said.

In August, representatives of the three Arizona universities will report back to the board on minority student recruitment and retention and on affirmative action programs.

Schmitt said the board also will examine the current tenure system during the fall, will listen to suggestions on how the system could be changed and will vote on recommendations in December.

Regent Judy Gignac, who has talked with Schmitt by phone and via electronic mail since Gov. Fife Symington appointed him last month, said she was impressed with the time Schmitt has invested in preparing for his post on the board.

She said the student regent has an even more difficult task than other regents because of obligations to school and work while serving on the board.

The student regent is only in that arena for one year, she said, "So a student regent needs to be even more prepared."

Among his other obligations at the UA, Schmitt works once a week as a Laotian translator at the Arizona Boys Ranch. He became fluent in that language after spending two years in Los Angeles on a mission working with Laotian refugees for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He also served as a clerk for the Tucson law firm of Hirsch, Davis & Piccarreta, P.C. Schmitt said he will attend law school upon graduation.

The next student regent will come from ASU.