Sunday night, junior Chris Kallmeyer made the leap from facilities chair to President of the Duke University Union.
Kallmeyer, who was picked from among three other applicants by the Union board, programming chairs and current executive board of the Union, will officially assume his duties from current President Kevin Parker in April.
“The selection was much more difficult this year than in years past because we had so many highly qualified candidates,” Parker said. “But we felt that Chris was best positioned to address the issues of the coming year.”
Although he is assuming the highest position at the University’s primary student programming group, Kallmeyer has only been involved with the Union for the past year and a half. Before getting involved last year as the facilities chair, he served as treasurer of Campus Council his sophomore year and as a freshman representative for East Campus and Campus Council.
“Ever since I joined the Union I was really impressed by the passion and drive of the people working with the Union, so I wanted to continue my involvement,” Kallmeyer said. “This will be my main focus now.”
Kallmeyer, an economics major and political science minor, said he looks forward to continuing the diversity and ever-increasing amount of programming offered on campus.
“We have a full plate of issues for next year, including the 50th anniversary of the Union, so that is certainly going to be a large event and integral part of the year for us,” he said.
The Union is responsible for a number of activities on campus, including last week’s Ben Folds concert, the reopening of the East Campus Coffeehouse and jazz concerts at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture.
“The most important thing for Chris to do is as the Union moves into the future is for him to remember all the great things we’ve done this past year and then to build and continue upon that success,” Parker said.
The Coffeehouse and the Bryan Center are two of Kallmeyer’s main areas of interest.
“I plan on continuing to work with the Coffeehouse to make sure that it is a great spot that students can hang out in as well as make the Bryan Center more aesthetically pleasing,” Kallmeyer said. “Improving facilities and dining services is an important aspect of the Union.”
Apart from programming, some of Kallmeyer’s jobs will include choosing and shaping new programming chairs and an executive board, for which he said he is confident in selecting qualified individuals. Both bodies will be elected in the next two weeks.
“What we can do with the Union is make a real, tangible impact on campus,” Kallmeyer said. “So selecting motivated students is an important task.”
The Union, which has close to a $1 million dollar budget, has each of its committees handle a portion of the money separately so as to continue the kind of quality programming it hopes to see on campus, Kallmeyer explained.
“At Duke the arts should be very important to students, so with Chris I think we can continue to make the arts experience improved and as vibrant as possible,” Parker said.
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