Ever since he was young, Jake Wellman was groomed for responsibility — and that doesn’t seem to be changing.
The recently appointed student regent said having a seat on the board gives him a chance to be a “servant leader.” He said he was a Boy Scout in middle school, and that experience motivated him to take on leadership roles.
“I learned the rewards of helping other people and doing a job that I had to get done well,” he said. “I think that satisfaction in that service just really caught on with me, and it’s something I want to continue with.”
Wellman applied for the student regent position early last semester, and said he felt he met the board’s needs.
For two years, he was the class president at his high school. He helped establish a chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity as a freshman at UNM. He was the former president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and ASUNM Chief of Staff and Attorney General. Over spring break, the board appointed him to the New Mexico Educational Assistance Foundation Board, the Lobo Energy Board and the UNM Hospital Board of Trustees.
Over the past few weeks, Wellman said he has spent time with students, constituency groups, faculty and staff to hear concerns. He said that increasing tuition has been a recurring fear.
“Right now I think tuition is probably No. 1, just because of the timing and the nature of the economy,” he said. “I guess University spending has kind of tied into that, but I think one of the issues that I’ve heard a lot, from students specifically, is asking the University to cut wherever they can without raising tuition.”
Second to tuition, Wellman said, is the need to evaluate the positions in the top-heavy administration. He said it’s important to consider how decisions will affect the University’s academic mission and the student experience.
“It’s not one or two things we can do to say, ‘OK, check, check, education’s better — move on.’” he said. “It continues and should be at the core of everything you do, and moves forward in enriching that experience that students get when they come to the University.”
A student in the Sustainability Studies program, Wellman said he plans to go to law school and focus on American energy use.
“I’m interested in looking at how America deals with the climate change we’re going through — right now in Congress or in state or private sectors, trying to help the public cope with the changes in energy that we’re experiencing and are coming,” he said.
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