Governor appoints Lexi Rager new YSU student trustee

Gov. John R. Kasich has appointed Lexi Rager of Bristolville, Ohio, to a two-year term as a student member of the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees. Her term runs through April 30, 2019.

A daughter of William and April Rager, also of Bristolville, Rager is a junior Integrated Mathematics Education major at YSU, with a minor in Developmental Psychology. She has a 4.0 grade point average.

“I am excited to be able to give back to a university which has given so much to me,” she said. “Although YSU, first and foremost, is a university, to make it a success, students also have to feel it is a home. As a student trustee, I hope to be the liaison that helps to make it both.”

Rager has been a student assistant working in YSU’s Honors College for two years, leading the university’s Summer Honors Institute, visiting area high schools to speak about the college admissions process and coordinating the Honors College Big and Little Mentorship Program. She is also president of the YSU Honors College Trustees.

Rager has worked on research with YSU faculty members Padraic Taylor, an associate professor of Mathematics and Statistics, and Ron Shaklee, chair and professor of Geography. This summer she is at California State University in Fresno doing research in mathematics with Alicia Prieto Langarica, a YSU associate professor of Mathematics and Statistics.

She is Leslie H. Cochran Scholar and a Choose Ohio First STEM Program Scholar. Between high school and college she has completed more than 900 hours of volunteer work.

Meanwhile, Trustee Charles R. Bush has resigned from the board. In a letter to the governor, Bush said he is now a resident of Florida and, therefore, is no longer eligible to serve as a trustee. A retired cardiac thoracic surgeon and YSU alumnus, Bush was appointed to a nine-year term in September 2015. A replacement has not been named.

The Board of Trustees conducts its regular quarterly meetings June 7, 8 and 9 on the following schedule. All meetings are in the Trustees Meeting Room in Tod Hall unless noted otherwise:

WEDNESDAY, June 7
10:30 a.m. Tour, Meshel Hall.
Noon Academic and Student Affairs Committee.
1:30 p.m. University Affairs Committee.
3 p.m. Institutional Engagement Committee.
3:30 p.m. Investment Subcommittee.
6 p.m. Executive Committee, Pollock House, 603 Wick Ave.

THURSDAY, June 8
8:45 a.m. Special Meeting.
9 a.m. Audit Subcommittee.
10:30 a.m. Finance and Facilities Committee.
11:30 a.m. Governance Committee.

WEDNESDAY, June 14
3 p.m. Board of Trustees meeting.
6 p.m. Summer Gathering of current and former board members.