Bonnie Drake ‘17 has been appointed the Association of Amherst Students’ first-ever communications director, the AAS announced this summer.

Beginning in June 2014, a group of students led by AAS President Tomi Williams ’16 held discussions on improving the AAS’ ability to communicate with the student body. They eventually drafted and approved an amendment to the constitution in order to appoint a communications director.

“A major issue for the AAS has always been a lack of effective, efficient and consistent communication,” Williams said. “We hope that the communications director will improve our ability to reach out to students to solicit feedback, opinions, and questions.”

The communications director operates under the direct authority of the executive branch, and is a paid position.
According to the new bylaws, the communications director will attend all AAS senate meetings and major events, and publish some form of weekly update on ongoing projects.

“In the past pretty much all the information about senate was on our website. It’s a great and informative website, but students never go on it,’’ Drake said. “That website will still exist so we have all of our information in one place, but I’m really looking forward to being able to update people on Facebook when important news and events are going on.”

Drake said she plans to become the primary resource to which students can direct their questions, both in person and on social media.

“With my position, others get to focus on getting the work done, and I get to take care of making sure students know what’s going on,” Drake said.

In the coming weeks, Drake said she plans to visit dorms and student groups to inform them about the AAS’ new methods of communication.