Christopher Louie, president of La Organizacion Latina Estudiantil (OLE), was selected on Monday to serve as a Young Trustee on the Hopkins Board of Trustees. Louie will serve a four-year term on the board.
He was chosen among a large pool of applicants from the senior class, which was narrowed down to five by a committee led by Paula Burger, vice provost. The Board of Trustees Committee on Trusteeship, Nominations and By-Laws interviewed the final five candidates on Sunday and chose Louie the following day.
While Jerry Schnydman, secretary of the Board, said he could not comment on the conversation that took place in the meeting where Louie was selected, he could comment on his impressions of the pre-med, pre-law, neuroscience major.
"My sense is that he has a great intellect. He just seems to have a tremendous interest in doing more for Johns Hopkins, after his student life days," he said. "But that's true of all the final candidates."
Choosing one person from the applicants was a very difficult decision, according to Schnydman. Burger described all of the final candidates as "splendid." Three of the four other candidates interviewed by the board were Justine Mink, Esther Bell and Samir Bhalla.
Louie assumes one of the reasons he was chosen is because of his diverse range of involvement at Hopkins.
"Most people come from a specialized background; mine is a little more diverse, working on multicultural issues, working downtown on lab stuff," he said, citing two examples.
In his four years at Hopkins, Louie completed the 4K for Cancer in 2007, of which he is now director, brought Latino speakers to Hopkins as president of OLE, worked on business and marketing for the worldwide Triple Helix publication and served as a mentor to freshmen as part of Mentoring Assistance Peer Programming (MAPP).
"One of his strengths is that he reaches out to all kinds of students. He values the contributions diverse students can make to Hopkins, and he works well with people from all ages," Lea Ybarrah, a faculty advisor to OLE and the writer for one of Louie's letters of recommendation to the Board, said.
Louie was initially interested in serving as a Young Trustee a few years ago. The prospect of working with all of Hopkins's 10 divisions and overseeing all aspects of the University were what appealed to him.
As the president of OLE, Louis hopes to bring multicultural experience to the board. In his interview by the board, he was asked a number of questions relating to multiculturalism on campus.
Burger also cited that his multicultural experiences were one thing that made him a desirable candidate.
Louie's term begins the day after his graduation. At this point he is still unaware of the board's main initiatives.
"One thing that I'm keeping as fundamental to the position, I'm not going to act like I know everything related to the University. That's one thing I learned that is key to working with undergraduates. You have to be able to find out who it is that knows stuff; you'll be approached with things you're not familiar with," he said.
In his interview by the board, Louie was struck by the knowledge that board members had of issues pertaining to student life on campus.
"For them, not being students, I was surprised how aware they are with issues of student life. They have a fairly good idea about what campus life is like," Louie said.
Louie explained how the interview process gave him an opportunity to look back on his four years and think about aspects of the University in ways he never has and on a broader scale.
The application process also highlighted some of the best of Hopkins in the candidates.
"Every applicant was phenomenally qualified. They had a great perspective on the University. There's a notion that students don't really care about Hopkins once they leave, but there really is a lot of passion within the University," Louie said.
The Young Trustee program was started in 1971. Every year since then, one graduating senior has been chosen to serve on the board. Because Young Trustees serve a four-year term, there are always four recent graduates serving as Young Trustees on the board.
