Students in the University of California system have until Feb. 23 to submit applications for a position on the UC Board of Regents.

The UC Regents have appointed a Student Regent every year since 1975, when Californians passed Proposition 4, an amendment to the state constitution that allows a UC student to serve as full voting member on the Board of Regents. UCSB political science major Carol Mock was the first of these Student Regents, selected for the 1975-76 term.

The Board consists of 26 Regents – 18 governor appointees, 7 ex-officio members and one Student Regent – who oversee UC investments and properties holdings, the appointment of UC chancellors and the UC President, and student fees.

In order to serve as Student Regent, applicants must be full-time undergraduate, graduate or professional student in good standing at one of the UC’s ten campuses. Applicants must submit a resume and apply online at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/studentreg.html. The position is a two-year commitment, the first year of which the selected student will serve as a regent-designate.

The Regents will review applications for the 2007-2008 school year in May after a multistep selection process.

Current Student Regent and UC Davis graduate student Adam Rosenthal said nearly 75 students applied for the position when he was selected for the 2005-06 term. He said the position provides a wealth of information concerning the governance of the UC.

“The new student Regent will understand and learn the complexities of how [the UC system] operates as a major research institution,” Rosenthal said.

Applications for the Student Regent position are reviewed upon submission by one of two regional nominating committees consisting of five undergraduate students and five graduate students. The Northern Regional Nominating Commission represents applicants from UC Berkeley, Davis, Merced, San Francisco and Merced, while the Southern Regional Nominating Commission represents applicants from UC Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Each commission selects five semifinalists who are interviewed in May by the UC Students Association (UCSA) Board of Directors. The UCSA then recommends three finalists to the Secretary of the Regents, who retrieves comments from each finalist’s respective UC chancellor. The Student Regent is picked by the Special Committee to Select a Student Regent – a Board of Regents subcommittee – and appointed by the Board of Regents on July 19.

Once appointed, the selected student will serve as a regent-designate for the 2006-07 school year and attend all six Regents’ meetings for that year. Once the term as regent-designate is complete, the student can vote at meetings for his or her term as the 2007-08 Student Regent.

Rosenthal said the term as regent-designate gives the appointed student time to receive proper training before stepping into a voting position.

“Rather than a Student Regent coming in without experience, you have a one year apprenticeship,” Rosenthal said.

Regent-designates and Student Regents are compensated for in-state travel expenses to Regents’ meetings, UC tuition, and student fees, and are provided with a campus office.

For more information about becoming a Student Regent, Rosenthal and current Regent-Designate Maria Ledesma, a UCLA graduate student, will be on the UCSB campus on Monday, Feb. 6 to answer questions about the application process at 4 p.m. in the Office of Student Life Conference Room at SAASB 2201A.