UC Student Regent Alfredo Mireles Jr. and Student Regent-designate Jonathan Stein are hosting a meet-and-greet and informational session today at UCSB to persuade students to apply for their position for the 2013-14 term.

Mireles and Stein will answer student regent hopefuls’ questions regarding the application process from 11 a.m. to noon and hold an informal meet-and-greet with students from 3 to 4 p.m. in the SRB Multipurpose Room. The Board of Regents appoints a student regent to serve a one-year term as one of its 26 voting members.

Mireles, a UC San Francisco nursing graduate student, said the event will inform students about the position’s inherent responsibilities.

“The UC Board of Regents manages a $22 billion budget,” Mireles said. “We deal with issues like nuclear weapons and managing hospitals — very macro level issues that almost no other student gets the opportunity to work with.”

According to Mireles, the previous six student regents were male. Mireles said the session seeks to draw a greater female turnout among applicants.

“We think that the voice of female students should be better represented,” Mireles said. “[We would like] somebody who is firmly connected to the UC through multiple experiences, who is bold enough to work in a highly politicized environment and somebody who wants to serve his or her students. This job is too demanding for it to be a resume booster.”

Stein, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, said his personal upbringing motivated his involvement in the committee.

“My mom was able to immigrate to this country from India, despite growing up in poverty, because one of her brothers was given a one-in-a-million scholarship to pursue higher education,” Stein said. “Our whole family exists because of that. I want to fight for education access so that new generations of students can experience the things my family has experienced.”

Aside from the student representative, the board is composed of 18 members appointed by the governor for 12-year terms and seven ex officio members including the governor, lieutenant governor and the speaker of the assembly.

The student regent is required to attend all the board’s meetings and committees. Tuition and fees are waived for the regent and regent-designate.

The application is available online at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents and is due Thursday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Office of the Chancellor.