On May 8, Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Council of Trustees honored Shagufta Haque for her service on the Council with a resolution of appreciation and the naming of a seat in IUP’s Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex in her honor “for extraordinary service as a university citizen and student trustee.”
The resolution of appreciation stated: “be it resolved, that the IUP Council of Trustees expresses its deepest appreciation to Shagufta Haque for taking to heart the goal of using what she has learned to make the world a better place.”
Haque, a member of the Cook Honors College and the Eberly College of Business honors program, will graduate from IUP on May 10 with a major in finance and economics (honors track) and a minor in applied statistics and human resource management.
She began service on the Council of Trustees in May 2023.
“IUP continues to be very fortunate to have student trustees who are actively engaged and who bring great value and insight to the Council,” IUP Council of Trustees Chairman Sam Smith said. “Shagufta has been an outstanding member of the Council. She has been poised, professional, and confident, effectively communicating important student perspectives and ideas to help move the university forward,” he said. “We sincerely thank her for her service and congratulate her on her graduation, and wish her all the best as she begins this next chapter in her life.”
In her role on the Council of Trustees, Haque was chair of the Council of Trustees Student Affairs Committee, working closely with IUP Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Segar.
A dean’s list student and provost scholar, she won best undergraduate paper at the 2024 Pennsylvania Economics Association Conference, and her research was published in a refereed economics journal. She presented at the university’s annual Scholars Forum and was a finalist for the university’s Justice Research Fellows program.
From left, IUP Council of Trustees Chairman Sam Smith, Shagufta Haque, IUP President Michael Driscoll
In addition to her work on the Council of Trustees, Haque has held many student leadership positions.
She has been a senator from the Eberly College of Business for the IUP Student Government Association before being elected vice president of SGA. She was vice chair of the University Senate, the university’s academic governing board, responsible for delivering updates on SGA and the Graduate Student Assembly. As a member of the Community Standards Board, she participated in the adjudication of alleged student violations of IUP’s Community Standards Policy.
She was an undergraduate student representative on IUP’s Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Board, providing student-centered insight and advice on activities of the Teaching Excellence Center. She was a member of the IUP Student Co-op Board of Directors and a member of the Cook Honors College executive board.
Haque served as a committee member in IUP’s searches for a provost and for the dean of the Eberly College of Business and was the chair of the student trustee search committee for her successor.
She worked as a note taker for the Department for Disability Access and Advising. During the summer months, she volunteered with the Indiana Community Garden to harvest items for the Chevy Chase Community Center food bank.
She was a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, the IUP Women in Business, and completed a six-week-long Executive Leaders Series sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement focused on having leadership empathy, handling difficult conversations, and achieving organizational goals.
Haque diversified her experiences at IUP while contributing to local economic development and quality of life by completing an internship with the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce.
A native of Bangladesh, she studied at Anandaniketan School in Sylhet, Bangladesh, completing her high school education at Indiana Area Senior High School in 2021.
She is the recipient of a Cook Honors College scholarship and the Terry Serafini Legacy Fund scholarship through the Eberly College of Business Honors Program.
Following Haque’s graduation, Jackson White, a political science and economics honors double major in the Cook Honors College from Uniontown, will begin his tenure with the Council of Trustees. He was approved to serve as a student trustee by the Pennsylvania State System Board of Governors at its February meeting.
Members of the Council of Trustees are volunteers appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate to be responsible for financial oversight of the university and for ensuring compliance of university policy with state law. The Council of Trustees meets quarterly and at other times as needed.
Student members of the Council of Trustees are selected through a competitive application and interview process. The student trustee nominee is appointed by the Pennsylvania Board of Governors following nomination by the Council of Trustees and the university president. The term of a student trustee continues until they graduate from IUP.