For the first time in the University of Washington’s history, a UW Tacoma student, Jean-Paul Willynck, has been selected as the student regent to represent all three UW campuses.

The Board of Regents, the governing body of the University, consists of 10 people who serve a six-year term. However, the student regent serves on a year-long term that usually begins at the beginning of July. Large policies and budget requests must be approved by the regents before President Emmert can implement them.

Willynck described that the regents’ responsibility was to “guide and support the President.”

“All of the issues discussed by the regents are the same,” said Secretary of the Board of Regents Joan Goldblatt. “The only difference per the bylaws is that Jean-Paul abstains from voting on academic appointments.”

“Amongst all guiding and support of the President, I am there to provide a student perspective,” Willynck said.

The previous student regent, UW aluma Erin Lennon, took a strong approach to reach out to the students to better understand their needs. Willynck prepares to take a similar approach. One of his focuses is to represent the students’ views from a varied range of backgrounds.

“Outreach is important, and I want to make sure a variety of people feel welcomed here,” Willynck said, who plans on creating strong relationships with campus groups such as the Ethnic Cultural Center and the Greek community.

With only a one-year term to serve, Willynck was encouraged to “hit the ground running and jump right in” to start and make connections, Goldblatt said.

Willynck has already started learning and making connections as quickly as he can.

Issues involving healthcare, the HUB remodel and tuition are all part of the student perspective that Willynck is prepared to work with.

“Soon I will be meeting with the financial aid instructor to try and figure out how the aid is run,” he said.

Willynck, a senior at the UW Tacoma campus, has previously attended the Jackson School of International Studies at the UW Seattle campus, which he said has helped him understand what the students of the Seattle campus want and need from a student regent.

“I want to demonstrate that I lived in the U-District and went to classes in the Jackson School, so I have the Seattle connection, too,” Willynck said.

Willynck said he likes to work with the student leaders on campus so that he can learn their interests, needs and ideas for the University.

“My main thing is accessibility and being visible in a literal sense,” he said.

Willynck will be attending a class at the Seattle campus as well as his classes in Tacoma.

“The experience you get being on campus, running into people on the Ave or at the HUB, and just being involved in the Seattle community is very important,” he added.

Willynck is currently working on a “Voices of the Community” piece for UW Tacoma. The message discusses the benefits that the UW has brought to the entire South Sound.

“Though we are on three different campuses, the real sense is that we’re all one university,” he said.

All of the regent meetings are public and students are welcome to join. Information, the agenda and location are all posted online the Friday prior to each meeting.

Reach reporter Lia Pittman at news@dailyuw.com.