Student voices at the podium: Macy Johnson recognized; new student representative outlines networking and communication priorities

Radford University trustees began the meeting by hearing from a student speaker and later received the inaugural remarks of the board's student representative.

Macy Johnson, introduced by Robert Lindenberg, spoke about her experience as a Radford student‑athlete and described the personal connections with faculty and staff that shaped her decision to attend Radford. Lindenberg noted Johnson's athletic recognition and statistics in introducing her; the board applauded her accomplishments. "This is a huge honor," Johnson told trustees. "It is so cool that you will have someone come and speak. As a student here, it's comforting to know that you all care, enough to ask someone to come in.'" The president and trustees praised Johnson as a representative of the student body.

Later in the meeting the board received the inaugural presentation from Dominika "Dom" Butler, the student representative to the Board of Visitors. Butler described her background as a first‑generation student, her campus roles (tour guide, resident assistant, honors college liaison and student leadership positions) and her priorities for the student representative role. Her initiatives include identifying a universal student communications system, promoting RU Involved training for incoming students (so they can find and sign up for events), launching monthly student leader meetings for cross‑organization networking and spotlighting student organizations and community engagement through improved communications and social media. Butler said she had met with Dr. Jen Rentschler, director of student involvement, and that student involvement plans to begin monthly organization meetings and to develop more training and social media support.

Context and related developments reported during the meeting: President Brett Danilovich and university staff highlighted student‑focused initiatives elsewhere on campus that relate to retention and access, including the Radford Tuition Promise (launched in 2023 and reported to benefit more than 33% of undergraduate students), the Tartan transfer program with eight regional community colleges (a summit with those partners is scheduled Oct. 23), and a grant of $600,000 for a Highlander Center for Character and Public Impact to fund programming over three years.

Ending: Trustees thanked the students and invited Butler to report back on progress; the board also urged continued student engagement across university planning efforts.