Leinonen and Virtanen elected to the University Board of Directors, Kostiainen to be the Chair of the OYY Board

The Student Council of the Student Union of Oulu (OYY) has chosen the student representatives of the university board or directors and University Collegium for the term 2024–2025, and the Chair of the OYY Board for the year 2024. 

The election of the University Board members was made in the Student Council meeting on 17 October. After voting, Teemu Virtanen, a student of industrial engineering and management, and Lotta Leinonen, a student of business, were elected as student members.

During the term 2022–2023 Miriam Putula and Teemu Virtanen acted as the student representatives in the university board, but Putula didn’t run for the position this time. That means that Virtanen will begin his second term as a student member of the university board. Virtanen has previously acted as a vice chair of the board of OYY and as the board member of the National Union of University Students of Finland (SYL) among other things. Leinonen has previous experience with influencing work from acting as the chair of the board of OYY, and she has also acted as SYL’s chair for the year 2023. 

The student members are full members in the University Board of Directors which also includes university staff and non-university members. The university board is responsible for selecting the rector and for the strategic decision-making of the university, for instance. Additionally, the University Board bears a lot of financial responsibility. 

Chair for the OYY board and student representatives for the University collegium were elected in the student council meeting on 29 November.  Anton Kostiainen, a mechanical engineering student, will lead OYY’s board in 2024. The following students were elected to the university collegium:

Suvi-Anna Salminen, vice member Santtu Mäenpää

Lotta Ellonen, vice member Marko Venäläinen

Anni Vakkuri, vice member Aku Forsman

Saana Wahlroos, vice member Miikka Lukkaroinen

Chenhao Song, vice member Ly Ngyuen

Aapomikko Matti, vice member Md. Moinul Islam

Iikka Kokkoniemi, vice member Riikka Haataja

Leea Putula, vice member Maria Ollila