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Learn about Leonard Fomin, the New Chair of the BSOS Dean’s Student Advisory Council

Junior Government and Politics major Leonard Fomin is the new chair of the BSOS Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC). But this isn’t his first time playing a leading role in a student advocacy-related group.

“I was a member of my city's youth advisory committee and my county's youth task force, which allowed me to learn about and develop real-world policy affecting local youth,” the California native recalled of his high school years.

Fomin also served as a member of his high school's chapter of Junior State of America, an international, student-led nonprofit that empowered generations of civic leaders from 1934-2024. In that role, he organized a voter registration drive, which he says, “instilled in me the importance of voting as a cornerstone of democracy.”

With that appreciation for voting and democracy in mind, despite being a long way from home, Fomin decided to pursue his college degree at the University of Maryland, in part because of its proximity to D.C. Soon after arriving, he also became an active member of the UMD Student Government Association (SGA), where he collaborated with various campus clubs and organizations in the hopes of supporting students. 

“SGA has given me the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of student-led organizations as well as university administrators,” he said. “Whether partnering with ArtsForAll on the ‘Make Room for Music’ initiative or working with RecWell to introduce suggestion boxes in their facilities, I’ve gained invaluable experience in understanding and addressing the needs of students across campus.”

Fomin joined DSAC his sophomore year. During his time as a member, he was involved in two DSAC initiatives: Creating a flow chart for GVPT majors to better understand their schedule and developing a quiz to help BSOS students select a minor.

According to Fomin, the flow chart organizes GVPT classes to minimize confusion on which semester they’re offered, what class is a prerequisite for another and how many credits a student needs to register. The quiz, which uses a database of BSOS’ 14 minors, includes a series of questions designed to narrow down student’s interests and talents before suggesting a minor(s) to them.

As DSAC chair, Fomin would like to establish a monthly publication called the “DSAC Electives Insider” which would highlight “the exciting electives available across different majors and minors within the college.” The publication would highlight underrepresented programs and courses in BSOS by shining a light on what remarkable projects students are working on in them.

“Our underrepresented majors that are smaller within the college, like Geographical Sciences or Anthropology … still really have exciting classes that students from other majors could take,” he said.

Fomin also hopes to begin a facilities audit that would involve surveying students on which BSOS buildings they enjoy spending time in, and which ones could be marked for needed renovations.

In addition, Fomin hopes to expand outreach to other colleges to jointly host events.

“I’m really hoping to use this position to reach out to a lot of smaller majors and make sure they’re represented on DSAC,” he said. “Even groups outside our college, to see how we can collaborate and learn from them rather than staying in this existing mold.”

 

Published on Wed, Sep 24, 2025 - 3:21PM

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