Jordan Roiland, the newly appointed student regent-designate, is looking to bridge gaps between students and the UC Board of Regents.
The board appointed Roiland, a student in the UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco joint medical program, to be the 2027-28 student regent at its July meeting, held at UCSF. Roiland will be the first medical student to hold the position.
[Related: Jordan Roiland named 2027-28 UC student regent, first medical student to serve]
The student regent serves two years – one as a nonvoting regent-designate and one as a voting member of the board – and is the only UC student with the ability to vote on systemwide policies.
Roiland said his background as a medical student makes him a strong communicator, listener and creative thinker. They added that their studies taught them to recognize gaps in their knowledge.
“Every day I’m learning and developing and strengthening my communication skills, listening, trust-building with patients, understanding the systems that I and my patients navigate and developing creative thinking skills,” Roiland said.
Student leaders across UC campuses reviewed applications for the position and interviewed semifinalists before the regents’ special committee reviewed three selected finalists, according to a July 14 University of California Office of the President press release announcing Roiland’s appointment.
Roiland said his experience in communicating with patients and superiors will help him balance students’ perspectives with the board’s policies.
Roiland is a strong advocate for patients in both academic and clinical settings, said Shelene Stine, the head of assessment and clinical transition at the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint medical program, in an emailed statement.
“I am confident that, as a Student Regent, Jordan will represent the Student voice with maturity and a measured approach, with a focus on ensuring shared and deepened understanding, building solutions and improving the structures and systems that serve Californians,” she said in the statement.
While Roiland said they hope to address issues affecting students, including affordability and uncertainty for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, they added that they will not advocate for specific policies until they have a holistic understanding of different students’ perspectives.
Roiland said he has already spoken to student government members across the UC but wants to hear from students of all backgrounds.
“It’s really important for me to be a good steward and represent student voices while also learning a lot more about the challenges of governance and the nuance,” they said. “I want to hear from students and know what they need to see from me to feel represented.”
Roiland said students can share their concerns by emailing him through UCOP. They added that they plan to set up other modes of communication, including an office phone number, in the future.
“I’m not just passionate about the things that affect me,” he said. “Where there is any struggle, all of our struggles are united.”
Roiland is a strong collaborator and well-suited to the role of student regent, said Dr. Jyothi Marbin, the director of the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint medical program, in an emailed statement.
“He is someone who consistently makes space for quieter voices and builds trust across differences,” Marbin said in the statement. “He isn’t afraid to say the hard thing, but he does it in a way that leaves people feeling respected rather than challenged.”
Regent Greg Sarris, the chair of the special committee, said at the regents’ July 14 meeting that Roiland’s intellect, humility and commitment to public service set them apart from other candidates.
Roiland, who graduated from Stony Brook University in 2021, worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health associate in the Northern Mariana Islands, where he focused on HPV and cervical cancer prevention.
At UC Berkeley, Roiland was a student advisor to the vice chancellor for student affairs, a graduate student instructor and a student ambassador for the UC Berkeley-UCSF joint medical program. They also created prevention and awareness campaigns for the UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee.
“He proved to be a deeply engaged and curious leader who brought creative ideas and an equity and belonging lens to key issues,” said Stephen Sutton, who worked with Roiland as UC Berkeley’s former vice chancellor of student affairs, in an emailed statement.
Sutton added that he believes Roiland will bring the same dedication while serving as the student regent as he did on the advisory committee.
Roiland said these experiences helped them understand the gaps between local needs and institutional solutions. Balancing CDC guidelines with the reality of working for the local health department showed him the difficulty of directly addressing people’s needs, he added.
“I firmly believe grassroots activism is the best way to develop immediate solutions for communities and get exactly what communities need, but I’ve always felt very comfortable navigating this level of advocacy where it’s more institutional and structural at the higher level,” Roiland said.
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