Many students know her as ASUA president-elect, but some may not know her outside of her office.

Katy Murray, a marketing junior from Dallas, has had a long career that landed her the position as president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona for the 2012-13 school year.

As a sophomore, Murray wanted to get involved with the school, so she decided to run for a position on ASUA’s Spring Fling Committee, she said. She originally ran for the position of public relations director for Spring Fling, but ended up becoming the corporate director of the entire event.

“That’s when I fell in love with the ASUA,” she said.

From there, friends encouraged her to apply for a cabinet position within ASUA. She said after meeting with James Allen, current ASUA president, she decided to apply to become his chief of staff.

She got that, too.

After serving all year as Allen’s right hand, her peers again encouraged her to go for a bigger position than that next year: president. So, she met with Allen once again to find out if the option was viable. It was.

After convincing herself to run, she said her motto became, “Go big or go home.” Although she never thought she would win, she told herself throughout the election process that it was a good experience to have, regardless of the result, she said.

Serving the UA community is not Murray’s only passion, however. She describes herself as “very girly,” a “coffee addict,” a “cat lover” and enthusiastic reader.

Murray loves being in Arizona, she said, but calls herself a “Texas girl” through and through. Murray has an orange tabby cat at home named Boots, her favorite book is “Pride and Prejudice” and she goes to Starbucks at least twice a day.

Those closest to her call her loyal and fun to be around.

Krystina Nguyen, a biology sophomore and one of Murray’s best friends, recalled how she and Murray have been on many “random adventures” to Coffee X Change at 2 a.m. during finals week and how they like to blast music, singing along as loudly as they can, while driving around.

Allen, who said he has been Murray’s mentor throughout her term as chief of staff, said “best qualities carry with her in and out of the office” and that he thinks she will be a great representative of the undergraduate student body.

Murray doesn’t understand how one thing going wrong can ruin a person’s day, Allen said. For her, three things must go awry to make a day average, not bad. Although Allen said she’s “a little innocent” and it’s easy to tell she was raised right, “anyone who takes her kindness as weakness is a fool.”