Dear Assembly Members,
I hope you all had an incredible Frosh Week!
Frosh Week | The Commerce Executive on Orientation (CEO) ran a very successful Frosh Week. This year had the largest incoming group of first-year Commerce students, but the CEO overcame all logistical hurdles. As a faculty, we are very proud of the CEO, their hard work definitely paid off. A huge congratulations to all Queen’s Orientation committees on their respective successful weeks, and for representing all of Queen’s in welcoming the incoming class.
Frosh Hiring | We are beginning our frosh hiring season where we hire first-year students for our 14
conferences/competitions and 25 committees, as well as various intern roles within the Society. We expect to hire close to one hundred students in the next month.
Goodes Hall Opening | The Official Goodes Hall Opening of the west wing will occur this weekend, September 14-15. It also marks the reunion of multiple past Commerce classes. The weekend will begin this Friday with a Benefactor and Volunteer Appreciation Reception and will continue with tours of the expansion as well as a brunch with the Dean. Extra exciting news: the Starbucks is fully functional and delicious as always. Feel free to stop by Goodes to see all of the changes.
Queen’s Gives the Gift of 8 | Building off the success of the Queen's Wears campaigns, the Commerce Society Outreach Commission will be running a campus-wide campaign called "Queen's Gives the Gift of 8". The Outreach Commission will aim to educate Queen's students, faculty and the greater Kingston community about the need for organ donation, the incredible impact it has, and to encourage individuals to register to become a donor. The concept behind the campaign is that every 1 donor can save 8 lives. As part of this initiative, we will also be running a blood donor clinic on campus. We strongly believe that this is an important cause that does not typically receive a lot of publicity and can benefit significantly from the attention of a young group of students. Our strategy this year is focused on engaging a greater number of students across all faculties and increasing cross-faculty collaboration. The Outreach Commission will be reaching out to the student leaders in all faculties and hope to receive a lot of excitement, support and feedback throughout this process!
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or require more information. Best,
Nicola Plummer
President, Commerce Society [email protected]
Goodes Hall 143 Union Street Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6 comsoc.queensu.ca
Queen's Computing Students' Association Queen's School of Computing Goodwin Hall | 25 Union Street Kingston, ON | K7L 3N6 www.compsa.queensu.ca Report to AMS Assembly
Greetings Assembly!
I cannot express how excited I am to be back for my second year on AMS Assembly. I cannot wait to get to know each and every person in this room and see what we can accomplish this year together.
It was another great year for Orientation week. Each event was a huge success. I would like to take this time to congratulate the entire Tech Committee (somewhat self-serving, as I’m also a part of it) for putting on such a fantastic week, and making sure every first year felt welcome in their new home. I would also like to thank all our techs that truly stepped up and aided in making this week so memorable for all our incoming students.
Our fall elections for our 1st Year Representative will be coming up soon, and with all the enthusiasm and excitement seen throughout Orientation week this year, I can hardly wait to see this process begin. We will also be hiring a new Marketing Commissioner as well as a Formal Events Commissioner. Once these positions are filled, it will mean that COMPSA Council is complete, and the team that will be navigating the year ahead will be assembled.
This year COMPSA is taking a stand for Academics and putting all our resources forward to aid all students to reach success. We will be providing more academic resources specific to computing students. These will be especially focused at students in the difficult transition period of first year. Providing tutors, extra tutorials and as well as providing them with all the resources that Queen’s offers we are looking forward to a successful academic year.
We are also continuing with COMPSA Site Services. If you or anyone else you know is looking for a place to create a website for your Faculty Society, club or team please send me an email and I will get you in contact with the right people.
COMPSA is pleased to be bringing back numerous events from previous years as well as new events to come. We are truly excited and optimistic about the year ahead of us. That’s all from COMPSA for now, again, I can’t say how happy I am to be back, and I’m looking forward to a great year.
Best Regards, Elizabeth Lappin
Hi Assembly!
I hope that everyone has had an amazing start to September. Along with Olivia Chan and Ruxandra Filip, CESA’s Representatives to the AMS, I look forward to getting to know all of you in the coming weeks. Below you find more information on the happenings within CESA:
Leadership Structure Overhaul
At the beginning of last year, the Council Appraisal and Review Team (CART) was struck to undergo an internal review of the size and composition of CESA Council. Its goals were to make the faculty more efficient in planning, more effective in executing, and more democratic in representing. At the Special General Meeting (SGM) last January, over 45 motions were passed aimed at achieving these goals. There were major changes, including the elimination and creation of new positions, and minor changes, which involved fine-tuning many job descriptions. In the end, CESA underwent a magnitude of changes unparalleled in recent memory. Due to these changes, we have had to adjust a lot of our procedures and rewrite many sections of our policy manuals. It’s going to take a all year for the full benefits of the changes to be recognized, but we have a great group of leaders who I know are committed to making this happen.
Orientation Week…largest ever!
Our Teach Exec, comprised of Anne Cass, Alex Marshall, Jake Ferguson, and Nicole Goncalves, organized the largest Con-Ed Orientation Week by a long shot. There were just under 250 first years admitted to our faculty his year…over double from the traditional size of around 120. A lot of the activities required restructuring, but in the end, they were successful. Many of CESA’s events throughout the year will have to be rethought given the increased numbers in the past few years.
Frosh Elections/Hiring
Our first year elections (including our First Year Rep to the AMS!), as well as hiring for other leadership positions not filled last March, will be done this week. By next Sunday, all positions on Council and Extended Council should be filled!
GPA Debacle
I have been in contact with Isabelle to talk about the ongoing problems Con-Ed faces by having two different GPA grading systems (one for Arts&Science and another for the Faculty of Ed) lumped together for one cumulative GPA. I will be meeting with CESA’s Academic Affairs Commissioner and Senator on Friday and the four of us will all meet next week. More details to come.
Faculty of Ed Relations
I will be having a meeting with our Associate Dean of Education to talk about strengthening our ties with the Faculty of Ed through small initiatives and social events. Once the Education Student Society (ESS) president is elected on Sept 14, I will get in contact with him/her to discuss our working relationship, which has not been as strong in years past.
Events, Events Events!
CESA is a busy place. Just this evening, we are hosting our first ever “What’s in B.Ed.?” event where students came to learn more about the services in Con-Ed, learn how Con-Ed advocates their interests at Queen’s, learn what committees they can join, and overall just get more familiarized and involved in Con-Ed life. Our Queen’s Conference on Education Executive is planning for QCE 2013 in January, with the theme, “Beyond the Classroom: Exploring New Frontiers in Education.” Con-Ed Camp is coming up this month, with the theme, “Con-Ed Olympics.” And, as usual, with have an abundance of community, social, athletic, equity, and year events in the works.
That’s it for now! If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me or call me to have a chat! Philip Lloyd
President
Concurrent Education Students’ Association (613) 532-7756
Report to the Alma Mater Society General Assembly September 13th 2012
Training Week: This year, with the exception of a few council members, Jean Royce Hall has a completely new staff roster, including a new RLC, Sonja Smiljanic.
Over the last three weeks, Council and ResLife staff have had ample opportunity to get to know each other, participating in team-building exercises and activities. From the success of these activities, it is evident that Council and ResLife staff relations are running strong, with each team showing great interest in
collaborating with one another. It’s going to be another great year for Jean Royce Hall!
Move-In Day: Move-in day ran very smoothly this year, with no audible complaints from students regarding being placed on West Campus (which was more common last year). Due to mandatory meal plans being implemented at Jean Royce Hall this year, congestion in the main foyer was greatly reduced due to Food Services no longer needing to be present. If I might add, many students commented favorably on the “stylishness” of this year’s “sparkly” gold wristbands.
Dry Orientation Once again, Dry Orientation Week was in effect. As of the time of writing Week: this report, there had not been any major violation of the alcohol policy, nor of
ResRules in general, on West Campus. There had also not been any major violations of ResRules in Graduate Residence; a welcomed statistic, due to the uncertainty associated with the transition of Graduate Residence into a first-year residence.
Pizza Dinner: Sunday, September 9th featured our annual free pizza dinner for students living in Jean Royce Hall. This year, we’d chosen to expand our menu to include vegan and gluten-free options, to accommodate residents with special dietary needs. The