Danielle Burt for President
FEDS VISION | ORIENTATION | MENTAL HEALTH | SERVICES
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Platform Update
Action Plan
New Projects
FEDS VISION
It should be through this community collaboration to common goals that Feds achieves change and
makes a difference for undergraduate students.
 Board of Directors: I organized and facilitated a Board training day within the first month of
the Directors’ membership. I promoted that each Director have the ability to contribute to
Board decision making. We have formed sub committees of Board that look at technical parts
of the organization, which will allow greater learning opportunities. Board is now a part of Feds
staff and volunteer events.
 Action Planning: We released our 2014-2015 Executive Action Plan in July 2014 and each
goal includes written action items. We provide monthly updates to our Board of Directors on
the status of these action items.
 Feds Organizational Structure: I hosted a Mingle and Greet event between staff,
students, and Imprint to present the Governance Review conducted over the Winter 2014
term. This allowed us to educate students about the structure of Feds at our termly Open
Houses.
 Engagement on Student Issues: Through our Long Range Plan process we interacted with
approximately 1400 students. This was achieved through focus groups, surveys, and in person
questionnaires.
 Linking Feds & The University: I worked with the University’s finance department to
increase clarity for what is written on QUEST and the Finance page of the University of
Waterloo website. A report was created and the changes were made.
 Creating Opportunities: We have increased our society opportunities within Feds through
regular meetings and sitting on the Committee of Society Presidents meeting. I have three new
standing committees - Mental Health, Sustainability, and Space - that are in my portfolio with
many student at-large seats.
 Improving Policies: We are using the new Campus Wellness policy and other important policies
in our committee action plans.
 Online Outreach: We have created videos to raise awareness and promote Orientation Week and
the General Meeting. We are currently filming for a mental health awareness video.
 Long Range Planning: We consulted approximately 1400 students when writing our long range
plan content. It is now in draft form and the strategic directions were presented by me at the Fall
2014 General Meeting. The Long Range Plan was passed at the February 24 Board Meeting.
 Governance Review: I ran a Mingle and Greet as mentioned above. We are currently reviewing
all of our governance documents at committees of Council to improve their structure and content.
As well I, with the help of our Students’ Council, put forward and passed a communications policy
to improve communication within Feds and externally.
 Update Expiring Procedures & Policies: With the help of the Policies & Procedures Committee
we updated all 14 expiring policies and updated all procedures to reflect current practice.
 A General Meetings Ad Hoc Committee: This committee was created to update our bylaws,
policies, & procedures to include all details for a General Meeting in order to educate students on
our processes. I created an internal manual with all steps to run a General Meeting for future exec
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and staff.
Council Action & Communications Plan: Worked with Council to create a yearly action plan and
an ongoing internal communications plan.
ORIENTATION
It is a time when the entire campus comes together and encompasses the words passion and leadership.
I want to bring this to the organization as a whole and work on applying the type of connections leaders
have with one another to every connection Feds has with students.
 First Year Engagement: I went through a consultation process to evaluate the previous First Year
Advisory Council. My department created a terms of reference for a committee of Council that
represented first year students, which did pass. We continued research in regards to potential
overlap with the existing Residence Council. I have created a mentorship program for students on
Residence Council to be mentored by a Feds Councillor and will be passing it on to the incoming
Feds President.
 Educational & Academic Programming: This does not fit within the direct focus of Feds.
Typically, Feds focuses on student life outside of the classroom and faculty administration and the
Student Success Office. I am advocating to the University to continually evaluate the success of
academic programming done during Orientation Week and to offer financial literacy services for
students.
 Student Transition: Joining Feds and GSA was not something that was possible from either side.
GSA was not able to join our orientation due to funding constraints and we were not able to join
their orientation because there programming is very specific to graduate student’s needs.
 Increase connections: I have met with all 6 faculty Deans and 3 out of the 6 Associate Deans
for undergraduate students to discuss the value of orientation from a leaders, first year, or
faculty perspective to see if there is any missing value. A findings report will be written for the
incoming executive team to use.
 Crisis Procedures: I wrote procedures for the orientation campus community on how to deal
with any crisis that should come up in orientation week. Working with Police Services, the
Student Success Office, the University Administration, the Orientation Advisors, and student
leaders.
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health should not be perceived as a disability but rather a reason to fight harder every day to
achieve anything and everything within your scope of abilities.
 Community Events: I, along with the help of Feds staff, put together a guideline framework
for an intake process to post community volunteer opportunities on Feds.ca. The next step is
to put together an outreach framework to be able to bring community opportunities that our
students are truly passionate about.
 Transition Program: The year 5 proposal idea was not something the GSA was interested in
partnering on. Our focus is mainly on current students and preparing them as a student leaders
once they complete their undergraduate degree.
 Educational Improvements: I was involved in writing the institutional guidelines for learning
resources and field trips. I am now working with the University and the Center for Teaching
Excellence to update the course outlines for all courses to accurately reflect what students should
and should not have to pay for.
 Creating Community: I, along with the help of Feds staff, organized the following events related
to mental health:
 Mental Health Wellness Day
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 Long Night Against Procrastination
 Random Acts of Kindness Day
 Vibrant Student Experience – Mini Town Hall
 Wellness Fair
 Jack Project Summit – Waterloo Satellite
 Bell Let’s Talk promotion
Mental Health Services: I have created a standing committee within the President’s portfolio
dedicated to mental health. We are currently writing a proposal to the University and the Provincial
Government to increase funding to Counselling and Health Services on our campus, this is serving
as the Campus Wellness Proposal for the University’s Strategic Plan. I have hired a Mental Health
Commissioner to help with Mental Health research, events, and programs. We are also partnering
with Counselling and Health Services to offer a peer support group dedicated to mental health
concerns. Currently they are training volunteers at the University level. We ran a Wellness Fair to
showcase mental health services on campus and interact with students during Wrap Up Week.
Sexual Violence on Campus: I sit on the Awareness and Prevention of Sexual Violence working
group, a sub group of the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Equity (PACE). I worked over Winter
2015 term to meet with university administration to discuss our current policy and procedure for
handling gendered and sexual violence on campus.
SERVICES
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Service Awareness: I was approached by GLOW and The Women’s Center to discuss their
unique service needs when talking to students and staff, which turned into the Meet Your
Services Event which will now be an ongoing Feds event.
Student Success Collaboration: Feds, GSA, and SSO exec and administration created the
Student Success Office Advisory Group to improve communication between all groups and
services offered to students. It’s a body to keep all of us accountable to our commitments and
to talk about service consolidation and collaboration to serve the most students in the best
way.
Collaborate with CTE: As mentioned above, I will be working with CTE to improve course
outlines in order to help students understand the cost of their education.
Improve Communication Reach: This goal was specific to societies. Although this is not
entirely directly within my portfolio scope, it is still important for societies to know I am also a
resource. I have met with all 6 society execs and have talked at some of their society meetings.
Furthermore, I have attended the COPS (Committee of Society Presidents) meeting to talk about
student issues within the societies.
Housing Collaboration: Work is being done within the VP Operations and Finance portfolio to
accomplish the spirit of this goal.
Improve Student Study Space: I created Terms of Reference for a standing committee of
council to deal with student space. I am now working with the University to create a Terms
of Reference for a University level student study space committee.
Improve the Student Services Fee Process: I am working with the University to draft an
agreement that deals with the Student Services fee charged to students on their tuition. We
are looking to increase student involvement through advisory committees when looking for
feedback on the services offered under this fee.
Created Entrepreneurship Committee: I created a new standing committee of Students’
Council, the Entrepreneurship Committee. Feds had no way to interact with student
entrepreneurs and there is now a process within our procedures to do so.
Meet Your Services: The Services Manager and I coordinated a Meet Your Services event
with the 8 services and all of the Feds staff. The goal was to educate Feds staff on our
student services and how to best interact with them based on the needs of the service.