GRADUATE STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
University of Calgary
MSC 350, 2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4
(403) 220-8609; Fax: (403) 282-8992
www.gsa.ucalgary.ca
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA
Tuesday September 24, 2013
5:30 pm the Last Defence Lounge
Open Session
o Roll call and welcome
Item Description
Presenter
Materials
1.
2.
3.
Approval of agenda
Joey Windsor
In package
Welcoming remarks
Sarah Akierman
Verbal
Welcome by Dr. Lisa Young,
Vice-Provost and Dean of Grad Studies
Dr. Lisa Young
Verbal
4.
Business arising from the Minutes
Joey Windsor
Discussion
5.
Approval of past AGM Minutes
Joey Windsor
Discussion
6.
GSA 2013-2014 presentation
Verbal
7.
GSA 2012-2013 Audited Financial Statements
Sarah Akierman &
Executives
Colin Martin
8.
Motion to approve 2012-2013 Audited Financial Colin Martin
Statements
Decision
9.
GSA 2013-2014 Budget
Colin Martin
In package
10.
Motion to approve 2013-2014 Budget
Colin Martin
Decision
12.
GSA Revised Bylaws
In package
13.
Motion to approve GSA Revised Bylaws
Sarah Akierman, Jon
Napier & Jon Lee
Sarah Akierman
14.
Health and Dental Plan
Colin Martin
Discussion
15.
Question Period
Joey Windsor
Verbal
16.
Announcements
Joey Windsor
Verbal
17.
Adjournment
Joey Windsor
Verbal
In package
Decision
GRADUATE STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
5:30 PM
TUESDAY, September 24, 2013
Last Defence Lounge
Attendees:
Sarah Akierman, President
Colin Martin, VP Finance and Services
Tina Johnston, VP Student Life
Liam Cummings, VP Academic
Valerie McGillivray, Executive Director
Joey Windsor, Speaker
Dr. Lisa Young, Interim Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
Jon Lee, Presenter
Jon Napier, Presenter
Quorum:
Leanne Wu
Amanda Joan Lucas
Billy Tsz Ho Wu
Andrew En Pei Yang
Michael Norman Ata
Donna S Min Chen
Taryn Elaine Ludwig
Geoffrey Tiu
Catherine Laura Watson
Francisco Geronimo Alaniz Uribe
Andrea Margaret Newberry-Koroluk
Jonathan William Hudson
Codie Rae Rouleau
Garret Kent Fellows
Keir Andrew Pittman
Jillian Angela Johnson
Victoria Maria Lukasik
Ehsan Mohammadi
Arman Hemmati
Jessica Kathleen Nicol
Audrey Elizabeth Delamont
Boris Andrew Karn
Garrett Sean Beatty
Joseph William Windsor
Brandee Marie Strickland
Catherine Ann Eastwood
Geoffrey George Pinchbeck
Shelley Ann Hulbert
Nicole Vinita Edge
Michael Stewart James Webster
Timothy Curtis Wright
Francesco Rizzuti
Jonathan Lee
Sophya Yumakulov
Eamon Michael Darnell
Laurent Renaud Wall
Sarah Doris Faye
Bridget Christine Moynihan
Md Moniruzzaman
Fadi Samir Oudah
Annemie Monique Raoul Treier
Jonathan Andrew Napier
Shantel Julene Koenig
Farshad Farshidfar
Morteza Mohamadighanatghesta
Megan Leigh Lewis
Megan Leigh Falconer
Louis Patrick Turner
Sara Rose Turner
Jason Benjamin Novick
Mohammad Jahangir Alam
Seyyed Mohammad Ali Jazayeri
Mohammad Taghi Abdizadeh
Aysa Fakheri Tabrizi
Sharita Manga
Ofer Berenstein
Ansbert Monah
Timothy Hiu-Tung Choi
Robert James Armstrong
Justin Caouette
Reza Karimpour
Maryam Tabeshian
Chris John Jackson
Steven Patrick Burchill
Peter Duke
Mohammad Hadi Agha Hassani
James Arthur Rogers
Ryan Herbert
Ezgi Ogutcen
Christopher James Hyland
Babatunde Oluwaseyi Odetayo
Bernhard Martin Aumayer
Emmanuel Kofi Owusu
Miao Zhou
Kobra Elahifar
Nigel Alexander Thornton Cones
Valentina Bertolani
Kimberly Anne Main
Neda Amiri
Benjamin Wallace Bailey
Allan Carlos Avelino
Kaleena Rachile Johnston
Kenneth Ka Ming Law
Samira Rizaee
Faezeh Eshragh
Jeffrey Kenneth Thomson
Paulina Stefania Maczuga
Pedram Kaheh
Adarsh Shankar Prasad
Shaohua Chen
Mehrshad Parchei Esfahani
Xing Wang
Konstantinos Xylogiannopoulos
Hossein Armeshi
Saeed Sampouri
Tania Khalafbeifi
Da Kuang
Fintan Kevin Stanley
Shaun Moore
Ehsan Nasrolahpour
Philippe Dufour
Ying Mei
Paul Joseph Panikulam
Mehdi Mazaheri Tehrani
Julie Marie Clark
Sayantan Bhattacharya
Samantha Rose Massey
Chelsea Marie Durber
Eliana El khoury
Apoorve Chokshi
Stephen Yu
Allison Michelle Boudreau
Brandon Marlon
Rachel Rjola Braeuer
Li Xiang
David Lorentz Horsley
Jing Zhou
Erli Kang
Qiang Li
Aaron Robert Thomas-Bolduc
Peng Chen
Linghu Zhang
Alexander James Richards Carleton
Brian Hanley
Xianfang Zeng
Arlin Kyle Daniel
Muyun Cao
Juan Manuel Martinez Alonso
Yang Liu
Soroush Shafiee
Yuting He
Christopher Scott Philip
Chon Fai Yeung
Daniel Stephen Wismer
Victor Bedoya Ponte
Minxiang Liu
Tasnim Hossain
Zhigang Zeng
Sandra Elizabeth Ungerson
Nana Adom Bondzi-Simpson
Adam William Kirkby
Shivam Pankaj Kapadia
1. AGENDA (FOR APPROVAL)
Motioned/seconded
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
CARRIED
2. WELCOMING REMARKS
3. PRESENTATION BY DR. LISA YOUNG, VICE-PROVOST (GRADUATE
EDUCATION) AND DEAN OF GRAD STUDIES
You are all very important in achieving Eyes High goals!
Please check out “My Gradskills” HTTP://GRAD.UCALGARY.CA/MYGRADSKILLS
The Faculty of Graduate Studies is rewriting sections of the Graduate Handbook and wants to
hear from you. Please come to the October town hall meetings, please contact us, email us, check
online for dates and be a part of the change!
4. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
-
None
5. PAST AGM MINUTES (FOR APPROVAL)
Motioned/seconded
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
CARRIED
6. GSA 2012 – 13 PRESENTATION (PRESIDENT)
o Vision The Graduate Students’ Association of University of Calgary (GSA) is dedicated
to enhancing the experience of all graduate students. There are now over 6400 grad
students.
o Mission The Graduate Students’ Association of the University of Calgary (GSA)
represents the collective interests of over 6,000 graduate students to the university, the
Calgary community, and all levels of government.
o What we do (visual aid). I want to show you some of our partners (SU, City of Calgary,
and AB gov’t)- see attached.
o 2013 in review: Development, Transparency, Engagement.
o LDL renovations. Our justification included kitchen; we could not handle the capacity of
people coming in, we wanted it to be open and accessible. Therefore we expanded our
kitchen. Offices have been moved to a more accessible location in MLT 214.
o Liam – Teaching, supervisory, administrative, and support awards
 Highlights, we had our annual teaching supervisory and support staff awards in
May. Over 50 nominations were entered and four winners emerged with two
runners-up.
 Sarah: Please remember to participate/ nominate again this year.
o My MyGradSkills: Last year things came together very well for this. Please remember to
take workshops from the university and from outside community that will be helpful for
you in your careers. Check it out!
o 3 Min Thesis: National competition.
 Last year they did it all and did not go over budget!
o President reviews Vision and Mission statements
o THIS YEAR:
o GSA surveys (space, enough TA’s etc), Consult with past executives etc.
o Membership: What would be best for grad students? ! It all comes back down to you
o This year’s 3 foci:
o Engagement (inclusive envronment, awareness, public aware of us, minister of advanced
education (what does it mean to him), presence in the university
o Sustainability (organization, we want to be functional and sustainable, fiscal/
environmental)
o (Quality workshops, awards, we want to be fruitful.) GRC
o Innovation (we get to reap benefits of last year and build on them)
o Reporting Outcomes: each exec has goals/ benchmarks which are assessed bi-annually,
GRC meets and we give progress reports)
o PRESIDENT
o I’m the official spokesperson (community, government, you), internally. I oversee all the
different projects and the governance committee.
o The budget cut from the government (they want to look at a lot of things and we need to
be on top of each piece).
o Fee assessment task force (tuition, fees, housing etc – what it means to be a grad student).
7. GSA 2012 – 13 PRESENTATION (VP ACADEMIC – LIAM CUMMINGS)
O Spread the word to your DGAs about the learning technologies task force survey,
upcoming
O Involved in the Schulich School of Engineering dean search
O TA contract – please let me know if you have any concerns
O I’m the academic standing committee chair, and the committee is assembled.
O Awards (chaired by Jenifer Moore). Alberta Citizenship award upcoming.
O Academic concerns/ questions, direct them to me.
8. GSA 2012 – 13 PRESENTATION (VP STUDENT LIFE – TINA JOHNSTON)
o My responsibilities are graduate representation, international students, orientation, the
LDL, residence, and the U of C senate, among others.
o Let me know who you think should get an honorary degree
o Newsletter – you are subscribed. Please read it to the end. Contests/ free stuff
o International student concerns. The university wants to increase the proportion of the
student population made up of international students, as well as increasing international
research collaborations. We need to improve international student’s experience. Please
o
o
o
o
o
contact me or my chair (int@gsa@ucalgary.ca). International student committee has
events, you can get on the email, FB page, and newsletter will have this info as well.
Mature students want to be able to meet each other. I’ll organize meet and greet for
mature students.
DGAs: Find out who’s involved in your DGA, DGA goes to GRC where you can discuss
and vote on operations.
Friday – grand reopening of LDL. 2pm-4pm wine and cheese and then Olympic-themed
party
We have municipal elections (mayor, councilor, school board). You can just show up
with your ID. Info on who is running (Calgary.ca/election). One big issue we have –
access to affordable student housing – they are difficult to be made legal and safe. We are
working with Calgary student caucus to find out what candidate’s position on affordable
housing. SU Website will have candidate’s positions on this issue. There will be
candidate’s forum. READ THE NEWS LETTER.
Contact me if you have any questions (vpsl@gsa.ucalgary.ca)
9. GSA 2013 – 14 PRESENTATION (VP FINANCE AND SERVICES - COLIN)
o VPFS responsibilities include fiscal accountability and sustainability
o VPFS also has an advocacy role in numerous committees (slide)
o Oversee Financial Standing Committee and Student Services Standing Committee (which
runs workshops, professional development, and emergency loan service)
o Workshops are frequently endorsed through My Gradskills, in collaboration with the FGS
o Career development has mentorship program run by Julie Brown. We are currently
developing a pilot internship program with the Engineering Faculty with hopes to launch
in 2014
o Presence includes Copyright committee: UofC has opted out of an agreement with Assess
Copyright. We decided to follow government’s guidelines instead. In the past year
Western University, which follows similar guidelines got sued by. Access Copyright.
Assess Copyright claims that the Fair Dealings environment followed by the University
of Calgary, along with UBC, Western, and others makes plagiarism unavoidable. Be
SUPER CAUTIOUS. The University takes this very seriously and is looking for
examples to make of people who contravene the Fair Dealings Guidelines Don’t
download things on University software. Get familiar with the guidelines.
Questions: Where can we find these guidelines?
Answer: library website
o Calgary Student Caucus working on housing issues for the Municipal Election
o Student the VPFS.
o Health and Dental: We have an excellent plan, feel free to contact our office for more
information
AUDITED FINANCIALS:
o Audit process. The budget you got in the package was reviewed and audited by John
Geib Accounting
o Balance sheet: Key points … Property and equipment values are up due to the new
offices. Campus Trust operating at a positive and we are paying down our deficit
o LDL operations. Our new menu is terrific. Expenses have decreased. We have a new
dishwasher. We have more staff because we are busier; our servers are selling more for
every hour they are working. We have decreased the GSA transfer this year by 35K!
o Operations:
o Expenditures: increase by 13K due to increase in Executives’ salary. We are still
the lowest paid student group of our kind in Alberta
o Expenses decreased: reduced Campus Trust deficit by 200K, changes were useful.
There is money left for Quality Money Proposals.
o Revenue over expenses- GSA -we are in a positive position.
Discussion regarding finances:
Q: Can you explain quality money?
A: The program started in appx 2002. The University gives us funds that we use to improve
student experience for students. For example, we recently funded the Grad Writing Workshops
and our Career Services Office. We are discussing starting an interdisciplinary graduate journal
as a possible next project.
Q: On health and dental slide: is deficit is the yearly deficit?
A: No, the Audited Financials reflect the amount as at March 31, 2013.
10. MOTION TO APPROVE 2012-2013 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Motioned/seconded
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
CARRIED
11. GSA 2013 – 14 REVISED BUDGET (VP FINANCE)
VPFS Colin Martin presents the GSA 2013-2014 Budget
Notes
o Expense decrease: we are doing better than expected reducing the health and dental
deficit so have adjusted the budget accordingly
o LDL: we were closed a couple of weeks longer than anticipated and this affected the
budgeting process
o LDL expense decrease (same reason as earlier)
o Operating revenue increased due to potential closure of an organization in which we have
money invested – the funds, if the group closes or restructures, return to operations
o Operating expense decrease as we would no longer be putting new funds into this
organization – this is a best guess, as we have yet to see how this will work out
o
Budget is always a best guess at the time it is prepared. We have a great
staff. As mentioned a budget is a good guess, but stuff happens. We anticipate this will be
a stable year. Keep in mind – LDL cost of renos was much higher than expected and this
will impact the budget and bottom line. We want to repay the H&D plan soon. University
administration has signaled that QM funding remains on the table for negotiation and that
may impact our budget.
Q: How much did reno’s cost?
A: Originally we budgeted a little over $500k with a cushion of $600K. The cost has over-run
that but we don’t have the final costs in yet. The excess was not the fault of the GSA, and the
University is figuring out the final costs of the reno, which may have run as high as $870K)
Q: Contract. If the lounge was not done in time the construction company should have paid us
A: That was the ideal case scenario. (President) We are currently negotiating with the
University and contractor to manage the over-runs.
12. MOTION TO APPROVE 2013-2014 BUDGET (SEE ATTACHED)
Motioned/seconded
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 0
CARRIED
13. GSA REVISED BYLAWS (JON NAPIER AND JON LEE)
Presentation by Jon Lee and Jon Napier
Q: What happens if we have co-chairs? Which of the co-chairs will be the replacement
A: There are no such regulations. President would appoint it.
Comment by the person who questioned: so should this be amended in the next year?
Answer: We don’t have co-chairs often. If it’s a true concern to choose bw the chairs we could
discuss and work on it.
14. Motion to approve GSA Revised Bylaws
Motioned/seconded
Opposed: 0
Abstained: 1
CARRIED
15. HEALTH AND DENTAL
Presentation by Colin Martin – we have performed a market test and have identified a Health and
Dental provider who has better products at a lower cost and who specializes in student plans.
More information will be forthcoming at the October GRC.
-
see presentation notes by Colin (in the presentation) for additional information
Q: are you allowed to tell us the name of the provider in consideration
A: not at this time
Q: Is the new provider a trust or insurance model?
A: Yes, it will be however we wish to have it.
16. QUESTION PERIOD
No questions
17. ANNOUNCEMENTS
-
Executive are doing charity work. October 12 Executives will run the 5K for the Run for the
Mental Health Stigma
DGA announcement:
NO announcements
18. ADJOURNMENT
Meeting Adjourned.