Corey Helie-Masters Vice President (Administration)
McMaster Students Union 2015/16
Contents 1...... Letter to the Assembly 2...... Experience 3...... Support 6...... Services 9......Student Life 12..... Conclusion
To The Assembly
Let me first begin with thanking you. Thank you for being passionate about this school, passionate enough to put your faces up on walls around campus; for being accommodating, for potentially having rearranged your lives the last few weeks to meet with an array of candidates; and thank you for caring, for caring so much about the quality of your representation that you have allocated what may be 20 hours of your day to ensure you choose the most qualified individual. The decision to run for Vice President was not difficult, the designation of Administration however, would prove a greater challenege to finalize. I found myself struggling internally, with so many interests taking root in separate portfolios. In the end, the experience I have as a project manager and the joy I experience in helping individuals reach their potential led me to pursue this role. In five years here at McMaster I have danced as a Welcome Week rep, motioned as an SRA member, swam as a varsity athlete, sat as an Academic Society President, and coordinated one of the largest student run events in the 128 year history of this institution. I have had many great experiences, too many to count, and learned many lessons over my time here, and I hope to bring those with me into this role. The Vice President Administration is a multifaceted role to within the MSU. The job requires you to implement training protocols, act as a resource and support system, all the while working with other groups to accomplish both their and your own goals. This is an experience I have become quite familiar with. Whether it was the coordination of 33 separate university teams with the administration of our institution all while managing 19 of the most dedicated student volunteers I have ever met, or guiding the aspirations of our Welcome Week planners through the proper pathways to reach success. I have a unique set of experiences that sets me apart. My platform has been developed to address various elements of the role of Vice President Administration. Improvements to the current Services system structure, timely support for Part-Time Managers, an empowered SRA, supporting the vision of the President Elect Ehima Osazuwa, and some other initiatives that I hold dear. It is my hope that this combination of traditional roles and creative approaches will help to foster a thriving atmosphere amongst not only the rest of the Board of Directors, but through the SRA. It is my greatest desire to see everyone, especially Ehima, not only achieve but exceed their potential and I would be honoured contribute to that success. With that I present to you my campaign for Vice President Administration of the McMaster Students Union for 2015-2016. Thank you for taking the time to review the culmination of my work in the past months.
All the best,
Corey Helie-Masters
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Experience MCMASTER KINESIOLOGY SOCIETY Welcome Week Representative (2011/2015) Second Year Representative (2011/12) Public Relations Coordinator (2012/13) President (2014/15) MCMASTER STUDENT UNION TwelvEighty Server and Bartender (2012/13) SRA Member (2012/13) External Affairs Committee (2012/13) ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE Ontario University Fair Representative (2011/2014) Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2012/2013) Research Assistant (2013) UNIQUE EXPERIENCES Kinesiology Games Coordinator (2012/14) Varsity Swim Team Member (2010/2015)
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Support
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY (SRA) Supporting The Vision of President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa Implementing Mentorship Programs in Governance Creation of an SRA Encyclopedia The Student Representative Assembly (SRA) is a body consisting of 31 elected student volunteers with a very high annual turnover rate. The capacity of the SRA to accomplish great things is limited by the preparedness of its members. I will ensure that members receive all of the training, resources, and support that they need and I will formalize the process so that it may be easily repeated, as in the case of by-elections, which are easily accessed for future reference. This will be accomplished by combining current initiatives, such as the Science Caucuses glossary of SRA terminology, and expanding the breadth of information currently provided with an index of actions; a simple how to guide for the SRA and other aspects of information such as roles, responsibilities, and administrative structure. Utilizing accessible language will serve as a resource not only for SRA members, but for all of those who wish to be more informed about the MSU. Lastly I wish to implement a peer support system highlited in President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa’s platform, and for me, inspired by the sibling initiatives that are currently in place in programs such as iSci and ArtSci. The first year component of the system allows first year students to actively engage with their SRA members and learn what the role is about; possible events include attending SRA meetings, attending committee meetings, and assisting during office hours. Depending on demand for the program, one or two first year students would be welcomed to pair up with a current SRA member even if they’re from a different faculty. The second portion focuses on new members to the SRA; these members would be paired with a senior SRA member (either returning or outgoing). The senior SRA member would provide guidance to their incoming counterpart in order to ease their transition to their new role and to provide them with a constant source of support throughout their term.
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PART TIME MANAGERS (PTMs) Implementing Feeback From Outgoing PTMs Review Training Procedures and Experiences At its core the first purpose of the MSU is to facilitate activities and events that enhance the student experience. The most visible front for those efforts can be found in our services, guided throughout the year by an amazing group of Part Time Managers (PTMs). Through an extensive consultation process the outgoing PTMs have identified the following initiatives as beneficial to their successors: increasing the opportunity to get hands on experience during training sessions beyond information, having as much content as possible available for future reference independent of hiring time, breaking down the development of the year plan into stages allowing for more creativity and reflection during the planning process. I want to encourage every PTM to explore a way they can further develop their service this year. I will acheive by sitting down with individual, or smalls groups of PTMs and having a guided conversation about ‘How can this service grow’. It is critical to place emphasis on the monthly meetings, but to also implement some new ideas brought forward by the current managers. Some PTMs have expressed a desire to lead their own meetings, which would foster a sense of community amongst the PTMs so they can also receive support from one another.
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MSU CLUBS Supporting The Vision of President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa Review for Second Clubs Administrator This year will see an increase in the resources available to the MSU Clubs system in the hiring of a new Clubs Administrative Assistant. The platform of the President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa, has called for the hiring of a second full time Clubs Administrator. I will see a review implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the second assistant and if the implementation of a second Clubs Administrator is still required. The review will evaluate the amount of time that is spent on various aspects of the job and if the workload justifies the upgrade of the second Clubs Administrator Assistant to a full-time Clubs Administrator. This will be executed before opening the applications for Student Opportunity Positions to allow both Administrator positions to be hired simultaneously, should the need present itself.
FACULTY SOCIETIES Extending MSU Resources to Faculty Societies Faculty Societies at McMaster are an incredible resource to students; they are comprised of outstanding students and their reach is school wide as every member of the MSU is also the member of a faculty society. As we work to develop these resources for both SRA members and PTMs I want to ensure that they are also extended to the Faculty Societies. Increasing the accessibility of the SRA to Faculty Societies will help to improve communication between the two groups, a key aspect of many SRA platforms this year. The second feature of this point is to develop a committee similar in structure to the Financial Affairs Council. This council will serve to connect faculty societies with the physical and information based resources available to the MSU, review and encourage the improvement of administrative structure, as well as communicate the programming schedule of Faculty Societies to the MSU and other stakeholders.
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Services MSU SERVICES Supporting The Vision of President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa Providing Students With Finacial Education Creation of Service for Visible and Invisible Disabilities Supporting New Services
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The Women and Gender Equity Network (WGEN) and Spark are only in their first full year of operation and therefore should have a significant amount of support moving forward. A clear establishment of goals and objectives for the year will be key, along with tangible measures of success for the end of the year. A proposal has recently been put forward to create a new service dedicated to the education, advocacy, and community formation of accessibility groups. I fully support this service as I feel it addresses many needs that are currently not being fulfilled by the MSU due to the fact that Diversity Services encompasses a wide range of interests, which results in a diluting of resources. President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa, has identified the need to address both visible and invisible disabilities and this an be a great avenue to engage that aspect of his platform. The implementation of this new service will require the hiring of a manager and training, potentially individual and separate from the normal PTM training that occurs during the summer. We need to ensure that the PTM that is hired later receives the same amount and quality of training as those PTMs hired earlier in the year. Mac Money Centre is a collaborative effort between Student Affairs and the MSU. Increasing the focus on this partnership could work to fulfill the short-term goals associated with the Talk Tuition platform point of President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa. Although his platform suggests a committee as its main method of implementation, the end goal is to equip students with more knowledge and tools for how to effectively manage their financial wellbeing. Depending on the direction of expansion, I can see this one day developing into a unique service; taking inspiration from the days when an SRA member would offer to help students file their taxes and renewing that sense of commitment to supporting students.
SERVICES OF TOMORROW Administrative Structure of Services as a Whole As the number of services offered by the MSU continues to grow, the demand to provide adequate resources and support increases with it. We are seeing core pillars of services growing beyond the constraints of a single service unit to meet an ever-increasing need. The example that comes to the forefront is the recent development of the Women and Gender Equity Network (WGEN) a service growing from a pillar of Diversity Services. There is also the proposed development of an Abilities Service, again from a core pillar of Diversity Services. This process has highlighted a potential development in how the MSU administers its services. Grouping our services into clusters based on the implementation method of their mandate, coined an ‘Operation Umbrella’, and developing resources tailored specifically to those clusters would help to facilitate future growth. This potential structural change has the capacity to significantly affect the efficiency and collaboration of our services. An example of a very successful partnership between two MSU services is that of AVTEK and Campus Events. This past year these two services have come together to produce epic events at McMaster, such as the Lil Jon Homecoming concert. The goal is to create a variety of successful partnerships across different MSU services in order to fully optimize our resources. Examples of potential ‘Operation Umbrellas’ include our conference based services, support based services, and food supply based services.
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COMMUNITY KITCHEN Supporting The Vision of President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa Increasing Accesibility to Food On Campus Nutritional Health Education Service Collaberation As a result of an allocation from the Student Life Enhancement Fund (SLEF) a Community Kitchen will be created on McMaster Campus. The current plan is to have the facility located in Bridges CafÊ, under the management of the Mac BreadBin service. I will be heavily involved in the implementation of the project, and ensure that the service is optimally prepared to take on the new responsibility, with plans for programming implementation and significant training for the new manager. I will also be encouraging a significant amount of collaboration between BreadBin and other services, such as Student Health Education Centre (SHEC), to maximize the utilization and the effectiveness of the new facility. I imagine a YouTube series cooking show: Cooking with the MSU. The show will have a returning SHEC host and will feature McMaster celebrity guests, such as Ehima Osazua, Patrick Deane, and Sean Van Kounaght. The aim of Cooking with the MSU is to educate students, while building the nutritional health column of SHEC’s mandate. The show will create various meals that are made of nutritionally dense ingredients while at the same time being extremely affordable. This will be a great resource for all students living off campus, and invaluable for students in both Mary Keyes, Bates and those in their first year off campus who are possibly finding themselves cooking for the first time. It can also highight strategies for maximizing the effective use of BreadBin vouchers for students who find themselves in need.
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Student Life WELCOME WEEK AND BEYOND Continuation of Frost Expansion and Year End Celebration Previous Experience and Collaboration Welcome Week is a significant aspect of the Vice President Administration’s role. Being a Faculty Representative for the past four years has exposed me to the activities and events on the ground level. In addition, my role as Kinesiology Society President has given me a degree of experience in overseeing the organization of Welcome Week by Faculty Society Planners. With the allocation of more funding to both faculty societies and programming as a whole this coming year, continuing the development of quality programming will be essential. This will be the second year of the Faculty Planner position and continuing to build an effective relationship between the position and Vice President Administration will help ensure its success. This previous year the Vice President Administration took on a major role in the implementation of Frost Week. This came from both his personal presidential platform as well as a commitment to fulfill the goals of then President Elect, Teddy Saull. I believe that Frost Week has the potential to continue the amazing growth of the past year and I will work to ensure it. President Elect, Ehima Osazuwa, wants to see the continuation of this great tradition and has indicated a desired collaboration between the President and the Vice President Administration in the further development of Frost Week. He foresees a significant amount of the planning responsibilities being allocated to the Vice President Administration. I am excited to potentially take on this responsibility and continue the initiatives that were developed in President’s Council meetings. April 2015 saw the start of McMaster University’s newest tradition: Light Up the Night. The plan for the Year End Celebration was developed over the course of this year and involved an extensive consultation process as well as numerous stakeholder meetings. As a member of the Year End Celebration Planning Committee and of President’s Council, I can be a significant resource to the President in the continuation of this tradition.
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HAMILTON WELCOME DAY Student Retention Community Partnerships Hamilton Welcome Day is inspired by two current initiatives: the Student Community Support Network (SCSN) run, Discover Your City Campaign and an initiative I created as a recruitment strategy for my varsity team. The concept is simple; Hamilton is a beautiful city full of opportunities and the main barrier to students realizing this is that they do not know what they are missing. This event will utilize partnerships with the SCSN and the City of Hamilton to introduce first year students to the highlights of Hamilton on a grand scale never seen before. Groups of students and their respective rep teams will be taken to designated locations throughout the city, via organized transportation, which have been classified under three separate categories: open areas, exploratory areas, and event areas. At each of the locations there will be a team of orientation leaders to run structured programming tailored to the location, similar to what is currently run during our Welcome Week events. The opportunity to explore various aspects of the city under the controlled and structured environment provided by our organizing team will hopefully result in the development of positive associations throughout various locations in Hamilton. The goal is to have students want to explore Hamilton on their own and the information provided en route will help them reach their destination without the use of organized transportation.
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STUDENT CENTRE ECO-FIT Committment to Sustainability Reducing Ancillary Fees Eco-fitting MUSC not only provides an excellent example to students on the importance of living environmentally friendly, but also is cost-efficient. Currently MUSC uses approximately $300,000 in electricity annually; a large portion of that cost comes from the many fluorescent bulbs that light the building 24/7. A second cost associated with fluorescent bulbs is the replacement cost for when the bulbs die. When compared to fluorescent bulbs, LEDs last twice as long and require approximately 40% less energy. I want to work with the MUSC Board of Management to implement a replacement schedule for the lighting systems in MUSC, as well as with MSU Inc. to approve a potential financial allocation. This process will involve applying for provincial government grants, which currently offers subsidies for organizations looking to upgrade their lighting infrastructure. It will also involve a significant partnership with the university and Facility Services in order to implement this change. The results of this ‘Eco Upgrade’ will not only reduce the environmental impact of MUSC but also put money back in the pockets of students. The MUSC building fee covers the cost of building maintenance, which includes paying utility bills. A reduction in the cost of lighting the building reduces the cost to students.
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Conclusion Once again I would like to thank you for dedicating time to reviewing my platform; your commitment is another step in the ongoing journey to better the MSU. I know that this time of year is busy for everyone and I appreciate your passion and commitment to this organization. The time I have spent constructing my platform for this election has been one of great reflection. Creating my platform has made me incredibly excited for the next year’s potential. Over the past five years I’ve fallen in love with McMaster. You see all the history; everything that has been built by the people before you and all the people that have been involved. You see the same arch that so many students have passed through and feel the spirit of everyone that has been around you, it’s as if it becomes tangible. I want to take my passion towards McMaster and apply it to the Vice President Administration position. Over my time here I have gained enough experience to not only fulfill the role but to be personally invested every day, in every interaction I have; whether it be with staff, student, Part Time Manager, or SRA member, everyone will feel valued.
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All the best,
Corey Helie-Masters