Last week I attended my first SFU Senate meeting as an elected senator. It was very inspiring to attend this event where the over-arching concern of the people in the meeting is the good of the university.
An aspect of the meeting that I particularly enjoyed or rather, appreciated was that the reading package (approximately 100 pages) is sent to the senators electronically rather than on paper. To make this successful, senators are able to sign out an iPad for use during the meeting. That is if they do not have their own iPad or laptop that they have brought with them (as most do). Imagine, 40 or more senators receiving 100 page packages of paper that is literally thrown in the recycle bin right after the meeting. Thank you electronics.
At the beginning of the senate meeting Andrew Petter, the president of SFU thanked me and the other new senator, Heather Palis for putting our names forward and introduced us to the gathered senators. A nice personal touch.
Each senator is expected to do work on at least one of the many SFU senate committees so I have put my name forward to work on the Agenda Committee and the University Priorities committees. After the December meeting of the senate I will find out what happens next in the “joining a committee” process.
Overall, it has been a treat to sit in a room with people so dedicated to the betterment of the university that has been so good to me.
For ongoing updates of my senate activities feel free to “Like” my Stacey Robinsmith, Member of SFU Senate Facebook page. As with all Facebook pages that you “Like”, your personal Facebook information is not visible to the owner of the page you have liked.
Further updates here after the December meeting of the SFU Senate.