This year we had a tremendous volume of applicants, making the selection process very competitive to be a commissioner on the SSC. We thank all those who applied and encourage everyone to continue to be involved! Applications for committees will be available in September at westernssc.ca. Congratulations to the following who will be your SSC commissioners next year:

Simrat Sodhi – Sci Wiki
Anthony Wong – Photographer
Caitlin Newnham – Current Editor in Chief
Melanie Chin – Communications-at-large
Gord Locke -Awards
Desmond Swamy + Basmah El-Aloul – Charity
Sahil Sharma – Outreach
Sujen Saravanabavan – Student Services
Lauren Ouellette – Secretary
Divy Kochar + Marcus Pieterman -Science Games
Dilani Logan – Student Events-at-large
Erika Frey – Internal Affairs Officer
Filipe D’Souza – Orientation

We are now accepting applications for Commissioner positions on the 2013/14 Science Students’ Council. Please fill out the application which can be found under documents and and then applications/awards. Applications must be submitted by Saturday March 23rd at 3:30 pm to the SSC office (108 NS). If the door is closed just slip it under. The following are the different commissioner positions that exist on council.

Awards Commissioner

Communications Commissioner-At-Large

Deputy Administrator

Internet Commissioner

Outreach Commissioner

Science Games Commissioner x 2

Secretary

Student Events Commissioner-At-Large

Student Services Commissioner

The Current Editor-in-Chief

SciWiki Commissioner (NEW)

Charity Commissioner x 2

Photographer Commissioner (NEW)

Please note that the Homecoming Commissioner Position on SSC no longer exists.

If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

With election day fast approaching (February 12th and 13th for those of you behind the curve), there are three presidential candidates all vying to represent the science student body for the upcoming 2013-2014 year. Use this platform guide to make an informed decision on Tuesday and Wednesday at www.voteusc.ca.

Name: Meghan Bhatia
Outreach: www.votemeghan.ca
Meghan is in her 3rd year of an Hon. Specialization in Physiology

Meghan’s platform utilizes a series a smaller and focused goals that seek to improve the quality of the science student experience in many different aspects. Meghan has
divided her platform into 4 subareas. The first deals with the services available to science students, which, amongother things (check out her website www.votemeghan.ca , its pretty awesome) includes instituting a borrow service for laptop and phone chargers, a centralized lost and found area amongst the science buildings, and a Postgraduate & Professional
mentorship service.

The second refers to academia amongst the science faculty. She vows to lobby for 24 hour access to the Physics and Astronomy building and reducing academic counselling wait times. The third aspect of Meghan’s platform deals with extracurricular activities and events. This includes attempting to bring in a high profile musician to perform at an SSC event (no, she will not consider Nickelback), and organizing professional photography for all SSC related events. Again, Meghan has many additional points on her platform that were not discussed here, visit her website to see more.

The final division of her platform involves strengthening the relationship between department representatives and students, and increasing awareness of Science Council IMPACT awards.

Name: Gord Locke
Slogan: unLOCK Science’s potential
Gord has served on the SSC for three years.

If there is one thing Gord Locke is, it is upfront and honest. His platform runs on 4 simple promises he plans to keep should he be elected as next year’s SSC president. Gord’s first goal is to bring world renowned astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson (who interestingly happens to be very close friends with this year’s visitee, Bill Nye) to Western for a single or series of seminars emphasizing student interaction. Gord’s second promise involves quadrupling the amount of awards offered to science students by the Science Students’ Council. The admittedly paltry 4 awards currently offered does need a serious step up, and if elected, Gord promises to give these new awards based on distinguishment in the Western community.

Gord’s third assertation is to increase the amount and relevancy of science merchandise (aptly coined, swag) available to not only science students, but to the entire Western student body (ie. our numerous fans).

His final goal is to offer free stapling and fix the consistant problem of dysfunctional staplers in Taylor Library.

Name: Desmond Swamy
Twitter: @desswam
(UN)OFFICIAL SLOGAN: #Desforpres
Desmond is in his 4th year of a Double Major in Medical Sciences and Biology

Desmond’s platform, similar to Meghans, is subdivided into 3 categories, the 3R’s:

Research – Involves increasing transparency and accessibility of volunteer opportunities for science students, who admittedly can be clueless to the plethora of positions available to them. Desmond promises to lobby for increased funding for science research as well.

Representation – bringing the lesser known science programs (such as Earth Sciences and Physics) and their benefits, requirements and characteristics to the front of science student body attention. Desmond wishes to push the Science Students’ Council department representatives to chair their own respective sub-committees so they can have more support for their relatively unknown events.

Relationships –Desmond stressed strengthening the relationship between the SSC and Science Soph Team in order to produce more successful events such as the recently passed ‘Unleash your Inner Dark-SCIde’ first year social event. He believes this strengthened relationship will benefit many facets of the academic year, most prominently Orientation Week .

Nomination forms are now available online for first year representatives. Five first year representatives will be voted in by council. Nomination forms are due Friday September 21st.

The following is a brief description of the position taken from our About page:

The First Year Representatives represent the interests of all first year students in the Faculty of Science to the Science Students’ Council. Additionally, as voting members of council, they vote on a variety of motions that come up at council, like the budget. They also plan an event geared towards the students that they represent, and they present event descriptions to their peers in class. These members are elected internally by voting members of the current year’s council in September.

You can find the nomination forms on our documents page. Good luck! We look forward to meeting you!

Applications for Science Students’ Council committee positions are up!

Charity Committee and The Current Editorial Board applications are due on September 21st. All other applications are due on September 28th. You will be invited for an interview once your application has been reviewed past the deadline.

These committees are a great opportunity to get involved with the student council and faculty activities as well as develop skills that are unique to each position.

The SSC is excited to announce that applications for commissioner positions on Science Students’ Council for the 2012/2013 year are now open, and we encourage anyone who wants to get involved or has never been a part of council to apply.

Commissioners are appointed to specific portfolios (e.g. charity, homecoming, etc.) and deal with specific tasks, events, and/or services within their portfolio. Commissioners sit on council and are non-voting members.

These positions are appointed by an interview process, and focus on running programming for science students. Positions include:

• Charity (x2)
• Student Events
• Editor of The Current
• Science Games (x2)
• Awards
• Homecoming (x2)
• Outreach
• Student Services
• Internet
• Secretary of Council
• Communications At-Large

Applications can be found on our website here: http://uwoscience.ca/?page_id=354 and are due Monday, March 26th at 4pm in the SSC office (Nat Sci 108). More detailed information about the specific roles and responsibilities of each position can be found in our constitution available on our documents page.

As well, the positions of Vice-President Communications and Stats/Actuarial Science Department Representative are still available. These are elected positions, and nomination forms are due Friday March 23rd at 4pm in the SSC office (Nat Sci 108). Elections will happen at the next SSC meeting, on Tuesday, March 27th.

All SSC election nomination forms are due tomorrow night (Friday March 9th) at midnight.

If you are interested in a department representative, vice president, or speaker of council position then please make sure to submit your nomination form by tomorrow!

You can find out which positions are available here:

You can download nomination forms here:

Election nomination forms are now available (here) and are due on Friday March 9th at midnight in the SSC office (Nat Sci 108). Candidates must be able to attend the election meeting on Tuesday March 13th at 6:30 pm. More details will be emailed to applicants once we’ve received a nomination form.
Positions available include Vice-Presidential and Department Representative portfolios:

Vice President Academic (x1)
Vice President Student Events (x1)
Vice President Finance (x1)
Vice President Communications (x1)

2nd Year Biology/Medical Science (x3)
Upper Year Biology (x2)
Upper Year Medical Sciences (x2)
Chemistry (x1)
Applied Math/Math (x1)
Computer Science (x1)
Earth Science (x1)
Environmental Science (x1)
Statistics and Actuarial Sciences (x1)

Speaker of Council (x1)

Physics & Astronomy (x1 selected by PASA):
The election for PA rep will be held on Thursday, March 29
The nomination period for PA rep begins immediately and remains open until Friday March 16.
To nominate oneself for PA rep, send an e-mail to [email protected] (the current PASA vice-president) with your name, year, major, and 500 words about your reasons for seeking out the position.

For more information on their Roles & Responsibilities, refer to the SSC Constitution. Questions can be emailed to elections@uwoscience.ca.

How to register: Stop by the Science Council Student Office in Nat Sci with names and cash

Registration forms are available in the Science office and on the SSC website:http://uwoscience.ca/?page_id=354

For more information or if you have any questions, again, e-mail [email protected]!

Want to relive O-Week? Jealous of all the upper years going to Charity Ball? No problem! The first year reps. of the SSC (Science Student Council) are throwing a dry, black light dance party at the Wave for all first year students!

When: January 27th @ 10:00pm
Where: The Wave in UCC

All proceeds fund our be positive campaign which benefits the leukemia and lymphoma society.

Check out the event page on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/events/137509363032278/>

You can also drop by the council office for more information and to purchase a $5 wristband to enter the event. Wristbands are also available at the door for $7 and a $2 coat check will be provided.

Wear white! Highlighter, glow sticks, and much more will be given out.

This is exclusively a dry event. DJ Feddy is playing and the first 50 guests receive free glowstick glasses.