AUS Candidate Profiles: Senate

The Arts Student Senator is one of eighteen students who sit on the Senate – the highest academic governing body of the university. Upcoming issues include changes to the summer semester and exam databases, while business as usual includes course curriculum changes, academic appeals, and degree requirements.

Name: Carolee Changfoot (Facebook)

Please express your campaign platform in the form of a haiku. (Bonus points if you submit your haiku in the form of a video.)

So I created my campaign platform in the form of a Haiku but it seemed to be lacking in something so I added more haiku stanzas. The 2nd stanza is the haiku of my campaign platform.

Hey you Arts students
Your school, your education
Let me be your voice

I represent this:
Courses, Dual Degree, First year,
collaboration

Representing you
Is all that I want to do
UBC Senate

For Arts Senator
I am your best foot forward
Carolee Changfoot

The AUS elections
UBC is hot to go
Vote! Make your voice heard.

Monday to Friday
At UBCVOTES.COM
Carolee Changfoot

Carolee’s Haiku Video

What is your actual platform?
COMMUNICATION
Give monthly reports to AUS council
Use social media to expand my outreach of senate updates further than the AUS to the general Arts student.

DUAL DEGREE
Support the Place and Promise strategic plan of enriching student learning by continuing the push for the
creation of the Arts and Commerce dual degrees program

FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE
Advocate for better promotions of the Learning Commons resources that can aid and help students in their personal and academic development.

CURRICULUM
Ensure that the curriculum for the new research courses in the Faculty of Arts are beneficial to the learning and personal development of students.
Advocate for more Community Based Research and Community Based Service courses

Which Senate committees will you serve on? Why?
Teaching and Learning
Advocate for more Community Based Research and Community Based Service courses

Ensure that the curriculum for the new research courses in the Faculty of Arts be beneficial to the learning
and personal development of students.

Library
Advocate for the better promotions of the Library Commons resources.

Curriculum
I would like to sit on the curriculum committee to push for the creation of the Dual Arts and
Commerce degree program.

Be involved with the curriculum review that is a part of UBC’s strategic plan to ensure that students receive
the highest quality of education with leading research discoveries.

What student Senate projects would you get involved in?
I have always been passionate about the first year experience. I would like to get involved with projects that deal with improving the first year experience.
In addition I would like to try and improve senate communication to students outside AMS and constituency council reports. Previous senators have discussed the idea of creating a senate blog but the idea did not follow through. I would like to work with other student senators to see whether we would like to improve our communication to students through a blog or other means.

Should the summer semester be changed?
I believe that UBC has already started working on this and it seems very positive that moving to the trimester system is going to happen. I think the trimester system will be very good for the university.

It will allow students that wish to study year round to do so and it opens the option of a faster graduation
by expediting the number of courses one takes in a year. Aside from affecting the years course load the I
feel that the trimester system will be beneficial for university student life and university finances.

In which house would the Sorting Hat put you? Why?
Gryffindor, aside from my favourite animal being the lion, I am willing to stand up for myself and to those around me. I also double checked by taking a quiz haha.

Please provide us with an entertaining anecdote.
When I was 11 years old I fed a rhinoceros.

Name: Alyssa (AJ) Koehn (Twitter, Facebook, Website)

Please express your campaign platform in the form of a haiku. (Bonus points if you submit your haiku in the form of a video.)

What is your actual platform?
I am running for re-election as a student senator because I am an ideal candidate to continue to provide a strong student voice at the governing level of the University. The Senate position is not usually a venue for making huge changes; it is about ensuring that the needs of students are considered at all levels of discussion. The key elements of my platform are continuity from year to year and creating a unified student voice through a strong caucus. It’s really important to pass on goals from one student senate caucus to the next and provide information about what has been started.

Which Senate committees will you serve on? Why?
Academic Building Needs – I have an interest in planning and have spent 4 years living and working in UBC Residences. The hub projects have been discussed multiple times at Senate this year and will continue to be in the future. I want to have a voice in this.
Admissions – As a student from a province whose grades are scaled and with an IB diploma, I find the Admissions committee fascinating and see room for improvements to make entrance ability more even for students in all regions.

What student Senate projects would you get involved in?
I am interested in helping pursue the creation of a Sustainability minor. I also think it’s important to work closely with the AMS VP Academic who is often working on issues the student senators can be of help with.

Should the summer semester be changed?
The summer semester should eventually be changed. To build a strong community on campus in terms of residences, services, and businesses the summer semester needs to attract more students. I am interested in
continuing the discussion about the best way to do this.

In which house would the Sorting Hat put you? Why?
The sorting hat would definitely consider putting me in Slytherin based on sarcasm alone, but I feel like deep down I’ve got the heart of a Gryffindor.

Please provide us with an entertaining anecdote.
For my 16th birthday I went to see The Ellen DeGeneres show and danced with the legend herself.