2017-2018
Major Milestones for EngSoc in 2017-2018[edit | edit source]
Skule Calendar[edit | edit source]
Over the years, it has generally become difficult to find out what clubs or groups are holding events, leading to a lot of spam over email and Facebook. This year EngSoc was able to develop an online platform, called the Skule Calendar, where students can find out what they’re interested in. Additionally, you can filter clubs/categories on or off to more easily identify some events that appeal to you, as well as being able to sync events calendars directly to your Google account. This will be an ongoing project, requiring regular updating, but will optimistically revolutionize the way that students learn about events and student groups, while also having a much farther reach than Facebook events.
Overhaul of Vote.skule.ca[edit | edit source]
Up until this year, EngSoc’s voting platform, vote.skule.ca, was controlled and monitored by an Alumni Member who developed it during his time here (nearly 10 years ago). After facing several catastrophic issues during the March elections of 2017 (namely some elections being deleted for voters), EngSoc decided it was time to be in control of its voting system. After acquiring the code base and understanding its fundamentals, a complete overhaul was in order for a more modern system, particularly one that allowed mobile voting. The September elections of 2017 saw nearly 1200 voters, approximately twice the amount of regular turnout, showing a substantial improvement.
Reconstruction of Election Processes[edit | edit source]
Similarly, with vote.skule.ca, the March elections of 2017 made many individuals realize the pitfalls and inconsistencies with the elections processes of the Engineering Society. There were several different documents providing conflicting election information, a lack of cohesiveness of where to find this information, and ultimately many rules (and even positions) missing from our governing documents. This led to a complete redesign of how EngSoc ran elections by centralizing information, removing the idea of rewriting election rules each year (they change little, if at all), and making clarity the top priority for both candidates and the general population.
Skule Newsletter, aka “This Month at Skule”[edit | edit source]
To reduce email clutter, the old Skule Digest system, which sent out weekly mass emails from automatically gathered posts from clubs and other groups, was done away with. It was replaced with a monthly newsletter with club and EngSoc content curated by the VP Communications. The newsletter also received a significant design overhaul from the old Digest mass emails.
Skule Digest[edit | edit source]
Skule Digest was revived to become a public online announcement board with a post-like system not unlike modern social media sites. Instead of VP Communications approving each post, each account only needs to be approved once, and can subsequently post as they wish. The most recent posts are also automatically displayed on the EngSoc Website. The platform is targeted towards clubs who might have public announcements to between Newsletter cycles each month or have updates for more targeted student audiences. The site and underlying systems were written from scratch over the summer of 2017 for a launch in August 2017.
Centre for Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CEIE)[edit | edit source]
With the new building set to open in April 2018, EngSoc had quite a bit of work to do involving the space it received in the CEIE, called the “Arena”. There is room for several clubs to utilize office spaces, design teams to move into garages, and music clubs to rehearse in the music room. Allocating space based on usage capability and club reputations was a challenge in and of itself; however, this project opened up the opportunity for a holistic look at all of EngSoc’s clubs and design teams. Consequently, many different needs were balanced where each group either received more or better space or was unaffected, leading to a “migration” of space swapping for many teams. Furthermore, EngSoc was able to acquire another room for the Blue & Gold Committee which is a vibrant part of the SkuleTM community. Lastly, there will be several vending machines in the CEIE controlled by EngSoc and/or affiliated groups, which had to be planned out as well; everything from ordering the machine to deciding what products to sell.
Re-Examination of the Joint Council Meeting[edit | edit source]
Traditionally, each year Project Directors have been elected at a meeting of Council, specifically the Joint Council Meeting. After years of criticism regarding its structure, lengthy process, and considerable time wasted in debate, the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 years saw the creation of a committee to investigate a potentially better alternative. After several consultations and considerations, it was decided that a large body, such a Council, is not effective for making decisions, so instead more power should be put in the hands of the hiring committee. Ultimately this process saw the removal of the Joint Council Meeting, replaced with a hiring committee that has m,ore power and their recommendations ratified at the April Board of Directors meeting. Ideally this will help streamline the process, saving hours of unnecessary discussion and debate.
Ex-Officio Redefinition[edit | edit source]
The classification of “Ex-Officio Directors” in EngSoc’s Bylaws was a hugely vague area created for several different groups/individuals that did not properly fit into another classification. The problem with this section was that each entity (e.g. Discipline Clubs, Chief Attiliator, Blue & Gold Committee) were defined in the same way but had vastly different working relationships with EngSoc and their “overseeing” Officers. As such, it only made sense to splice off various “buckets” to properly represent these organizations and representatives, which introduced a new class of “Associated Entities” with several components within it. More details can be found in Bylaw 2 of EngSoc’s governing documents.
Skule Website Revamp[edit | edit source]
The Skule Website layout and design was updated from a previous version build by the 2016-17 Webmaster. The skule.ca front page was updated with recent Skule Digest posts, a more prominent frequent links section, as well as blurbs explaining each category of pages on the site. The “Get Involved” section also became the home of Skule Calendar. In addition, the content was updated and reorganized with the help of the President to increase usability and readability, and further pages were added, such as a UTSU page and dedicated Project Directorship and Associated Entities pages. The Webmaster has also installed Google Analytics to the website and others, such as Courses, and Digest to track usage of our online services.
Godiva’s Hymn Verse Competition[edit | edit source]
The 2017-2018 year saw the 2nd-ever Godiva’s Hymn Verse Competition (the first was in the 2015-2016 year). Students were able to submit verses that they wanted to see added to our beloved Godiva’s Hymn, with a theme of “SkuleTM Life”. The submissions were narrowed down to a set of 10 finalists, which were then voted on during the Godiva Week and the winners announced at Cannonball. The competition saw excellent student engagement and is hopefully something that will continue every several years.
Reconsidering Levies[edit | edit source]
Up until the 2017 year, EngSoc ran 2 levies: the Temporary Special Levy and the SkuleTM Endowment Fund Levy. Both contributed to student resources and lab equipment, the former largely pertaining to projects submitted by the Faculty and the latter for student life. As per a decision made by the University Affairs Board (UAB), ancillary fees (i.e. those fees collected from these levies) cannot be used for curricular purposes. Further, due to an unfortunate lack of communication before these levies had to be re-run, their wording was invalid as per the regulations by the UAB, rendering them inactive for the 2017-2018 year. After further considerations and consultations, EngSoc decided to discontinue the Temporary Special Levy, as its primary usage seemed to be for curricular purposes, and only maintain/re-run the SkuleTM Endowment Fund Levy moving forward.
Officer Video[edit | edit source]
The 1T7-1T8 Officer Team put together a short, funny video providing summaries of each of their roles. Check it out on Skuletube.
Engineering Society Positions[edit source]
Officers[edit source]
- President - Jonathan Swyers
- VP Finance - Aron Sankar
- VP Communications - Harry Jiang
- VP Academic - Sofia Tijanic
- VP Student Life - Mahsa Naserifar
Project Directors[edit source]
- Skule Alumni Outreach Director - Vacant
- Archivist - Muskan Sethi
- Cannonball Chair - Katherine Rich
- Cannon Editor - Dale Gottlieb
- Community Outreach Director - Andrea Gonzalez
- Computer Systems Administrator - Kevin Hua
- Stores Manager - Annie Yu
- Stores Manager - Jonathan Norman
- F!rosh Handbook Editor - Mackenzie (Catherine) Campbell
- Gradball Chair - Vacant
- Hard Hat Cafe Manager - Marawan Zaki
- Hard Hat Cafe Manager - Hui Di (Wendy) Wang
- Hi-Skule Liaison - Brandon Lista
- Ombudsperson - Carlos Fiel
- Orientation Chair - Carol Yeung
- Professional Outreach Director - Shunshi (Matthew) Zhang
- Skulebook Editor - Kyle Tang
- Skule Kup Director - Chole Oriotis
- Sponsorship Director - Shengyu (Brad) Sun
- Suds Manager - Devlen Malone
- Suds Manager - Saarthak Saxena
- Toike Oike Editor - Jennifer Dixon
- UTEK Director - Henry Xu
- Webmaster - Seif Sarafim
- Chief Returning Officer - Aleksei Ji Lung Wan
Board of Directors[edit source]
| Speaker | Andrew Kidd |
| Chemical Engineering Representative | Muskan Sethi |
| Civil Engineering Representative | Mackenzie De Carle |
| Computer Engineering Representative | Alexander Caton |
| Electrical Engineering Representative | Ankita Khanda |
| Engineering Science Representative | Graeme Edwards |
| Industrial Engineering Representative | Carol Yeung |
| Materials Science Engineering Representative | Ziqi Ding |
| Mechanical Engineering Representative | Eden Gough |
| Mineral Engineering Representative | Vacant |
| At-Large Representative | Medhaj Athilkar |
| At-Large Representative | Dareen Kutob |
| At-Large Representative | Danja Papajani |
| At-Large Representative | Twesh Upadhyaya |
| First Year Representative | Lisa Zaher |
| First Year Representative | Arnab Rahman |
| First Year Representative | Jackie (Yuhui) Cheng |
| UTSU Representative | Shivani Nathoo |
*Resigned ** Recalled from the Board of Directors
Discipline Club Chairs[edit source]
- Chemical Engineering Club - Stephanie Tzanis
- Civil Engineering Club - Nataliya Pekar
- Computer Engineering Club - Melissa Campoli
- Electrical Engineering Club - Fay Huang
- Engineering Science Club - Rossdan Craig
- Industrial Engineering Club - Kanishk Chadha
- Materials Science and Engineering Club - Stephen Manion
- Mechanical Engineering Club - Milan Yang
- Mineral Engineering Club - Marko Lopac
Class Representatives[edit source]
| Chemical Engineering | 2T1 | Saif Rjaibi |
| 2T0 | Madison Taylor Desembrana | |
| 1T9 | Leigh Mcneil-Taboika | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Bernadette Rose Skerl | |
| Civil Engineering | 2T1 | Amy Liu |
| 2T0 | Christian Elena Pavlidis | |
| 1T9 | Andrew Lau | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Kayla Steadman | |
| Computer Engineering | 2T1 | Dhruv Warrier |
| 2T0 | Chris Dryden/Jane Illarionova | |
| 1T9 | Tim Fei | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Tania Albarghouthi | |
| Electrical Engineering | 2T1 | Joshua Pius |
| 2T0 | Linda Wu | |
| 1T9 | Mohaimen Khan | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Mitchell Au | |
| Engineering Science | 2T1 | Dingyuhan (Helen) Wang |
| 2T0 | Andrew Ming Wang | |
| 1T9 | Rebekah (Mi Sol) Kim | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Aidan Malone | |
| Industrial Engineering | 2T1 | Toufic Constantin/Tanishq Singh |
| 2T0 | Nojhat Hrishti | |
| 1T9 | Claire Goldsmith | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Krysten Szatan | |
| Materials Science & Engineering | 2T1 | Min Tsung (Mark) Liao |
| 2T0 | Calvin Yu Huynh | |
| 1T9 | Brittny Eileen Carter | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Alan Stagg | |
| Mechanical Engineering | 2T1 | Chetanya Choudhary |
| 2T0 | Max Glidden | |
| 1T9 | Marie Floryan | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Sourabh Das | |
| Mineral Engineering | 2T1 | Vacant |
| 2T0 | Demi De Silva | |
| 1T9 | Matthew Goldbaum | |
| 1T8/1T7+PEY | Vacant | |
| TrackOne | 2T1 | John Peri |
| First Year Chair | 2T1 | Gabriel Sher |
| Fourth Year Chair | 1T8/1T7+PEY | Aron Sankar |
Skule™ Spirit[edit source]
- Bnad Leedur - Stephen Gidge
- D(r)umb Majur(k) - Simon Andre
- Chief Attiliator - Sofia Tijanic
- Blue & Gold Committee Chair - Cameron Alizadeh/Marie Floryan
- Skule Nite Director - Emma Sexton
- Skule Nite Producer - Linda Leung
- Engineering Athletics Association President - Brittany Green
Godiva Week Competition Winners[edit source]
- Godiva's Quest - TBD
- Mr. Blue & Gold - Jake Sinopoli
- Godiva's Crown - Chloe Oriotis
- Ultimate F!rosh - Mark McCutcheon
- Ye Grande Olde Chariot Race - Civil
External Representatives[edit source]
- UTSU Director - Chris Dryden
- UTSU Director - Danja Papajani*/ Aron Sankar
- UTSU Director - Andrew Sweeny*/ Jeff Dryden
Danja Papajani and Andrew Sweeny were replaced by Aron Sankar & Jeff Dryden "*" resigned