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Get Involved

Committees

Committees
COMMITTEES to join

The GSS credits its success to the energy, ideas, and talents contributed by its members. As a graduate student, you are automatically a member of the GSS, and there are many different ways for you to get involved and help guide the efforts of your Society. One of the easiest ways to get involved is to join a GSS Committee.

Consider joining a Committee if you have:

  • an interest in participating in and learning about the GSS
  • interest in ensuring that the GSS is reflective of the goals and aspirations of its members
  • a willingness to work collaboratively on projects and initiatives
  • skills and experiences beyond your specific academic field (for example, administrative or policy-related skills)
  • an interest in meeting and working with graduate students from across the university

The GSS values the work of our graduate student volunteers and recognizes that these efforts are crucial to moving our society forward. All Committee members are provided with a stipend for attending meetings.

Find a Committee to JOIN

The GSS Committees are created by and report to the GSS Council. Committees are groups of graduate students that focus on areas of specific importance for the Society’s services and direction. They meet once a month, usually for no longer than two hours. Meeting dates are set based on members’ availability. Occasionally, some Committee work occurs over email, and it is expected that Committee members will take the time to engage via email in addition to attending the monthly meetings.

Advocacy Committee

This Committee supports GSS’s advocacy efforts on tuition, housing, supervision, and much more. The Advocacy Committee has several subcommittees: International Graduate Students Subcommittee, Racism, Bullying and Harassment Subcommittee, and Tuition and Affordability Subcommittee. To join please email: advocacy@sfugradsociety.ca

Human Resources Committee

Conducts an annual review of the Executive Director on behalf of the GSS Council and supports the Executive Committee for internal human resources issues. To join please email:Β internal@sfugradsociety.ca

Engagement Committee

Supports the planning of socials, events, other activities and communication with all members of the GSS in order to build a sense of community. To join please email:Β student-life@sfugradsociety.ca

Electoral Committee

Helps plan and organize the GSS Director Elections twice a year (in the Fall and Spring semesters). The Committee has a base stipend different than the stipends for all other Committees. To join please email: advocacy@sfugradsociety.ca

Responsible for running the elections and referenda of the GSS, the Electoral Committee is an intense but incredibly rewarding group that is integral to our governance. Key times of year (when elections are normally scheduled) are between November-December and March-April, however, by-elections and off-cycle referenda sometimes occur.

To find out more about the most recent elections, please followΒ this link.

Executive Committee

Composed of 7 Directors elected by GSS membership that support the day to day direction, decision making, operations and representation of the Society. These are elected positions with larger stipends. For more information about how and when you can nominate yourself for these positions please visit http://sfugradsociety.ca/elections.

GSS Appeals Board

This group acts as an appeal body for decisions that are made at other GSS Committees (such as the Grants Allocation Committee or the Electoral Committee). A larger roster of members is available to serve on an β€œon-call” basis when appeals come forward. The composition of a given Appeals Board will be drawn from the roster, taking into consideration the availability of members and their relation to the issue(s)/group(s) being appealed. To join please email: info@sfugradsociety.ca