GSS Biweekly Newsletter Aug 12, 2021

Hi Grads,

Welcome to the end of the Summer term!! You all deserve a well-rested break.  Please enjoy the beautiful outdoors and the precious time with your family safely. Here are a few updates for the week:

Safe Return to Campus Petition: The GSS Executive Committee has signed the Safe Return to Campus letter, calling on the BC government to protect university community members by implementing stronger public health measures in advance of the September return to campus. We encourage our members to show their support for this letter by signing the petition, HERE. You may also share this petition on Facebook and Twitter.

Studentcare Change-of-Coverage Period: The GSS Benefit Plan/Studentcare change-of-coverage period runs this year from August 27 to September 21, 2021. Please note in particular that opting-out of this plan is not automatically renewed and must be confirmed each year. Please visit the Studentcare website for more information on changing your coverage.

Return to Campus: To find out more about SFU’s planned return to campus in September 2021, please visit their Return to Campus website. We urge our members to contact SFU at covid19@sfu.ca if they have any questions or concerns regarding the university’s plan.

Translink TownHall: Translink will be holding Town Hall sessions for SFU students on 27 August @ 1:00pm and 30 August at 5:00pm. Stay tuned for registration information by contacting our Director of Graduate Services at grad-services@sfugradsociety.ca.

🔈Volunteers for Upcoming Orientation: The GSS is in the planning stage for this fall’s graduate student orientation and we are looking for volunteers to help us with various events!

For this year’s orientation, we need volunteers for:

Zoom Social – 2 orientation social events will be held on Zoom. We will divide all participants into small groups. The volunteer role will be to facilitate these small group activities. This year’s Graduate Orientation Virtual Social will be on the following dates:

Monday,     August 23          12 pm-2 pm

Friday,        August 27           6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

GSS Caucuses Presentation: You will give a short GSS presentation at Caucus orientations,  materials will be prepared by GSS. Volunteers can take the Caucuses’ orientations that fit their schedules.

Canvas Discussion – New students will post questions about graduate student life on Canvas. As a volunteer, you will write your responses in the open discussion module whenever you have time.

There is still time to register to be a volunteer! Please email student-life@sfugradsociety.ca  if you are interested in volunteering for any/all of these activities. *Please indicate which activities are you interested in volunteering for and your availability. Thank you so much.  Detailed dates and other information will be coordinated with you via email.

SFU Student Worker Survey: TSSU, GSS, and SFSS are reaching out to invite you to participate in a short survey that is intended to create a profile of SFU students as workers, your work experience, and your understanding of and access to worker rights information. This information will be used to develop labor education and rights information for students through the TSSU, GSS and SFSS. You can complete the survey HERE:

The survey will close Friday, August 27, 2021. The survey can be completed only once; it will no longer be available once you have submitted your responses. You can exit the survey at any time until submission. Your participation in this survey is voluntary, and your responses are confidential. Any information collected will be reported in aggregate only (i.e. no individually identifying information will be reported).

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Beth Maschmann at bmaschma@sfu.ca or bmaschmann@tssu.ca. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Lastly, I want to thank you for all of your support for GSS in the Summer term! Enjoy the break and I will see you in the Fall semester:)

Cheers, Gloria

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