Exec Blog: June 2015

Well, June is upon us, which means that convocation is rapidly approaching!! Congratulations to all of the AU students who are graduating this year. VPFA Corrina Green will be attending convocation, along with AUSU staff, so be sure to stop by the AUSU booth and say hi if you’re there! Next month’s Exec blog will feature a convocation wrap-up written by Corrina.

However, if you’re like me and are still working on your undergraduate degree or taking a few undergraduate courses at AU, AUSU is here to help you along the way! After a period of transition, AUSU now has a full Executive, and we are starting the process of putting together our 2015/2016 goals list. As your new VPEX (as of May 13th), I have the pleasure of telling you about a couple of projects that AUSU has on the go in this month’s blog!

Your Executive has been working on a contract over the past several months to bring AUSU members free mental health services, including confidential counselling services. These services would be available in person (in your local area), by phone or online, and would include counselling for individuals, couples and families. Stay tuned for more information about this plan in the (hopefully) near future!

We are also working on bringing back course evaluation surveys. Nearly every time I meet an AU student, and they find out that I am an AUSU councillor, they tell me that they want us to facilitate course reviews or evaluations. Our Media Engagement and Communications Committee is finishing work on these survey questions, and we are hoping to have them launched as a part of our proposed new website by early fall.

Additional projects that AUSU has on the go right now (just to name a few) are:

A mobile app,
Online awards applications,
And increased advocacy and lobbying efforts.

Finally, AUSU has a great survey running until June 15th that will help us determine what services are most important to our members. The survey already has over 700 respondents, and the preliminary results have been very informative! Your Council is more committed than ever before to communicating and engaging with AUSU’s members. We would love to connect with you! Tweet us, Facebook us, or send us an e-mail, and we would be happy to answer any questions or help in any way that we can! Enjoy a beautiful June!!

Bonita Arbeau
AUSU Vice President External