CS GSA roles
The duties of the CS GSA Officers are derived from the CS GSA Constitution.
President
The Computer Science Graduate Studies Association (CS GSA) president is the leader of the CS GSA. They provide an interface between CS faculty/staff and CS graduate students. Specific responsibilities include:
- Support of the CS Graduate Student Office (GSO) during orientation at the beginning of each term by
- welcoming new students at the departmental orientation
- organizing a tour of the campus buildings relevant to CS graduate students
- hosting social gatherings for new CS grad students
- Promotion of social interaction among grad students and between grad students and faculty/staff by
- organizing social gatherings (end of term social, fruit breaks, etc.)
- Involvement in departmental politics by
- attending the CS Council meetings
- keeping themselves informed about the progress of the other school committees and
- being receptive to graduate student issues and working toward their resolution with the respective school executives or committees
- Guidance of the CS GSA by
- chairing two to three CS GSA meetings per term
- making sure that the other grad student reps attend to their respective duties and fill in for them if need-be
Vice-President
The vice-president works closely with the president, is familiar with all positions in CS GSA and takes over any of the other board members’ responsibilities if they cannot fulfill them due to unexpected circumstances. In addition, the vice-president takes minutes at the CS GSA meetings, attends the CS Council meetings, and maintains the CS GSA calendar.
Treasurer
The treasurer handles the CS GSA finances and is responsible for allocating money for the social events and processing funding requests. The treasurer is responsible for
- Setting up payment platforms for events the CS GSA holds,
- Obtaining quotes from vendors,
- Interacting with the department’s Finance Officer for general inquiries,
- Performing price research for food and supplies,
- Tracking the account of GSA expenses and remaining budget,
- Ensuring budget allocation is spent.
In case of task overload, the treasurer can also be invited to help the other board members or be helped by them.
Publicity officer
Facilitate the advertisement and broadcasting of information about the events held by the CS GSA through social media accounts, creating, printing, and installing posters, and updating the CS GSA website and social media accounts to reflect the most updated information. In case of task overload of other roles, the publicity officer can also be invited to help the other board members.
Event coordinator
The event coordinator helps with planning and organizing events. This includes finding and contacting vendors or venues or ordering food. In case of task overload of other roles, the event coordinator can also be invited to help the other board members.
Other GSA representatives
CS departmental director to the Math GSA
Represent the CS graduate students and their needs on the faculty-level Graduate Student Association (The Math GSA), and help maintain an open channel of communication between the CS GSA and the Math GSA.
This representative is also a member of the CS GSA board and attends the board meetings.
CS representative to the GSA- The University of Waterloo (UW) Council
Represent the CS graduate students and their needs on the GSA-UW council, and help maintain an open channel of communication between the CS GSA and GSA-UW council.
This representative is also a member of the CS GSA board and attends the board meetings.
Student representatives on school committees
There a number of committees in the school each responsible for holding meetings and addressing specific matters. For more detailed information regarding school committees, please refer to the School Committees page. Some of these committees on which there is a graduate student representative include:
School council
The administrative matters that require the approval of the school shall be brought before the Computer Science Council. A minimal schedule for Council meetings shall include one meeting in each of September, October, November, January, February, March, May, June and July.
The CS GSA President and Vice-president are the graduate students on this committee.
Meetings shall normally be held on the second Wednesday of each month at 3:30 p.m.
Commons committee
Responsible for initiatives that foster community spirit and socialization. This committee creates opportunities for staff, faculty, and grad students to participate in social activities.
These are biweekly meetings.
School Advisory Committee on Appointments (SACA)
In charge of the process of recruiting new faculty. Among its duties are designing the application process, deciding the information to be put on the website of the School of CS for prospective faculty, organizing interviews with candidates, and recommending candidates to the school.
The committee will have most of their meetings in the Winter term during the recruiting phase.
Women in Computer Science (WiCS)
Responsible for building an environment in the School of Computer Science where women are supported in their work and studies. To ensure that young women entering university see computer science as an option. To connect to outside organizations and events for women in computer science.