Constitution

Amended February 1984, March 1984, January 1992, May 1992,  April 2006, March 2008, April 2011, April 2012, May 2014, April 2015, September 2019, June 2022

Article I: Name

The name of the organization shall be the "Kinesiology Graduate Students' Association" (or KGSA) of the Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, hereafter referred to as the "Association".

Article II: Object

The object of the Association shall be:

  1. To unite, for their mutual benefit, graduate students of the Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo;
  2. To acquire and make available information to assist students in their sojourn in the Department and at the University;
  3. To nominate and elect representatives to Departmental and University Committees;
  4. To act as the official voice of the graduate students of the Department for academic and administrative purposes

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Article III: Membership

  1. All Graduate students of the Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, are automatically members of the Association.
  2. All members of the Association whose registration status is "full-time" shall contribute for each semester, a membership fee of $7.00 which will be assessed by the administration and included on their term fee statements.
  3. All members of the Association whose registration status is "part-time" shall contribute, for each semester, a membership fee of $3.50 which will be assessed by the administration and included on their fee statements.
  4. All Graduate students of the Department of Kinesiology whose registration status is "inactive" are not required to pay membership fees so long as their registration status remains unchanged.

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Article IV: Officers

  1. The Association Officers will consist of President, Vice-President, Past-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Communications Representative, Athletics/Social Convener, four members at large (one each from the areas of biomechanics, physiology, and neuroscience, as well as one from the cohort of coursework Master’s students), and committee representatives.
  2. The term of office for all officers shall be for a one-year period, renewable once only for the same position. The election of all officers shall take place before the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the officers shall take office immediately following the AGM.
  3. Normally, all officers will be registered as full-time graduate students.
  4. The Executive Committee of the Association is comprised of the President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Communications Representative, four members at large, committee representatives, Athletics/Social Convener, and Past-President.
  5. The holding of Association offices shall be limited as follows: any individual may hold no more than one (1) Executive Committee position and/or one (1) Departmental Faculty/Senate Committee position at any given time.

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Article V: Nomination and election of officers

  1. The Executive shall set a date for the election prior to the AGM. Nominations for all elected positions of the Association may be made either in writing or verbally to the Executive Committee at least two days prior to the election day. The Executive Committee will ensure that ballots are distributed to every member of the Association.
  2. All positions must be filled, with exception of the coursework Master’s student member at large, at the time of the AGM. At the discretion of the Chairman of the AGM, positions may be filled, in the absence of sufficient nominees, either by: 
    1. acclamation of previous officer for an additional one-year term; or
    2. by contravening ARTICLE IV, Section 5 and allowing the holding of more than two offices by anyone individual.
    3. The Executive Committee shall appoint new officers to any position made available by any reason during the year in progress.
  3. The position of the coursework Masters student member at large will be filled during a Special General Meeting to be held no earlier than the beginning of classes of the Fall term, and no later than 30 days after the beginning of the term. The procedures for nominating and electing a student to this position will follow those stated above in sections 1 and 2 of Article V pertaining to nomination and election of the other officers of the Association.

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Article VI: Duties of the officers

  1. President

    1. Supervise all affairs and activities of the Association.
    2. Call and chair all Executive Committee meetings as well as the AGM.
    3. Represent the Association when required and be responsible for appointing other representatives when necessary.
    4. Be responsible for application to the Graduate Student Association, or any other administrative body, for available funding for operating budgets, special - 3 - event funds, and so on.
    5. Serve, along with the Secretary-Treasurer, as one of the co-signees of the Association's bank account.
  2. Vice-President
    1. Assume all duties and responsibilities of the President in their absence.
    2. Serve as a resource person regarding rules of order at meetings, and be aware of all departmental, faculty, and university policies and procedures affecting the Association.
    3. Act as ombudsperson for the Association and serve as a liaison between graduate students and faculty/staff in any individual disputes, disagreements, conflicts, and so on, at the direct request of the graduate student(s) involved and/or the President of the Association.
    4. Be responsible for application to the Graduate Student Association, or any other administrative body, for available funding for operating budgets, special - 3 - event funds, and so on.
    5. Work in consultation with Department Graduate Chair to address issues pertaining to program streams and collaborative programs.
    6. Serve along with the President to address issues relevant to graduate students (such as those mentioned above) with the department administration.
    7. Perform such other duties as may be assigned by the Executive Committee.
  3. Secretary-Treasurer
    1. Keep track of all committee meeting times and locations and remind representatives of meeting times to ensure KGSA representation at meetings.
    2. Record the minutes of the Executive Committee meetings as well as the general meetings of the Association.
    3. Distribute “Meeting Minute Summary” forms (See Appendix A) to representatives and ensure that form is completed following all meetings.
    4. Distribute “Meeting Minute Summary” Forms to all KGSA members following a committee meeting.
    5. Report any absenteeism of Representatives to their appointed committees to the President.
    6. Maintain, in an orderly fashion, the files of the association, including minutes, memoranda, agendas, Association correspondence, financial records and reports, and the Constitution of the Association.
    7. Make available, at the request of any member of the Association, any of the above files, provided the request is in writing and is submitted to the - 4 - Secretary-Treasurer no sooner than five days before such request is to be fulfilled.
    8. Shall be in charge of receiving from the Graduate Student Association all membership dues from Association Members and will report any outstanding dues to the Executive Committee for appropriate action.
    9. Serve, along with the President, as one of the co-signees of the Association's bank account.
    10. Perform such other duties as may be assigned by the Executive Committee.
  4. Communications Representative
    1. Coordinate the production and distribution of a newsletter to all Graduate Students and Faculty in the department at the end of the term to showcase the activities within the department from each term. This newsletter may have multiple contributors.
    2. Provide input and maintain Association website content based on graduate student needs.
    3. Coordinate social media (i.e. KGSA Facebook) communication with assistance of KGSA executive committee members to the Association.
  5. Member At Large
    1. Act as a direct liaison between the KGSA executive and KGSA members enrolled for study in the area you have been elected to represent (Biomechanics, Physiology, Neuroscience, or the cohort of coursework Master’s students).
    2. Plan and organize social activities for the graduate students and/or the Department in general in conjunction with all members at large and the VP.
    3. Submit all proposed social activities, along with budgetary information where applicable, to the Executive Committee for discussion and final approval.
    4. Assist all new members to facilitate their integration in the Department and University.
    5. Be responsible for maintaining an up-to-date email list of all members within their study area (i.e. stream).
    6. Act as a direct liaison with the coordinator (i.e. professor) of seminars within their study area (i.e. stream).
    7. Act as a liaison between KGSA executive committee and Kinesiology Graduate Students Mentorship Club.
  6. Committee Representatives
    1. Three committee representatives will be selected from interested members of the association at the AGM, one each to sit on the following committees/combinations of committees: Department Council (DC), Faculty Graduate Studies Committee (including Faculty Graduate Studies Committee [FGSC], Faculty Council [FC] and Graduate Mentorship Award Selection Committee), UW GSA Council.
    2. Attend all meetings of the committee to which they have been selected and perform duties as assigned. This includes the faculty committee's representative reviewing external examiners for Doctoral thesis defenses and reviewing applications and voting for the Graduate Mentorship Award.
    3. Notify the Communications Representative promptly should they be unable to attend any meeting and provide the name of a KGSA member who will be representing the KGSA meeting of that committee.
    4. Maintain their respective committee documentation in good order and be able to submit copies of such documentation to the Executive Committee at its request.
    5. Report a summary of meeting points relevant to graduate students at the following Association Executive meeting by completing a Meeting Minute Summary Form - Appendix A (DOCX). The committee representative will maintain copies of the official minutes that will be made available to members if they are interested in additional information.
    6. If issues from a particular meeting require immediate student input then it is the duty of the Representative to work in conjunction with the members at large to solicit student input.
    7. Failure to comply with the aforementioned duties may result in removal from the elected post, at the discretion of the KGSA executive, and another Representative will be appointed by the KGSA executive.
  7. Athletics, Social and Mentorship Convener
    1. Be responsible for coordinating social events with the help of the members at large.
    2. Be responsible for coordinating athletic events with the help of the members at large.
    3. Engages with membership to determine the interest in various intramural sports (i.e. Ice Hockey, Volleyball, Softball, etc.). 
    4. Delegates a captain in charge of intramural team registrations for each sports the membership has shown interest in or serves as captain him/herself.
    5. Be responsible for coordinating and leading the Kinesiology Graduate Students Mentorship Club.
  8. Past-President
    1. Act as a transition liaison from the previous year's KGSA Executive Committee.
    2. Perform such other duties as may be assigned by the Executive Committee.

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Article VII: Committees

  1. The Executive Committee shall have the power to appoint any "special task committee" or "ad hoc committee" as necessary. In addition, the President, acting alone or in concert with other Executive Committee member(s), may also appoint any such committee as is deemed necessary.
    1. These committees will have a definite term to execute their task which shall be no longer than one year and will report to the Executive Committee on or before the agreed upon termination date.
  2. These KGSA Executive Committee will have assigned representatives to sit on both the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and the Health and Well-being Committee run by the Department. 
    1. Members of the Executive Committee may volunteer to sit on one of the two committees for a one-year term. Volunteers for each committee will be determined in the first Executive Committee meeting in the Spring term. If there are no Executive Committee members interested in volunteering to sit on either committee these responsibilities will fall to one of the President or Vice-President, or an interested graduate student in the Department.

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Article VIII: Meetings

  1. Rules of Order:
    1. All meetings shall follow the Robert's Rules of Order.
  2. Annual General Meeting (AGM):
    1. The AGM of the Association shall be convened once every year on a convenient date in April, the final month of the winter term.
    2. Written notification of the AGM shall be given to each member at least five days in advance of the date set for the AGM.
    3. The quorum for the AGM of the Association shall be ten (10) members.
    4. By default, all voting at the AGM shall be by open ballot. Any member in attendance of the AGM, whether in person or by proxy, may request voting be conducted by secret ballot. In the event of such a request, the voting shall be by secret ballot.
  3. Special General Meetings:
    1. Special general meetings of the Association may be called at any time by the President in consultation with the Executive Committee or shall be called by the Executive Committee at the written request of at least five members of the Association.
    2. Notification of special meetings shall be given to each member of the Association at least three days in advance of the date set for the meeting.
    3. Notice of special general meetings of the Association shall state the business for which the meeting is called.
  4. Executive Committee Meetings:
    1. The quorum for the Executive Committee meetings shall be a simple majority of the members of the Executive Committee.
    2. All Association officers must meet at least once per semester.
    3. Executive Committee meetings are open to all members of the Association.

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Article IX: Liaison

  1. Liaison with the University of Waterloo Graduate Student Association shall be maintained currently.
  2. The GSA Committee Representative shall be delegated to attend the annual general meeting and any special meetings of the Graduate Student Association.
  3. The Association recognizes the position of the Graduate Student Association as the official representative of the graduate students to the University.

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Article X: Amendments to the Constitution

  1. Amendments to the Constitution may be made either at any general meeting of the Association or by submitted sealed ballots to be opened and tallied at an Executive Committee meeting called specifically for the purpose of amending the Constitution.
  2. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the Executive Committee and/or ten (10) members of the Association, and all proposed amendments must be made available to the members of the Association at least fourteen (14) days prior to voting and in the following form:
    1. in written form, showing the current Article/Section(s) and the proposed amendment; and
    2. a short note must be included outlining the rationale behind the proposed amendment.
  3. Voting on amendments shall be a simple majority of votes cast provided a Constitutional quorum of twenty (20) votes is received.
  4. Failure to obtain either a Constitutional quorum or a simple majority shall result in the failure of the proposed amendment.

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