AUSU met on the evening of September 16th for the last regular council meeting of the 2001/2002 fiscal year. Finances and our preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year were the main topics of discussion, and we laid the groundwork for some exciting new scholarships and student awards. Also under discussion was the possibility of selling AUSU promotional items in the future.
The most important topic of the evening was our upcoming AGM. For those who do not already know, the 2002 AGM will take place on September 28, 2002 at 1:00 PM MST, and all students are welcome. You may attend in person at the Edmonton AUSU offices, located at #306, 10030-107th Street, Edmonton, AB, or you may attend via teleconference from any location, worldwide. Call our office at 1-800-788-9041, extension 3413, or email ausu@ausu.org for more information. Please reserve your spot as soon as possible, so that we know how many attendees to plan for. We’d love to see you there.
Also on the table this week was a proposal for new scholarships and student awards, which was approved by all councillors. Information about these awards will be available on our website as soon as we hammer out the last of the fine details. The details will be posted on the AUSU Services page.
The fate of the AUSU Handbook/Planner is still up in the air. We want to be able to give students items that will be useful to them in their studies, but we need to be certain that the handbook is the best choice before we commit to having more printed. Student input so far has indicated that a smaller planner might be more useful, while other suggestions have included wall calendars, desk calendars, and other items. So far, however, we have had only a few responses to our survey, and we require more.
Please check out the AUSU discussion forums (see: http://www.ausu.org/discussions.html on our website and select the Handbook/Planner Survey topic to download the survey file or to comment in the open forum. Alternatively, you may mail your comments to dkereluk@ausu.org. We’d like to know what might be useful to you, what items you have received from other students’ unions that you have used and enjoyed, and if you have any opinions on the old format of the AUSU Handbook.
Speaking of student input, we are pleased to say that since the first issue of the AUSU newsletter started arriving in students’ mailboxes, we have had many entries for the contest, and a significant increase in Voice readers and users of the AUSU forums. For all of you who just checked out AUSU for the first time this month – welcome!
Finally, back to business matters, AUSU council has approved the proposed preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and we are very pleased to announce that our expenditures for the 2001/2002 fiscal year will remain within budget for that period.
Many new projects have been initiated since the new council took over in March, and we’re very excited about the coming year. Expect a summary of our work so far to appear in the Voice or on the AUSU website very soon.
For further information, please contact ausu@ausu.org, or call 1-800-788-9041, ext. 3413.
