Press Release 2010-11 Vice President Academic and Vice President University Affairs Announced

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Vice President Academic, Cait Dix and Vice President University Affairs, Michael Mercer will be returning to serve a second term for their respective portfolios for the 2010-11 academic year.
This was a decision that was made after conducting a review of their performances during the 2009-10 year. Both Vice Presidents have been great student advocates and have fulfilled their duties in accordance with their job descriptions. Both Cait and Michael have been a critical part of SMUSA’s advocacy successes both within and outside the University community. Overall I’ve been extremely satisfied with their performance and have offered them a second term in their respective roles.

Michael Mercer has been a strong advocate for accountability in spending from your federal and provincial lobby groups and within the University administration. He has also been a strong advocate for increasing funding to Career Services to improve the accessibility of the service to students. Also he has built strong relationships with the University administration in the previous year which aided us in accomplishing some of our advocacy agenda. For those reasons I believe that Michael will continue to be an asset to the student body. Much of Michael’s success can be attributed to his completing his Honours IDS degree and continuing on with his M.A at SMU next year, coupled with his past experience serving as an Executive Assistant for an MP, a Special Assistant to a Senator, and working in the National Defence Department.

Cait has been a very vocal member of the exec team this year. Cait has been a strong advocate to improve academic services on SMUSA.ca. Her advocacy has ensured that the Tutor Database and the Book Exchange is more responsive to students. Cait played a critical role in SMUSA’s sustainability efforts this year amid advocating for a standing sustainability committee on the Academic Senate. Therefore, I believe that Cait will still have a strong presence in SMUSA next year. Cait’s success can be attributed to her strong research skill acquired from studying in her Masters in IDS program. Cait has already completed an undergraduate degree at Memorial University giving her experience seeing some of the problems a typical undergraduate student face.

I wish to bring Cait and Michael back for a second year for the same reason that students elect members of the Board of Directors to a two year term, to bring more consistency to the organization. Student governments always fall victim due to high turnover from students graduating. This results in SMUSA always having to go through the same learning process every year. By rehiring Cait and Michael, SMUSA will not have to go through a learning curve in the realm of advocacy, which will allow SMUSA to hit the ground running.

The responsibilities of the Vice President Academic and Vice President University affairs will remain unchanged next year. The Vice President Academic will continue to be your resource if you have inquiries about academic appeals and being treated fairly in the class room. The Vice President Academic will also continue to be a representative of SMUSA to the Saint Mary’s Academic Senate. The Vice President University Affairs will still represent students to the federal, provincial governments through your lobby groups the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations. The Vice President University affairs will continue to serve on the Saint Mary’s Board of Governors and be the primary resource for students for all university problems that are not academic related.

If you have any questions please e-mail me at president@smusa.ca or call me at 496-8701.

With solidarity,
Matthew Anderson
President & CEO,
SMUSA