The Format

Yes, a monthly report to council. Why? Just because. And, it will fit into my Web publishing strategy.

Double Coverage

I haven’t figured out if this is a good thing or a bad thing. A lot of the projects I work on also include other members of the board. That’s good, but it means that those other members of the board will be mentioning these projects in their report. Yes, that makes my life easier, but it also makes it look like I’m not doing anything. Hmmm…

The Office

I spent the first day re-arranging furniture in my office. It may not be a big deal to you, but it was huge to me, and I thought It warranted a mention in the report. I now refer to it as my "room", and not my "office". Please drop by and chat – I’ve got a comfy bean bag chair with your name on it.

The Board

<Insert warm and fuzzy comments about the board here>. The board spent a good portion of the month together in relatively small rooms. There were a lot of good discussions and some half decent goal setting. The surprising part was that a high proportion of these discussions and goals were actually applicable to our jobs.

The Job

The first month in the job was like treading water. My arms were flailing, my legs were kicking, I was getting exhausted, and all I was trying to do was keep my head above the water. There were even a couple of times there when I faltered and got a mouth full of sea water. It wasn’t all that bad, just frustrating on occasion. I’ve got the treading water part down now, and pretty soon I’ll start to swim. The only depressing part is having everyone tell you how easy it is during the summer.

Meetings

Looking for insight into meetings, I looked up "meeting" in the Webster Dictionary:

meeting n 1: an act or process of coming together : as 1a: an assembly for worship or other common purpose 1b: a session of horse or dog racing. 2: a permanent organizational unit of the Society of Friends 3: INTERSECTION, JUNCTION

I Was quite disappointed with the definition, and ripped out the page it was on. It was time for a new dictionary anyway.

I had oodles of meetings, ranging from a nice chit-chat with Dr. Davenport to watching graffiti be removed from a local park with Mike Smith, owner of Joe Kool’s.

At one meeting I was at, someone said that the response of the students was quite mediocre. I simply replied "Hey! The word mediocre isn’t even in my dictionary!"

The London Community

I met with the Mayor’s Downtown Action Team, whose primary goal is to promote and re-vitalize the downtown. I’m mentioning this primarily to solicit any suggestions that other people may have to promote the downtown, especially with students in mind. I also met to help project "clean sweep", which is all about keeping the city clean, and was a good opportunity to get help and suggestions for the street captains program.

The UCC

It seems that a year can’t go by without some sort of UCC agreement problems. This time it’s the University that has defaulted on some aspects of the agreement. After a couple of meetings with Dr. Mercer (VP Administration), we’ve agreed to enter negotiations and resolve the conflicts. I imposed a July 31st deadline to keep it timely.

Student Services

Speaking of Dr. Mercer… The Student Services Committee (SSC) deals with the various ancillary units and their corresponding student fees. Last year’s SSC made recommendations to the Board of Governors (BOG) that some fees be changed. Dr. Mercer convinced the BOG to ignore the SSC report, on the condition he will work closely with this year’s SSC. In May we had the first of many meetings with the SSC and Dr. Mercer. This is going to be an interesting ride…

Alumni AGM

I attended the Alumni AGM and workshop hosted in Delaware Hall. They had some great speakers, and it was good to get to know some of the Alumni members better.

In Summary

I really can’t believe that I’m writing this summary already. I also can’t believe I took so long to write this summary that I have to write the June report in a week and a half. When I think back about my first month in office It usually goes something like this: "Wow! That was quick. Boy, am I hungry." And I think that statement sums everything up. The fast pace and environment made the month whiz by - giving little opportunity to catch my breath, and even less time to get my bearings straight. And I am hungry: Hungry to tackle big issues and greater challenges. Hungry to strike new initiatives and make some positive changes. Hungry to better represent students, and hungry to take on the world. What did you think I meant?

In Brief…