[995] in UA Senate
Senate Announcements for IAP and Spring
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jont=E9_Craighead_=)
Wed Jan 12 13:16:36 2011
Reply-To: ua-senate-officers@MIT.EDU
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jont=E9_Craighead_=28UA_Speaker=29?= <ua-speaker@MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:16:13 -0500
To: ua-senate@mit.edu
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Hi, everyone:
I hope you are all having an enjoyable IAP.
There's still plenty of activity with the UA this IAP, and I wanted to take
this opportunity to get everyone up to speed on a few points:
*Senate Staff Assistants *[http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff]
As I mentioned at the final meeting of the term, I will be appointing three
Staff Assistants this Spring to assist myself and the new Vice Speaker in
managing many of the operations necessary for a healthy, productive Senate.
The positions available are Program Coordinator, Intelligence Coordinator,
and Policy Coordinator-- you can read more about what I have in mind for
each position at http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff. There are no eligibility
requirements for these positions, so I encourage you to let me know if you
are at all interested. *The deadline for expressing interest is this
Tuesday, January 18th*, and I hope to make the final decision before the
conclusion of IAP. Note: if you're worried about time commitments, these
positions take the place of the committee or project requirement for
Senators.
*
Senate Vice Speaker*
*
*At the first meeting of the term, 42 UAS 9, we will have nominations and
elections for the next Vice Speaker, and it will be our first order of
business. Nominees, who must be current voting members of Senate (i.e.
Senators), will be given the opportunity to discuss their reasons for
interest in the position and their goals for the semester. After Q&A, Senat=
e
will enter closed session, and a vote will be taken via secret ballot. If
you're interested in the position, speak with myself or Tim Jenks to learn
more about what's involved.
*
**Informal Senate Meetings ("Caucuses")
*
The schedule for Senate next semester has not yet been finalized, but based
on the feedback I received from the Senator Self-evaluations, it is clear t=
o
me that Senators would like to have more of an opportunity to (1) get to
know one another, (2) collaborate on policy & events, and (3) hold
discussions in an informal setting. The retreat, my office hours, and the
mailing list were designed to meet these objectives, but I would like to
propose a new idea--informal, time-limited (< 2 hour) Senate meetings once
every 2-3 weeks throughout the next term. At these "caucuses" we would
engage in small-group, action-oriented brainstorming meant to generate idea=
s
for projects and legislation that would be introduced at regular meetings.
This is very much a heads-up announcement, so please feel free to
communicate any specific ideas that you may have about these events.
*
UA Website *[http://ua.mit.edu/senate/speaker/website]
Throughout IAP I am going to be involved in work on a web application that
will allow us to keep track of attendance, e-mails to constituents, and the
status of constituency events/projects. Depending on the features that can
be implemented by the end of IAP, I can also foresee this application
enabling the creation of bills and reports from the web without any
knowledge of LaTeX. Further development (likely not feasible by the end of
IAP) would be directed towards developing a blog that leveraged committee
updates, bills and reports, links to articles from the Tech and outside
reports to create an information stream on issues that could be used to
better inform students and members of the UA. I have posted more details at
http://ua.mit.edu/senate/speaker/website.
Most of the development will be done in Ruby on Rails and it would be great
to have contributors either on the development or the design/product testin=
g
side. Again, if you're interested, please let me know.
I have a couple more announcements for specific groups-- I will communicate
those individually.
Thanks for your time, and enjoy the snow,
Jont=E9 Craighead
Speaker of the Senate
MIT Undergraduate Association
Course 1C: Class of 2013
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Hi, everyone:<br><br>I hope you are all having an enjoyable IAP.<br><br>The=
re's still plenty of activity with the UA this IAP, and I wanted to tak=
e this opportunity to get everyone up to speed on a few points:<br><br><b>S=
enate Staff Assistants </b>[<a href=3D"http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff" targ=
et=3D"_blank">http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff</a>]<br>
<br>As I mentioned at the final meeting of the term, I will be appointing t=
hree Staff Assistants this Spring to assist myself and the new Vice Speaker=
in managing many of the operations necessary for a healthy, productive Sen=
ate. The positions available are Program Coordinator, Intelligence Coordina=
tor, and Policy Coordinator-- you can read more about what I have in mind f=
or each position at <a href=3D"http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff" target=3D"_b=
lank">http://ua.mit.edu/senate/staff</a>. There are no eligibility requirem=
ents for these positions, so I encourage you to let me know if you are at a=
ll interested. <b>The deadline for expressing interest is this Tuesday, Jan=
uary 18th</b>, and I hope to make the final decision before the conclusion =
of IAP. Note: if you're worried about time commitments, these positions=
take the place of the committee or project requirement for Senators.<br>
<b><br>Senate Vice Speaker</b><br><b><br></b>At the first meeting of the te=
rm, 42 UAS 9, we will have nominations and elections for the next Vice Spea=
ker, and it will be our first order of business. Nominees, who must be curr=
ent voting members of Senate (i.e. Senators), will be given the opportunity=
to discuss their reasons for interest in the position and their goals for =
the semester. After Q&A, Senate will enter closed session, and a vote w=
ill be taken via secret ballot. If you're interested in the position, s=
peak with myself or Tim Jenks to learn more about what's involved.<br>
<b><br></b><b>Informal Senate Meetings ("Caucuses")<br></b><br>Th=
e schedule for Senate next semester has=20
not yet been finalized, but based on the feedback I received from the=20
Senator Self-evaluations, it is clear to me that Senators would like to=20
have more of an opportunity to (1) get to know one another, (2)=20
collaborate on policy & events, and (3) hold discussions in an=20
informal setting. The retreat, my office hours, and the mailing list=20
were designed to meet these objectives, but I would like to propose a=20
new idea--informal, time-limited (< 2 hour) Senate meetings once=20
every 2-3 weeks throughout the next term. At these "caucuses" we =
would=20
engage in small-group, action-oriented brainstorming meant to generate=20
ideas for projects and legislation that would be introduced at regular=20
meetings. This is very much a heads-up announcement, so please feel free
to communicate any specific ideas that you may have about these events.<br=
><b><br>UA Website </b>[<a href=3D"http://ua.mit.edu/senate/speaker/website=
" target=3D"_blank">http://ua.mit.edu/senate/speaker/website</a>]<br><br>Th=
roughout IAP I am going to be involved in work on a web application that wi=
ll allow us to keep track of attendance, e-mails to constituents, and the s=
tatus of constituency events/projects. Depending on the features that can b=
e implemented by the end of IAP, I can also foresee this application enabli=
ng the creation of bills and reports from the web without any knowledge of =
LaTeX. Further development (likely not feasible by the end of IAP) would be=
directed towards developing a blog that leveraged committee updates, bills=
and reports, links to articles from the Tech and outside reports to create=
an information stream on issues that could be used to better inform studen=
ts and members of the UA. I have posted more details at <a href=3D"http://u=
a.mit.edu/senate/speaker/website" target=3D"_blank">http://ua.mit.edu/senat=
e/speaker/website</a>.<br>
<br>Most of the development will be done in Ruby on Rails and it would be g=
reat to have contributors either on the development or the design/product t=
esting side. Again, if you're interested, please let me know.<br>
<br><br><br>I have a couple more announcements for specific groups-- I will=
communicate those individually.<br><br clear=3D"all">Thanks for your time,=
and enjoy the snow,<br>Jont=E9 Craighead<br><br>Speaker of the Senate<br>
MIT Undergraduate Association<br>Course 1C: Class of 2013<br>
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