October 2006 ISSUE
Mark Skovmose
STUDENT COLUMN
New Logo, New Website,
New Administrator
U of C Students Gear Up to Better Serve Expanding Schulich School of Engineering Enrolment
BY MARK SKOVMOSE
Student Columnist
(Engineering)
This month saw many changes, particularly with the Engineering Students’ Society. A visible change is our new logo, reminiscent of the old, mostly unknown minotaur, which students felt unconnected with.
The logo quickly caught hold of the students’ attention, however, with its simple curves and subtle engineering influence.
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CHARIOTS OF RAIN; MINOTAUR’S RETURN - Above, the ever-popular chariot races are a fun — and this year wet — part of Frosh Week at the Schulich School of Engineering; below, the minotaur returns to the forefront on the new ESS logo. |
The ESS website has been completely overhauled and slated to become a primary resource for every engineering student. It includes a free note and exam bank, and information for getting involved in clubs, internships and scholarships, for obtaining engineering merchandise, and finding out what’s going on by clicking onto our events calendar. Visit www.ess.ucalgary.ca to see for yourself.
Over the 30-plus years since the inception of the society, it has steadily grown with the school’s enrolment. The society serves over 2,800 students through a council of volunteers with full-time class schedules.
Occasionally in the society’s history, ideas have run rampant — without the means to make it through to completion. The society has therefore tended to resort to the same events, without much improvement.
We’ve found a solution. Over the last few years, the society has worked
at hiring an administrator. Many engineering schools across Canada have administrators
and say they couldn’t survive without theirs.
Our administrator, Shaila Khan, started her role of supporting the society at the beginning of September. And the last two weeks have been spectacular.
Everything happens quickly, the right questions are asked, and all students have one person they receive consistent information from. Having Shaila on our team affords our council the time to focus on improving our services, instead of merely working to maintain them.
The most important aspect of the administrator position is information transfer from one council to the next. Although the best effort is made at changeover, quite often the previous council goes off to work and is rarely seen again.
As Shaila gains knowledge throughout the years, the same mistakes will be avoided, and events and services will be improved upon each year. This will improve the student experience as a whole — and result in even better engineering graduates.
Frosh Week Fun
September marks the inauguration of frosh students at the University of Calgary,
and this year enrolment in the Schulich School of Engineering grew by 80 students.
The first week of classes hosted Frosh Week with huge success, despite a few days of rain. The old favourite chariot races were as messy as ever, and the new addition of Capture the Flag — featuring coloured dye in water guns — was wildly popular.
Cutline for Frosh u of c.jpg