Position Purpose

The AMS Sustainability Coordinator is the point person for the implementation and monitoring of the AMS Lighter Footprint Strategy, which is a policy document that provides the framework for the AMS to reduce our environmental impact.  The position will involve overseeing project implementation and monitoring progress.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Work with the Impacts committee to establish annual goals and priorities
• Work with the Impacts committee and the VP Finance to create action plans for all annual projects and goals
• Implement the annual projects and goals set out by the Impacts committee
• Set up and oversee student research projects (working with SEEDS, interested staff, faculty and graduate students)
• Hire and manage interns or volunteers to help implement projects
• Build partnerships and work with student groups, clubs and resource groups
• Work with the Communications Department to communicate sustainability initiatives and progress reports to the membership
• Sit on the following committees: Impacts Committee, Business Operations Committee, Renovations Planning Group, Communications Planning Group
• Work with the VP Finance and senior managers to help implement sustainability initiatives in the AMS businesses
• Work with the ECSS to implement sustainability initiatives into the AMS Services
• Liaise with the UBC Sustainability Office and other campus organizations and UBC departments
• Work with the Sierra Youth Coalition and other student unions across Canada that are working on sustainability initiatives
• Work with the VP Finance to complete the annual report
• Update web resources on an on going basis
• Implement the promotional strategy for the AMS Sustainability Fund
• Oversee the first year of the AMS Sustainability Fund operation

Qualifications and Experience

• Must be registered UBC student for the duration of the term
• Knowledge of environmental sustainability issues and campus environmental programs
• Experience in policy implementation an asset
• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience managing staff or coordinating volunteers
• Strong initiative and able to work with minimal supervision
• Able to work individually and collaboratively
• Creative and flexible
• Facilitation skills an asset
• Understanding of the AMS organization and operations an asset

Deadline for applications: Monday May 21, 2012

Please submit a resumé and cover letter by e-mail, with the position title in the subject line, to applications@ams.ubc.ca

We thank all applicants for their interest in the AMS. Due to the large volume of resumes we receive, we are only able to contact those we are interested in interviewing and cannot accept phone calls.

This position offers a unique opportunity to use your knowledge of student life to work with the AMS Events Department in organizing and implementing a week-long festival in September dedicated to welcoming new and returning students to campus life.

Reports to:                             AMS Firstweek Assistant Coordinator
Supervises:                           AMS Firstweek Associates
Employee Status:                Term, Appointed
Length of Term:                    May 23, 2012 to September 21, 2012
Hours per week:                   15
Compensation:                    $10.50 (wage increase currently under review)

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist First Week Coordinator in all duties including but not limited to:
• Recruit, train and supervise Firstweek staff hired to work during the first week of September
• Create and schedule Firstweek programs and events in consultation with the AMS Events Department, Executive, Food and Beverage Department and Bookings Department
• Manage or delegate management for all events during Firstweek
• Secure all necessary venues, equipment, power, artists, and special staff for Firstweek, working with the AMS Events Department
• Promote and market the Firstweek events
• Liaise with campus and AMS organizations (Imagine UBC, Housing and Conferences, Student Involvement and others) to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated student orientation and welcome experience
• Live the values and mission of the AMS daily
• Other duties as required

Qualifications and Experience

• Must be a currently registered UBC Student
• Knowledgeable and familiar with student life at UBC
• Strong leadership skills and the ability to manage a large staff
• Ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively on shared projects
• Creative promotional and marketing ideas
• Experience in event management and programming experience an asset

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Friday May 18, 2012

Please submit a resumé and cover letter by e-mail, with the position title in the subject line, to applications@ams.ubc.ca.

We thank all applicants for their interest in this position. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.

If your summer wardrobe is under control, feel free to drop by the SASC any time May-August—we’re open 9-5, Monday to Friday. We’ll be here and able to offer our regular services which include:

• Crisis or on-going support work
• Accompaniments to the police, court, and hospital
• Advocacy
• Workshops

The SASC welcomes people of all genders, and we are also able to support those who are supporting survivors themselves. Come check out our resource library as well, we just got a bunch of new pamphlets and information in a variety of languages!

If you’re hoping to get involved with SASC in the upcoming school year, definitely apply to be a SASC volunteer. Check out our involvement page for more information!

The Catering Associate supports all areas of the catering department with the main focus on offsite catering deliveries and pick up.

Reports to:                     Catering Manager
Employee status:          Hourly
Supervises:                    n/a
Liaises with:                  Catering Sous Chef, all AMS departments as needed, clients
Hours per week:            Up to 35
Compensation:              $ 12/hr

Duties and Responsibilities

• Reviews and verifies catering contracts to actual prepared items and item quality
• Prepares, loads and safely stores Food & Beverage items, equipment and supplies in the AMS catering van
• Delivers, sets up and tears down event as per catering contract
• Liaises with customer to ensure professional and courteous service and order verification
• Ensures Food Safety protocol is adhered to at all times
• Reports feedback to Catering management following the event
• Plans and prepares next day events
• Ensures cleanliness of the preparation areas
• Other duties as assigned
• Working with the AMS mission statement and values to operate a successful department

Qualifications and Experience

• Valid BC Driver’s license and clean driver’s abstract is a must
• Excellent customer service skills
• Ability to do shift work (flexibility to work days, evenings, weekends and holidays)
• Ability to lift up to 12 kgs (26.4lbs)
• Food Safe Level 1 preferred
• Language: Required to speak, read and write English, with fluency in other languages being an asset
• Cell phone would be an asset (subsidy available)
• Thorough understanding of the UBC Campus layout is beneficial

Deadline for applications: Monday May 14, 2012

Please submit a resumé and cover letter by e-mail, with the position title in the subject line, to applications@ams.ubc.ca

We thank all applicants for their interest in the AMS. Due to the large volume of resumes we receive, we are only able to contact those we are interested in interviewing and cannot accept phone calls.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver, BC – The Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) at the Alma Mater Society (AMS) of the University of British Columbia has lit candles and is offering a place of reflection to honour the life and work of Raymond Taavel.   Taavel, who was killed near a Halifax downtown bar early Tuesday morning, was a prominent activist in the city’s gay community.

“Honouring Raymond’s life and work are a vital part of the healing process” said Anisa Mottahed, the newly appointed Support Services Manager at SASC.   “Although this happened all the way across Canada in Halifax, his death and its effects are deeply felt in our community as well.  In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

SASC is honouring Raymond’s memory through the lighting of candles in their support centre at 119A in the Student Union Building.  SASC welcomes any tokens others may feel they need to offer or just as a  place to quietly sit and reflect.

As always, SASC is available for ongoing peer support – “a place dedicated to supporting all UBC students, staff, and visitors of all genders,” says Mottahed.

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ABOUT THE SEXUAL ASSAULT SUPPORT CENTRE AND THE AMS

The Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) at the Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver (AMS) provides peer support and advocacy to UBC students. SASC is committed to the ‘education, support, and empowerment of students, staff, faculty, and visitors of all genders who are survivors of sexualized violence, and their friends, family, and partners’.

As Canada’s largest student society, The Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver (AMS) represents nearly 50,000 UBC students as well as students at affiliated colleges.

The mission of the AMS is “to improve the quality of the educational, social, and personal lives of the students of UBC.”

The AMS operates student services, student-owned businesses, resource groups, and clubs.

For Immediate Release

VANCOUVER – The AMS Student Society of UBC Vancouver believes that the amended Bill 18 still undermines democratic principles and will create grave governance problems for our post-secondary educational institutions.  Although the new version of the AdvancedEducation Statutes Amendment Act, 2011 is somewhat better than the original, it still subverts responsible board governance and creates a two-tiered system.

A unanimous motion passed in March by UBC’s student council (AMS) called on the BC government to modify or remove the portions of Bill 18 that reduced the status of elected members of UBC’s Board of Governors by subjecting them to rules of removal, exclusion, improper conduct and conflicts of interest that did not apply to other members. Following this vote, the AMS privately consulted members of Cabinet and of BC’s Legislature to communicate their serious reservations regarding the new Act.

Although the government did amend the final version of the Act so that the new removal rule applied to both elected and government-appointed members of the board, the AMS was disappointed to find that the remaining problematic sections were unchanged. In particular, we note that the new exclusion rule still only applies to elected staff and faculty members. The creation of two classes of directors has been strengthened by a surprise amendment stating that the members of a board can only elect a chair from among government appointees.

The resulting new law remains deeply flawed and does not support democratic principles or best practices in governance. Statements made recently in the media by various organizations confirm that important tensions are likely to erupt on college and university boards throughout the province, thereby gravely undermining their ability to govern effectively. Such a state of affairs does not benefit anyone.

Despite these setbacks, the AMS remains committed to working with all relevant stakeholders – including the BC government – to mitigate or eliminate the negative aspects of the new Act.

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26 MARCH 2012

Vancouver  – Last week, the AMS Student Society of UBC Vancouver unanimously passed a motion calling on the BC government to make changes to Bill 18, the Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2011.  As it stands, the AMS feels this bill will present serious governance issues for all of the province’s post-secondary institutions, including UBC.

The new governance provisions contained in this Act are highly problematical for three main reasons:

• In order to be effective, all board members must avoid improper conduct or conflicts of interest, no matter how they are nominated.  If these issues are considered important, they should not apply only to elected students, staff and faculty members, but also to appointed members of the board.
• If draconian removal or exclusion rules are truly necessary, they should be imposed equally on all members of the board.  Creating two classes of directors will greatly reduce the effectiveness of the elected staff, faculty and students, since they may avoid making legitimate but critical comments for fear of being removed by other members of the board.  Furthermore, applying exclusion clauses only to elected faculty or staff may allow appointed members to remain on the board even though they violate certain conflict ofinterest clauses.  In both cases, the new rules do nothing to ensure that all board members “act in the best interests of the institution.”
• The threshold for removing a director is much too low. BC’s Society Act, to use but one relevant example, states that a director may only be removed from office by a special resolution approved by 75% of a society’s entire membership (not only its directors).  In other words, the board of a legally constituted society cannot remove one of its members.

To correct these issues, the AMS Council has asked the BC government to:

• Withdraw the sections of “The Act” allowing UBC’s board of governors (and those of other post-secondary institutions) to remove student, staff or faculty board members;
• Withdraw the sections of “The Act” excluding certain members of UBC’s staff and faculty;
• Amend “The Act” so that the same improper conduct or conflict of interest rules apply to all members of the board.

Double standards do not make for an effective governance model.

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ABOUT THE AMS

As Canada’s largest student society, The Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver (AMS) represents nearly 50,000 UBC students as well as students at affiliated colleges.

The mission of the AMS is “to improve the quality of the educational, social, and personal lives of the students of UBC.”

The AMS operates student services, student-owned businesses, resource groups, and clubs.

In addition to offering services to students, the AMS is an advocate of students’ issues and ensures that the needs of students are presented to the University administration, and the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

Media

Slated to open August 2014, our new home is aiming for LEED Platinum+ certification — the first Student Society building of its kind to hold this status.  As you can appreciate, we are extremely proud of this state-of-the-art green building and want to set a bright example of sustainability for other institutions.

We certainly hope you will be able to join us as we break ground on Wednesday, February 29th at 12 noon.  After a short ceremony with Presidents Toope (UBC) and McElroy (AMS), we will have a reception inside the SUB where we will display models and illustrations of our future home.

We look forward to celebrating with you.