Looking forward to see you all on ASC ‘12-’13 election night: 17th of April 19:30 in the auditorium!

Election Statements:

Chair

• Election Statement Pau Castellvi Canet
• Election Statement Willemijn Bresjer
• Election Statement Pieter Quaijtaal

Student Assessor

•  Election Statement Rens Bakker

Academic Affairs Officers

• Election Statement Simon van Oort
• Election Statement Isabel Braadbaart
• Elections Statement Hannah Visser

The College Council is happy to announce its annual elections that are taking place this month (for teachers and staff members!). The results will be announced in May.

The Council has been working on giving feedback, advice and support to the College Board in preparation for next year’s accreditation. The College Council has also been working to improve the efficacy of its operations by standardizing election procedures, and introducing a new secretary for the Council - Anneke Duin. We in ASC extend our welcome to her. The minutes of the Council´s recent meetings can be found here: College Council Minutes

Dear Candidates!

As the Elections approach for ASC 2012-2013, all of you who are contemplating their positions should prepare for their campaign. Here is a brief ASC Elections 101:

The first step is to write your Election Statement, and you should consider the following elements while writing it:

•  Explain, concisely and convincingly who you are, why you are running for the position, what relevant experience or personal characteristics you have you have, and what your intentions and plans for ASC are. In short, you should try to convince the reader of your intentions, even if it is the only thing they ever hear from you.
  
  
• Your Statement must be the length of one A4 side.
  
  
•  It would be useful if you include a picture, just for reference (this is usually done, but it is absolutely up to you).
  
  
• Take a close look at the sample Election Statements from last year (see below), so that you can adopt and adapt what you like, in terms of format, style, inspiration or content.
  
  
• The deadline for Election Statements if midnight 8^th of April. We will then print them and hang them up to be read at the entrance to Dining Hall, post them on the website, and email them to all the students. If you are late with your statement, you may technically still register your candidacy until 48 hours before the elections, but it will be your responsibility to post a statement, and you will lose time and standing.
  
  
• We encourage you to campaign for your election, but how you do this, and to what extent, is entirely up to you.
  
  
• ASC members will be available and happy to answer any questions by candidates at any time (within reason) in the run up to the elections. ASC members will be neutral and impartial at all times, and will impart the same information equally to all candidates who ask for it. It is up to you to approach us, if you wish.

The ASC Elections will take place on Tuesday, April 17^th, at 19:30 in the Auditorium! All candidates must be aware that.

•  On Elections night, all candidates will be expected to give an elections speech before the audience. The speech will be 4 minutes long (time keeping will be strict!), which will be followed by a randomly selected question from the relevant ASC member (Chair question for Chair candidates etc.), and 5 minutes of open questions from the audience.
  
  
• Your speech and its contents is entirely up to you, but should be your final word – it may contain an elaboration of your Election Statement, additional information, or a response to questions you have had since the Statement were published.
  
  
• ASC will hold an information session for candidates on Friday, April 13^th at 19:00 in the ASC Office. Here, candidates will be given vital information ahead of the elections, and the running order of speakers will be randomly allocated. All candidates must attend! 
  
  
• You will be able to practice your speech in the auditorium, and this too will be determined at the information session.
  
  
• Next week, a Voting Procedure will be sent out to all students, outlining how voting will take place.

We would like to wish all candidates the best of luck on their campaigns and elections!

Election Statements of ASC 2011-2012:

• Election Statement Liesbeth Dingemans
• Election Statement Merel de Coninck
• Election Statement Tanya van Goch
• Election Statement Seline Fröling
• Election Statement Omri Preiss

In September 2011, the very first Academic Student Council in the history of UCU started its term. We’ve been representing you for a year, hosting Focus Groups, organizing events, taking seat in the College Board and the College Council and therefore being your voice in College Hall, and now… it’s time that we step down and that you step in! ASC is looking for enthusiastic new members, with an interest in education and determination to make a difference. Do you want to continue this year’s fruitful relationship with College Hall? Do you want to keep working on improving the quality of our education? Do you want to make sure that UCU offers the best academic experience to all students? Then you are the one we are looking for!
We are looking for students that want to be elected into the following positions:

Chair

As the Chair of ASC, you carry the final responsibility for all of the tasks carried out by ASC. As the (vice) chair of the College Council, you set the agenda for all academic student interests, and advise the Management Team on a variety of issues, ranging from the budget to quality improvements in courses. You possess strong leadership and communication skills, and are capable of integrating the ideas and strengths of the team into a clear vision and direction. A good professional and personal relationship with the Dean, Director of Education, students, and your team is a condition for the Chair that can accomplish structural improvements across the college.

Student Assessor

As the Student Assessor, you are the student in the Management Team meetings, working closely together with the Dean, Managing Director and Director of Education, advising on a broad range of academic and strategic topics. You have a vote in the College Board, UCU’s highest decision making body. You engage in negotiations which require a consistent diplomatic approach as well as extensive argumentative skills. It is your responsibility to represent ASC’s views and the academic interests of the student body at large in your continuous interaction with the administration.

Academic Affairs Officer (3x)

As Academic Affairs Officer you are responsible for giving advising on, collecting information about and executing plans regarding academic quality issues and initiatives. The AAO’s are divided per department: you will be in charge of the communication with the Science, Social Science or Humanities department. This function requires intensive consultation with the students and the staff for their ideas on academics, as well as taking up initiatives by the students, by College Hall, by teachers, fellows, Heads of Department or ASC’s own initiatives. Furthermore, as a representative in the College Council it is important to be aware of all issues concerning academics and take a proactive approach in the co-decision making process. Finally, besides consulting students and advising the MT, it is important that you are approachable to students and are willing and able to help them with any questions/enquiries.

The elections for ASC ‘12-’13 will take place on Tuesday 17th of April at 19:30 in the auditorium.

The deadline for the election statements is Sunday 8th of April at midnight. Please send the election statements to asc@uu.nl

• Rector Magnificus visiting campus
• Master’s information           
• Track event

This semester, ASC will continue on with her normal businesses: co-decision making in the College Council and the College Board, focus groups on tracks, courses and academic issues and office hours during lunch. We also started an awareness campaign to directly inform the students about our task and to encourage you to come to us with any question, remark or concern concerning any academic issue relating campus. Please do not hesitate to drop by our office (down-stair dinning hall) during lunch office hours to discuss with us your courses, your tutor, your questions etc.

Hope to see you soon, in the bar, during one of our focus groups or in our office!

This year we will visit the following bars: De Rat, Morgenster, ‘t Oude Pothuys, Oudaen and Springhaver. In the bars you can find Rob van der Vaart, the dean; Bettine Nelemans, the managing director; Fried Keessen, director of education; Mark Baldwin, student life officer and Floris van der Burg, head of Humanities department. 

The Pub Crawl will take place next week Thursday December 1^st. We are leaving campus at 19.30. 

To sign up, send an e-mail to ch.pubcrawl@gmail.com

Be quick as there’s only a limited number of 60 places!

Once the sign up has closed you will receive a confirmation and further details

A New ‘ASC Answers’ information e-mail has been send out to all of you. This time, you can find three different pieces, respectively on:

• Economic Change Programme
• Renewed Thesis Information
• The USCRN

For any further information on our current project, do not hesitate to stop by during our office hours: every weekday from 17:30 till 19:00.

Through this newletter, we will keep you opdated about the projects we are working on, the developments in College Hall and any other issues related to UC’s academics.

Unfortunately, our html - layout did not work fully yet, but our new and sleek housestyle will be visible in our next ASC Answers!

In this first ASC Answers, you can read about the following topics:

• The College Council
  

• Student Tutoring System
  

• Getting to know Mark Baldwin, our new Student Life Officer! 
  

• ASC Asks: Inter-UC Exchange Questionnaire

We hope to see you all face-to-face with any kind of questions or remarks on UC academics!