Hey everyone so I was just curious from those on here what you wanted to see from your faculty societies?

What kind of events would you like to see run, what direction would you want your faculty society to take etc?

To be honest, I'm not really sure what faculty societies do outside of welcome week. I assume they prepare the faculty formal, but I didn't even know they ran other events.

Well, ultimately there are a bunch of things that societies can do, from running events, providing assistance for students in their faculties, orient them to clubs that are available within the faculty.A functioning society is one that not only attempts to provide resources for clubs and academics, but also engages you socially so that you feel at home in your faculty.

For example the Humanities and Soc Sci societies ran Laser Tag for students. Really they have the ability to run almost any event ie a Boat Cruise, Trip to Wonderland, Wine and Cheese night etc. Its up to the exec to choose events students care about.

So with ALL that said:

What do you want to see?

What kind of events would make you feel more at home in your faculty?

more events, maybe once every 2 weeks

Hmm cool i know that the Degroote Commerce Society recently had a conference their site is www.degrootecommerce. ca

But I know what you mean.

so how do you all feel about the events that have been run? Are they just not publicized enough, or is it that you don't find them interesting?

What kind of events would you like to see? Would you want there to be a more social or Academic focus?

I think that it would be helpful if faculty events started running events earlier in the year, specifically for first years. Once people start making their own friends and getting involved with other organizations they're less likely to come out. If you want to keep people interested, it should start as quickly after Welcome Week as possible. Academic events should also start before midterms start, as that's when first years are the most worried (or at least what I found in Science).

Life Science Society started running reviews for first year Chem before the midterms, I think if Science and Engineering societies started similar things for other subjects it would get more people interested. And I know the Art Sci and SOCS do editing for first years on essays, I'm sure if Humanities and Soc Sci did the same thing many people would find that helpful.

I think there needs to be more publicity. Not too many people know about faculty societies, and some people have the impression that because there isn't a lot of publicity, they must be very cliquey and exclusive. Maybe going around to different classes, especially first year classes, and making a small announcement at the beginning of the term about that faculty society and what it offers students would be helpful.

Originally Posted by mattgood9

more events, maybe once every 2 weeks

Erm...I'd say that's unrealistic, considering the amount of time that goes into planning and running events and how many people would actually show up each time.

There's no harm in having more events though; as long as they're of interest to students.

The only problem I have with faculty societies is that some faculties are way too large (like science!) so I get the impression that it's probably too overwhelming to join/participate in society events where you are unlikely to know anyone unless you bring your own friends and it's also kind of hard to meet people.

I didn't know they exist O.o

(more publicity is needed)

For better or for worse, the Society of Arts & Science Students (SASS) is very much entangled with the program itself, and both the social and academic lives of its constituents. There are many events, and they are largely well-attended...although I suspect that the small size of the program makes publicity substantially easier.

But for my own curiosity, are faculty societies in a different category from academic societies? What I mean is that does the Science Society have jurisdiction over the Life Sci Society or the Physics Society? Or do the latter two not count as faculty societies?

Originally Posted by zeChinaman

But for my own curiosity, are faculty societies in a different category from academic societies? What I mean is that does the Science Society have jurisdiction over the Life Sci Society or the Physics Society? Or do the latter two not count as faculty societies?

Well, both faculty and 'department' societies are academic societies. I'm fairly certain the Life Science Society, etc. operates independently of the Science Society, but they may collaborate for some events. I think that adds to decreasing the feasibility of having everyone attend everything because some departments have their own events going on and it's not always possible to attend events run by both.

So SASS is able to thrive because there are no departments within the faculty, and because of its small size. I presume something similar for Health Science and other smaller faculties. If you're an artsci, you're an artsci. But if you are a science student, you could be in bio, biochem, etc...the list goes on.

I'd be surprised if they were separate. The main faculty Societies get a ton of funding through their student levies. It would be beneficial for the faculty society, and program societies to work together.

I'm pretty sure the program societies get funding from the faculty societies at the very least, there might be some other cross overs. I know a few people on MI are exec on program societies, maybe they could enlighten us?

As someone who has been pretty involved in the Humanities Society, and having talked to the President basically Clubs come to the Society and propose what they need funding for at the beginning of the year.These program societies have the option to do many things, such as a formal etc. However, for The Humanities Society, they ultimately no longer remain accountable once they receive their money.

From what I have seen these program societies don't necessarily have to be in line with the Faculty Societies. Personally I think this is just another example of a lack of unity.

Do you think that Program and Faculty Societies ought to be aligned?

Would this make them more effective?

I know for a fact that Commerce, Engineering, Humanities and Social Science fund their program clubs (I've seen the budgets of Commerce, Soc Sci and Humanities, and MES lists it on their site). Health Sci, Art Sci, Nursing and Kin don't have program specific clubs.

So, it would follow logic that Science also funds their clubs.