The eighth NAITSA senate meeting was held on March 6, and started with a presentation by Solomon Lacoursiere and Vice President Academic Marina Bruno–students-at-large sitting on the NAIT Board of Governors. They both shared the experiences from participating on the Board of Governors. Overall, their experiences have been positive, and brought them professional and personal growth. Lacoursiere told the board that even though he serves as a student representative in the board, he mostly worked in the best interests of NAIT. “This means that there is a chance you [student representative] might have to approve a fee or something that is not in the best interest of students, but works for NAIT as a business,” explained Lacoursiere. Applications for NAIT’s Board of Governors student-at-large election for 2024-2025 will open March 13-22, 2024.
After the presentation, NAITSA President Tyleen Saison briefly discussed the loose goals of Vice President Academic and Vice President External Jenna Luczak for their second term in the same positions. Bruno spoke about strategy, and Luczak discussed the future of satellite campuses, as President Saison reported that funding seems to be coming from the incoming provincial budget. Thereafter, Senator Libunao inquired about the ongoing conversations regarding the Mandatory Non-Instructional Fee (MNIF) procedure mentioned in last month’s meeting. The President is looking to have a detailed conversation with the Executive Council about the topic, but President Saison has seen a positive uptake of the MNIF presentation.
Then, the Vice President Academic provided details about the “formal adjudication procedure.” This procedure will be available to students and will provide clear steps on how to communicate a complaint with NAIT human resources about instructors. Bruno was also asked to talk about the open educational resources (OER) creation, and what it means for NAIT, yet is still undergoing research into the possible benefits for students. There was a question about the exact number of users of Nimbus tutoring; Bruno did not have an exact number of students participating in nimbus, but next meeting an exact number might be provided.
Luczak also reported on a possible survey coming out that aims to understand the student perspective on Edmonton transit and safety. She is looking forward to getting the survey going.
VP Internal Travis Luscombe reported on a visit to the Sanvic centre, the set of buildings adjacent to NAIT Protective Services, to learn about state-of-the-art equipment available for machinist students at NAIT. He also reported briefly about the ongoing project to solidify the tech MNIF committee.
Closingthe meeting, Senator Libunao inquired about the lack of office equipment availability in working spaces at NAIT, President Saison was appreciative of the feedback and indicated that indeed it is a goal that is in mind during her work.
