Getting involved at UW Engineering doesn’t only mean joining design teams. If you are the type of person who wants to be involved with the behind-the-scenes aspect of your education, or if you want to have a bigger involvement within your class and faculty, then maybe becoming a class representative is for you. At Waterloo, each class and year (i.e. Chemical 2012, Electrical 2014, etc.) has their own class reps. There are three main types of class reps: EngSoc Reps, Academic Reps, and WEEF Reps.
Engineering Society Representatives: also known as the EngSoc Reps, these are the students who represent you at Engineering Society Council Meetings and are the link between the Engineering Society and their classes. Some of the representation will involve constitution changes and what stance the Society will take on certain issues. After meetings, EngSoc reps are tasked with making announcements to their class about what they learned, such as what the Society is up to and the dates of big events like the Engineering Semi-formal, TalEng (Talent Show), etc.
Academic Representatives: As an Academic Rep, you are the mediator between your class, your department, and the VP-Education. The Academic Rep is the main person who addresses problems in the classroom and passes along changes to your program to your class and collects feedback. When a professor has an issue, the first person they will talk to is the academic rep.
WEEF Representatives: WEEF is the student run endowment fund that gives $65,000-$85,000 per term to departments and student teams. Each class will have one representative attend meetings of funding proposals and vote in the committee that decides how the money should be spent.
In the first few weeks of school, someone will come to your class to ask if anyone wants to be a class rep. If the idea of being the frontline person for your class interests you, consider running in the election. If the above information interests you, talk to some of your Bigs and Huges, as many of them are EngSoc, Academic, or WEEF Reps, and can give you more information on what the roles entail.
Leave a Reply