EngSoc Commissioners Restructuring

If at first you succeed, try, try again!

Commissioners were awesome. Trying out these new positions meant that we, as executives, were able to pursue more projects, at a faster rate, and still provide guidance and support for our directors. Sure, there were ups and downs. The Executive Structure Review Committee Report (ESRC Report), available under “Documents” at engsoc.uwaterloo.ca, outlines that there was a lack of clarity surrounding what the specific responsibilities of commissioners were supposed to be and who they were supposed to report to when initiatives crossed portfolios. Overall however, the benefits of commissioners far outweighed the difficulties, and most of the set-backs were a result of very broad job descriptions, and if those were to be clarified would provide an even greater benefit to the student body through their work.

So that’s exactly what we are doing. The executives have decided to keep the following Commissioner roles to conduct a secondary trial run in the Spring 2011 term.

• Student Life Commissioner
• Student Services Commissioner
• Communications Commissioner
• WEC Commissioner
• Speaker

What’s the motivation for this decision?

Combined with the recommendations from the ESRC Report, Commissioners are those volunteers in EngSoc who differ from Directors in that they have an ongoing task that is conducive to the smooth functioning of the Engineering Society. These roles differ from executives in that the tasks are those that have inconsistently been compromised in the past because the executive portfolios were too extensive. The presence of commissioners essentially means:

• Better and more prevalent guidance for directors
• Clear and concise procedures to follow for advertising, bookings, and general logistics surrounding events and services
• Consistent and broad audience advertising of services, events, and external opportunities
• An ever expanding and increasingly well run Waterloo Engineering Competition
• Well run and productive EngSoc meetings

Where do you come in?

We need commissioners. Plain and simple. If you think you have the skills to contribute to any of the overarching goals listed above, then try it out. Commissioner descriptions are available on the EngSoc website at engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/commissioners. Details about commissioner responsibilities and reporting are listed, as well as the link to apply. Be sure to apply by **** and you will be contacted for an interview.

Moving Forward

After the Spring 2011 Term, the B-Soc and A-Soc executives will have to discuss moving forward with commissioners, and perhaps exchanging of specific tasks within executive portfolios. Though all the trial runs don’t currently conflict with Policy or Constitution of the Engineering Society, if their benefit is seen to be a scalable and promising in the future, then both societies will need to agree on permanent implementation. The details of this cannot be confirmed as of yet, but they will likely include Policy Manual changes, and the creation of resource documentation for those coming into an executive, director, and potentially commissioner role in the future.