About Me
✨Hello UBC Science!✨
My name is Harjot Uppal (she/her), and I am a fourth-year Honours Integrated Sciences student currently campaigning to become your next President. I would like to respectfully and gratefully acknowledge that I have the privilege of bringing this campaign to you as an uninvited settler on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
The SUS President directly oversees the Executive Committee, Council, BIPOC Working Group, and Science Caucus. In addition, the President is responsible for ensuring the smooth operations of the Society by actively supporting all Vice-Presidents and their respective portfolios.
🗳 Voting opens: Monday, March 21st
🗳 Voting closes: Monday, March 28th
My current role as SUS Vice-President, External has allowed me to gain valuable knowledge about the structure and function of the Society. Leveraging this knowledge, I have curated a well-informed platform guided by a robust vision and execution plan. My North Star guiding principles are rooted in engaging a larger population of science students with SUS to welcome new perspectives and diversity.
My three areas of focus are centred around structural changes, inclusivity practices, and providing extensive collaboration and guidance to incoming Vice-Presidents.
Platform
1. Structural Changes
A. Transition the BIPOC Working Group into an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group
Reasoning: The Admin portfolio recently launched an LGBTQIA2S+ Extraordinary Working Group for the 2021-2022 school year, expressing the need for increased advocacy. The creation of this working group highlights the need for a larger cohesive unit that works collaboratively to address the needs of various minority groups.
Action: The needs of minority groups are not heterogeneous. Hence, the EDI Working Group will focus on catering events to unique communities through the use of subcommittees with different focal points.
Advocacy: While engaging community members through events remains crucial, the EDI working group will also focus on surveying students on their unique needs and relay their experiences to the faculty to develop action plans and solutions.
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B. Transfer the responsibilities of the Human Resources Commission from the Internal portfolio to the Presidential portfolio
Reasoning: The Presidential portfolio can better dedicate its time to adequately train HR Chairs and Commissioners through the help of various stakeholders to strengthen their problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.
Action: Internal will take on a Community Building Working Group in place of HR to continue developing a keen sense of belonging within the Society while relieving itself of problem-solving and conflict mediation duties.
2. Inclusivity Practices
A. Empower SUS Executives, Councillors, and Club Representatives to facilitate meaningful dialogue and promote advocacy
Background: The Executive Committee, Council, and Science Caucus all serve as platforms for students to share their valuable opinions and advocate on behalf of the student body. In group settings, strong student voices tend to guide and shape conversations. To allow all students an equal opportunity to speak, I want to leverage my moderating skills to encourage others to voice their concerns and provide their feedback.
Action: To foster an inclusive and welcoming space where students feel comfortable sharing their opinions, formal training and regular community-building exercises must be employed. Through formal training, students should be provided with demonstrations of healthy debates and discussions. Through frequent, short icebreaker activities at each of these meetings, SUS members can acquaint themselves with each other and begin to gain a sense of comfort.
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B. Strengthen marketing of SUS to engage more science students
Background: When I surveyed students this summer during hiring about ways to improve SUS as an organization, a frequent answer I received was to strengthen SUS’ outreach. Many students were unaware of the organization and its work prior to stumbling upon it by chance.
Action Plan: I hope to work collaboratively with the Vice-President, Communications, to discuss the idea of all SUS VPs gaining access to our social media pages to encourage frequent engagement beyond static promotional material. In addition, I would like to explore all avenues currently employed by SUS to market and identify gaps to propose solutions with the executive team.
3. Employing Strong Leadership Skills to Guide VPs and Support their Respective Portfolios
Rationale: It is crucial to guide VPs in creating structured timelines to visualize the year ahead using past transition reports and VPs as resources. During busier academic periods, VPs tend to feel overwhelmed by the number of events they are overseeing. Preparing for annual initiatives in advance will remain key in allowing smooth operations of the Society.
Action: To mitigate this stress, I want to assist VPs in planning ahead, creating feasible timelines, and conducting frequent check-ins to provide accountability.
Goals: Provide adequate training in collaboration with resources available through the Faculty of Science and/or community partners regarding:
Leadership and Team Building
Equitable Hiring Practices
Professional Etiquette