The Board of Directors (BoD) By-Election is now accepting VP Internal and Projects Chair nominations for the board of 2024–2025!
Are you a student enrolled in a Canadian post-secondary institution?
Are you passionate about space?
Do you want to make a difference for Canadian students nationwide?
Submit your nomination by November 17, 2024, 11:59PM ET.
Elections (voting) will begin soon after November 17.
Only SEDS-Canada Members are eligible to vote.
If you have not received a ballot, but believe you are eligible to vote, please contact directors@seds.ca. Please note that your membership may have expired (you can check the status of your membership here).
Want to become a SEDS-Canada Member? Check out the benefits we offer our Members here.
Service on the Board of Directors (BoD) is a unique opportunity to impact the future of space exploration and development. You will work with students from across Canada who share your passion for all things space! Every officer’s duties center around connecting members, staff, and alumni, working with industry to create professional opportunities, and spreading enthusiasm and knowledge about the journey into the final frontier. As an entirely student-run, volunteer organization, it is upon this leadership that SEDS continues to thrive and grow.
Duties of the VP Internal
*Directors of SEDS-Canada must be Canadian post-secondary students and must be able to attend weekly online meetings. In case of the absence or inability of an officer to act, or for any other reason that the Board may deem sufficient, the directors may, by ordinary resolution, delegate any or all of the powers of any officer to any other officer or to any director for the time being.
Vice President Internal (1 position)
The Vice President (VP) Internal serves as Secretary of the Corporation.
This includes the following responsibilities: writing and distributing an agenda in advance of all meetings of the Corporation, including all meetings of members, meetings of the board, committee meetings, and any other meetings designated by the board, unless another member who is presiding over the meeting opts to take on this task; taking written notes and/or audio and/or visual notes at all meetings of the Corporation and maintaining a record of those notes, or ensuring that another meeting attendee volunteers to carry out this task and is provided instructions on how to carry it out; recording those notes in easily-accessible electronic format for review by the board and others and for future use; maintaining an organized file of all current records within the Corporation; moderating the mailing lists and sending mailings to members as necessary; and understanding the by-laws and ensuring that they are followed in all dealings of the Corporation.
The VP Internal will support the Director-at-Large (Outreach) for maintaining Regional Representatives, Chapter and Affiliate Programs, including the following tasks:
- answering and supporting all requests by regionals and student members for information or help, and bringing these matters to the attention of the board;
- notifying Regional Representatives and student members of the Corporation of any dues owed;
- responding to requests to extend the deadline date for payment of member fees, notifying the board of unpaid dues in time to initiate the regional or member termination process;
- developing and executing a plan for engaging the members of the Corporation.
The VP Internal shall work with the VP External to ensure that membership initiatives are implemented for engaging current members. The VP Internal shall also directly preside over staff members whose duties relate to the website, social media, publicity, graphics, and/or alumni engagement.
Duties of the Projects Chair
Projects Chair (1 position)
The Projects Chair is responsible for overseeing the administration of and improving current SEDS-ÉEDS projects, for developing new projects, and for organizing events related to current projects.
The Projects Chair is responsible for overseeing the administration of and improving current SEDS-ÉEDS projects*1, for developing new projects, and for organizing events related to current projects. The Projects Chair should solicit funding for current projects (with the VP Finance and Sponsorship Coordinator), liaise with Project Managers to ensure all projects are running smoothly, attend meetings regarding all projects, and aid Project Managers as necessary throughout the course of the projects.
The Projects Chair should oversee the continual improvement of each ongoing project; this could include removing barriers to entry (application templates, Q&A sessions for applications, example applications), extending the reach of project advertising, and proper tracking of project metrics (including participant & applicant numbers, participant & applicant location, gender, background, etc.) to aid in future funding or other initiatives related to projects. The Projects Chair should also be capable of envisioning and elaborating on new potential projects, find partners for those projects, and hire staff members as necessary to further develop and run those projects.
Lastly, the Projects Chair is responsible for facilitating the planning and execution of all aspects of events related to projects (such as on-campus Q&A sessions and awards ceremonies), either directly or in conjunction with staff members, and includes but is not limited to the following: securing a location; soliciting necessary funding (working with the VP Finance and Sponsorship Coordinator); ensuring publicity via social media advertising and any other formats; inviting media and government officials to attend (working with the VP External, if necessary); and troubleshooting any problems that arise during the events. The Projects Chair directly oversees any staff members hired to assist with the above-mentioned projects.
*Current (ongoing/annual or biennial) Projects include the Canadian Stratospheric Balloon Experiment (CAN-SBX) Design Challenge, the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment (CAN-RGX) Design Challenge, and the Young Space Entrepreneurs (YSpacE) competition.
1 Note that projects usually last several months and aim to provide student teams with technical and project management skills. Any short-term events, such as weekend hackathons, conferences, seminars (i.e. events that last for one to few days) are classified as events and fall under the Events Chair portfolio (unless these events are a part of the above mentioned long-term projects).
Estimated time commitment: The typical time commitment is 8-10 hours a week.
*To be eligible for a Board of Director position, you must be a Canadian post-secondary student.
Disclaimer: If nominated and elected as a Board of Director member, you will not be eligible to participate in SEDS-Canada projects as a participant (but you will have an opportunity to help shape the future of the project)!
Associate Professor
