Here is the (growing) list of candidates for the MU election! The list of candidates will be finalized by Wednesday.
President
Sams Seraj
My platform is based on a single idea: community. It is an unfortunate state of affairs that currently the undergraduate body of math students is detached from one another and from professors.
To instill a sense of unity, I will ensure the organization of movie nights, pub nights and socials, along with the presence of prominent academics. These are standard functions of a union, but have rarely occurred in recent times.
Over the last three years, I have researched with professors, published papers, and lectured in a handful of cities. This experience will help me to coordinate student seminars. Although I have concentrated on studies in university, I was president of a math competition club and a puzzles club in high school.
With my ties to students in several departments, math professors and the office staff, we can implement a new vision of a visible, supportive union. Vote Sams.
Secretary
Michael Yu
Hello everyone, I am a second year student going into third year in Mathematics Specialist. I have been involved in Math Union in my first year as first year representative and this year as the person who put all of this on this website.
I could talk about my experiences as co-president of math club in high school. I could talk about my organizing and advertising events for the Math Union these past two year. But think what’s more important is that I tell you the following.
I will be living on residence next year and I frequent Bahen almost every day. I am online pretty much whenever I am sitting down in front of a table. If you want me to know or do something you can be certain I’ll know it in a few hours of awaking time.
I look forward to making things happen next year.
Treasurer
Jonathan Love
I am a math specialist going into my fourth year. I have previously been heavily involved in the math union, as president in my second year and year representative in my third year.
I will be running for Treasurer, and basing my campaign on one thing only: availability. Having seen the math union in action for two years now, there unfortunately has been a consistent problem of people with some level of financial responsibility simply disappearing. For a union to function properly, it is absolutely vital to have financial stability. I promise to ensure that financial duties, including crafting a budget based around the ideas of the rest of the executive team, ensuring that other exec team members receive the finances they need to run their events, and reimbursing their expenses, all happen in as timely a manner as I can. There’s nothing flashy about being a Treasurer – the true test is whether people can depend on you to do your job, so they can do theirs.
Academic Officer
Rachel Lo
I am Rachel Lo. I am a Math major student entering my fourth year in coming September 2014 and I am interested in running for the position of the Academics Officer. I have been the vice president of marketing for the UoftT Yoga and Fitness club, which is a club with more than 700 members, for the past 2 years. I organize events, approach different organization outside campus seeking for collaborations, and make sure members stay informed through social media platforms. So, I have been always wanted to get involved in my area of studies, hoping to build a stronger cohesion to the undergraduates community and finding new ways to provide academical assistances to the ones that need to be carried. As UofT is such a tough university, undergraduates need the help of each other to survive and make their ways to the completion of their degree. If I were given a chance to be part of the union, I will more likely to put the development of the help-center on the top of the agenda. Vote for Rachel!
Communications Officer
Ryan Downes
My name is Ryan Downes, I currently a second year student in a Math Specialist program at the University of Toronto. I am interested in running for Communications Officer for the math student union in 2014 – 2015. I am a very organized person, that is fast to respond to my email, Facebook messages, and other social media. This message will have been submitted after 3 hours of Donna Birch releasing the email about the election for the position.
I feel confident that I would be able to manage the Facebook group effectively, and would be able to make a meaningful contribution to the upkeep of the unions website. I would also feel confident that we could expand are reach to include Twitter and Google+ as ways to reach are audience.
I work for a special events company on specific weekends of the year. One of my main rolls in the company is to organize volunteers, at times I would be organizing 50 or more untrained volunteers to do things such as, operate rides, and guard exit doors. I would also organize that every person would have lunch breaks, which with so many people spaced over a huge hall is no easy task. With this as experience managing the PR-committee should be no problem for me.
Event Coordinator
Adam Artymowicz
I am a motivated 1st year student intending to pursue a pure math POSt, and I would like to strengthen the presence of the Math Union in the mathematics department. One way to do this would be by coordinating fundraising events during the academic year, which would increase public awareness of the union, as well as increase the resources available for future events.
4th Year Representative
Ian Greig
3rd Year Representative
Eric Zhao
My name is Tianchen Zhao (or just Eric); I’m a second year mathematics specialist student (going third year soon) and I’m interested in running the “year representative” position in the Mathematics Union! I will be finishing MAT257/MAT347 this semester, but for the next regular school year I will take MAT315.
2nd Year Representative (Applied Mathematics Specialist POSt representative)
Kunyi Zhong
I am a first year student who wants to do a specialist in Applied Mathematics. I want to be a representative of second year students next year, including all students taking MAT247 and MAT257/237.
I have participated in mathematics activities from summer Putnam study session to the recent Public Probability Lecture.
2nd Year Representative (Mathematics Specialist POSt representative)
David Pechersky
Stay tuned for more!
See the election information page for the election process.