The Management Undergraduate Society (MUS) met on Tuesday in the Bronfman basement to review the accomplishments of the Society over the past academic year. The Executive and Board of Directors, with the exception of VP Communications Cory Skimming and Ombudsman Beren Anil, were in attendance.
Barrio opened the assembly by congratulating the Faculty on all its successes in the areas of competitiveness, communications, and alumni involvement. He mentioned the many developments MUS has made this year, which include a record number of sponsors, the resolution of a financial deficit, and the creation of a new recruitment process involving HR representatives.
He also commented on some of the issues MUS faced this year. One issue involved the channels of communication between the Executive and the Board of Directors. “There is not enough clarity of the BoD involvement process and the characteristics should be better defined,” stated Barrio. He suggests utilizing project management software, instead of email, to improve cohesion between the two groups.
VP External Frédérique Charest and Barrio highlighted McGill’s participation in two new case competitions, the JDCC and Wharton. JDCC was deemed a success with two out of four teams placing first. Meanwhile, the Executive is looking to increase McGill’s potential at the Wharton competition next year by sending a mixed team to Philadelphia. Barrio reflects, “the competitions were very good for expanding demographics and will allow more people to get involved.”
The Executives are also in the process of releasing a case manual to assist future students hoping to attend competitions. Barrio and Charest continued by discussing an improved alumni relations network. Not only was an alumni board created to work with the BoD, but there was also increased alumni involvement to help mentor and prepare students for case competitions.
The new engagement committee, represented by VP Engagement Sarah Burrows, made several strides in the last year to ensure that the management community was being fully represented. Burrows reported a high turnout rate in the Engagement Survey sent out to students earlier this month. The data will be used to strengthen next year’s committee.
Other successes include Management Frosh, which had the highest attendance ratio of all the faculties, and the philanthropic events that in total raised $50,000 for several charitable organizations.
The major issue for the executive committee this year was the deficit incurred by last year’s society. VP Finance Reinis Krams addressed the deficit stating, “I give huge praise to the entire MUS executive for controlling their budgets. We will be able to pay off the deficit in its entirety.” Krams stressed that in order to maintain financial stability, the Society must hire a professional bookkeeper, for finances are becoming too complex for one student to handle without making mistakes.
VP Internal Andrew Grasby and VP Academic Ali Sorusbay also addressed the assembly concerning the progress of their portfolios. Grasby reported a growing number of new club applications, which poses a problem because, as he stated, “there are similar organizations fighting over the same resources.”
In the past year, VP Academic Sorusbay attempted to extend course evaluations as other faculties have done, but he failed to do so because of, as he says, “professors’ statistical knowledge.” Sorusbay is also working with the administration to develop pilot study abroad programs in the US, China, and France.
After the presentations by the executives, the individual members of the BoD, representing different concentrations and interest groups, presented. Most actions taken by the BOD complemented the achievements of the executive committee, but dealt more closely with the issues of the students in each concentration.
MUS revealed that there was a lot to be proud of this year, but that there is also a lot of room to grow. As the annual meeting concluded, Management Senator Avi Rush remarked on the current situation stating, “It is good to be in Management.”
The MUS Meeting slides with the key points of each speaker will be posted on MUSonline.com and on the MUS Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/ourmus
