UDK’s board is chosen yearly at an autumn general meeting, held near the end of the year, where anyone, who has paid their membership fee and been accepted as a member of the association before the meeting, can apply to be a board member. 10 to 12 people are chosen to the board every year, of which the chairperson is selected separately at the autumn general meeting and other roles are decided later between the rest of the board members. If more people have applied to be the chairperson or a board member than there’s places for them, a small election will be held at the autumn general meeting.
The term of the board starts on 1st of January and ends on 31st of December. Simply put, board activities consist of meetings, role-related tasks, evening schools and other various routines. For example, event organizers run the event activities, communications organizers handle announcements and educational affairs officials take care of student advocacy.
The board holds meetings every 2 to 3 weeks, excluding the summer season. Various topics, such as past event attendance, general news and the future are discussed during meetings. The most important function of meetings is to act as a platform for board members to voice their thoughts and opinions. Meetings are open for everyone and they’re usually held at one of the university’s many group work rooms. The meeting invites and transcripts are sent to the UDK mailing list.
All in all, the board takes care of, for example, the budgets for events and other activities, advocacy and operating the association in general. At board meetings, the board mainly decides on matters that require the commitment of the board, such as statements and budgets.
Hallitusvastaavat vastaavat mielellään kaikkiin mahdollisiin kysymyksiin hallitustoimintaan liittyen! Löydät yksittäisten hallitusvastaavien yhteystiedot ja pestit Yhdistys-välilehden alta. Lisäksi voit ottaa yhteyttä koko hallitukseen osoitteessa hallitus@udk.fi
ROLES AT THE BOARD
The roles of board members are decided at the first meeting of the year and the specifications are decided then as well. One person usually has two roles, but the amount of roles depends on the stress and needs of the specific role. You should have a look at the board roles before the autumn general meeting, since when applying to the board, the applicant’s interest in specific roles is taken into consideration. However, ignorance isn’t a sin and you can jump in totally blind! Below are some of the most common board roles, but the roles depend on the year.
Chairperson, chair
Chairperson’s main task is to take care of the subject association in general. The chairperson plans the meetings with the secretary and leads them. They also guide and aid the other board members, officers and the teams formed by them. Most important skill of the chairperson is delegation. Among those, the chairperson handles the most important affairs of the year, such as grant applications. The chair can be seen as the tutor of the board members and officers. If there’s any need for reasons to become the chair, at least think about how good it’ll look on a CV!
Vice chairperson, vice chair
The most important task of a vice chair is to support the chairperson and the entire team of board members and officers, and if needed, stand in for the chairperson. In the end, the role of a vice chair is pretty flexible and every vice chair makes their role their own. Do you want to focus more on developing a certain aspect of the subject association or developing unprecedented team spirit for the entire team of board members and officers? There’s as many different role descriptions for vice chairs as there are vice chairs themselves!
Secretary
The secretary plans meetings together with the chairperson and is responsible for sending out meeting invites and transcripts on time. During meetings, the secretary writes down everything that has been discussed and writes the transcript based on that. Archiving the transcripts is also a task of the secretary. The secretary also takes care of small routine matters of the other board members and officers, such as booking rooms. One could call the secretary the chairperson’s right hand!
Treasurer
The treasurer, simply put, takes care of UDK’s finances by handling transactions, bank accounts and accounting. They keep a keen eye on expenses and income and make sure that everything has a receipt. The treasurer also creates a wonderful financial statement at the end of a term. The treasurer is a good role for those who are precise and diligent and who are not afraid to sit through TREY’s trainings.
Educational affairs officials, educational advocates
The educational affairs officials a.k.a educational advocates are responsible for smooth university studies and the quality of them. If needed, they will cry out loud if the institute is going to make unfavorable decisions regarding students. Educational advocates are the knights for every single student, who fight for the students’ rights in different meetings and planning committees. In addition to general advocacy, the educational affairs officials maintain connections to teachers, handle the study groups for new students and gather feedback on university studies. Being an educational advocate, while being somewhat invisible to the commoners, is extremely important. UDK has separate education advocates for Information Studies, Media Studies and Game Studies.
Social affairs official, social advocates
When the educational advocates take care of university studies-related advocacy, the social affairs official a.k.a. social advocate tackles all the advocacy not related to university studies. The social advocate participates in TREY’s social advocate department and mailing list, and informs members of the topics discussed there on UDK’s mailing list and Telegram. Singular topics of interest for the social advocate include student housing, livelihood, health, study grants and mental wellbeing. Each social affairs official can shape the role to their own liking.
Sports organizer
The sports organizer keeps a keen eye on TREY’s sports mailing list, organizes sporting events and handles the weekly sports. Sports organizer’s most important task is, however, to spread the gospel of sports to UDK and maintain the association's sports culture.
Cultural organizer
The cultural organizer makes sure that members of UDK are aware of the culture-related events in Tampere, with, for example, weekly culture tips. The cultural organizer is a part of the events team and organizes, for example, trips to theaters, museums, exhibitions and concerts.
Events organizer
UDK’s events are handled by the events team, which is managed by a team of usually three events organizers. Events organizers are the most distinguishable board members. They participate in organizing events, especially their budgets, delegations and the diversity of events. A couple of times a month, the events organizers hold the meetings of the events team, which are open to all members. As an events organizer, you get to make all the events you want to!
Environmental official
Organics, recycling, ecology, sustainable development, world peace. UDK’s environmental official makes sure that UDK’s activities are environmentally sustainable. They also make sure events are ecological. If they so choose, the environmental official can also organize different recycling-related challenges.
International organizer
Internationality is a treasure to UDK and that is handled by the international organizer. Most important tasks for the international organizer is the tutoring of international students and their advocacy, along with running international events. Other international themes, such as exchange studies are the specialty of the international organizer.
Equality official
The board tasks for the equality official include, within their own level of activity and having the energy, communicating and developing equality within the subject association. If any member of UDK encounters harassment or unequal treatment at school, events or anywhere else, the equality official is the go-to person who intervenes in those situations and takes things forward if necessary. You can contact the equality official with any kind of worries, after all, they’re here to ensure everyone here feels safe!
Tutoring organizer
The tutoring organizers get the responsibility of recruiting new tutors and informing them about the tutoring training. At the start of the year, the focus is on actively planning the activities of the upcoming fall, while the fall itself is spent on welcoming the new students. Tutoring organizers form the tutoring team together with the international organizer. Tutoring organizers have to have everything tied together, because along with the new students, they, in a way, tutor the tutors.
Communications organizer
UDK’s communications are taken care of by the communications team, led by the communications organizers. Communications organizers handle UDK’s internal and external announcements, marketing and UDK’s brand. Communications organizers get to develop their activities in their preferred way along with routine communications.
Editor-in-chief of Asiasana
The editor-in-chief is in charge of the subject association magazine Asiasana. They take care of the publishing of content, scheduling, delegation and publications, getting to write articles themselves, too. The editor-in-chief makes sure that the articles in Asiasana stay epic and that Asiasana will find its way to every student in Tampere one way or another.
IT official
The IT official is the best pal of every UDK board member and officer. It is their responsibility to maintain and update UDK’s information technology, by maintaining the website and email addresses, for example. Depending on their own skills and interests, the IT official can develop one wondrous system after another, which will benefit the association for years to come.
Business official
UDK’s business relations, sponsors and work life culture are taken care of by the business official of the board. They vigorously work to get funding for overalls and the anniversary party, and organizes activities together with our business partners. Business official handles the so-called big bucks of UDK and takes care of, for example, the BOBCATSSS grants. Becoming a business official is recommended if you’re interested in making valuable contacts.
Co-operation official
Whereas the business official handles the companies, co-operations official handles the relations to other co-op partners. These can be, for example, the teachers of the university, other subject associations and guilds and other organizations and associations outside of the university.
Games organizer
The triad of cultural and sports organizers is completed by the games organizer, who has the responsibility of maintaining UDK’s gaming culture. The games organizer works closely with the events and international teams and organizes game-related events and visits to game companies, for example.
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