Important Information, Dates & Deadlines
Elections Fall 2021
The Master of Museum Studies Student Association (MUSSA) holds elections twice a year, in the first month of the fall term and last month of the spring term. Second-year council positions are elected in the spring term to fulfill MUSSA's duties over the summer, and the remaining council positions (first-year positions as well as any unfilled positions) are elected in the fall term. Reference Article VI of MUSSA's constitution for more information on elections.
All registered MMSt and CDP students are eligible to run and vote in MUSSA elections.
• Annual General Meeting (AGM) - 6:00pm - 7:00pm EST, Friday, September 17, 2021.
- At our AGM we discussed upcoming events, shared news, and approved MUSSA's budget and constitution! We also went into a more detailed explanation of the available MUSSA positions and the election process.
- Please attend this meeting if you are interested in running for any available positions in the Fall elections. We will discuss the election process and positions in more detail. Attending this meeting does not obligate you to nominate yourself, so you are free to attend the meeting even if you're just interested in learning more. You can attend the Zoom meeting here!
- Please fill out this poll if you would like to nominate yourself!
• Voting Period - Thursday, September 23 - Wednesday, September 29, 2021.
- Voting will take place on a formal University of Toronto voting platform in which you will need your UTORid to vote.
WHY RUN FOR MUSSA?
Participating in student council is a great way to get involved in life at the iSchool and in the Museum Studies program, and to make sure your voice is heard. You can develop new skills in event planning, budgeting, advocacy, committee work, liaising with the faculty, collaboration, and more! It is also an excellent opportunity to make connections with your peers, faculty members, future leaders in the industry, and current industry professionals.
GUIDELINES
NOMINATE
Please take a look below at the positions available for election. You may only nominate yourself for one executive position and/or one committee position.
**Nominees should have attended the All-Candidates Meeting on Monday, September 20. If you were unable to attend, please ask for a copy of the recording by emailing mussa.ischool@gmail.com in order to find out everything you need to know prior to submitting your nomination.
When you are ready, you can nominate yourself using the nomination form here. You will need to provide a short blurb sharing a little bit about yourself and your interest in the position, along with a photo of yourself. Both will be shared for everyone in the program to make their voting decisions.
VOTE
Once nominations have closed and candidates are announced, candidates' nomination statements and photos will be available here. Please review the candidates' statements prior to voting.
Once you have reviewed the candidate statements, you may complete your vote at voting.utoronto.ca. For each open position, electorates have the option to vote for a candidate or decline their vote.
*Note that the voting.utoronto.ca site has been known to have issues on certain web browsers and devices. Please try another browser or device if you are receiving any error messages. If you require alternative accommodations for voting, please email the CRO (Vice President) at mussa.ischool@gmail.com.
Whether you are voting or running in the election, we thank all students for your interest and for having your voice heard!
Participating in student council is a great way to get involved in life at the iSchool and in the Museum Studies program, and to make sure your voice is heard. You can develop new skills in event planning, budgeting, advocacy, committee work, liaising with the faculty, collaboration, and more! It is also an excellent opportunity to make connections with your peers, faculty members, future leaders in the industry, and current industry professionals.
GUIDELINES
- Registered MMSt and CDP students may nominate themselves for any available position on MUSSA.
- Students may nominate themselves for one executive position and/or one committee position.
- Interested candidates are expected to familiarize themselves with the responsibilities of their desired position, as outlined in the MUSSA Constitution and below. Reach out to any council member or contact mussa.ischool@gmail.com if you would like more information on any of the positions.
- Interested candidates must submit a short nomination statement and a photo of themselves to be posted to eligible voters during the voting period.
- If you wish to withdraw your submitted nomination, you may do so prior to the start of the voting period by emailing the CRO (Vice President) at mussa.ischool@gmail.com.
- Any unfilled positions will be appointed and subsequently voted in by MUSSA following the election period without having to hold an election. These appointments will be made based on student interest.
- Candidates are welcome to campaign for themselves, during the campaigning period listed above, while nominations are open. Campaigning is not permitted during the voting period. The following rules for campaigning apply:
- You can only campaign for yourself, and can not enlist others to campaign on your behalf.
- Be kind - there is zero tolerance for speaking negatively about any of the other candidates.
- Only campaign during the permitted period.
- You are welcome to use any forms of social media to campaign. If you wish to use your classes and the Virtual Inforum as spaces to campaign, you must receive the appropriate permissions from instructors and staff. If you are putting up physical posters, you must follow the iSchool's poster policy, and remove all your posters once elections are over.
NOMINATE
Please take a look below at the positions available for election. You may only nominate yourself for one executive position and/or one committee position.
**Nominees should have attended the All-Candidates Meeting on Monday, September 20. If you were unable to attend, please ask for a copy of the recording by emailing mussa.ischool@gmail.com in order to find out everything you need to know prior to submitting your nomination.
When you are ready, you can nominate yourself using the nomination form here. You will need to provide a short blurb sharing a little bit about yourself and your interest in the position, along with a photo of yourself. Both will be shared for everyone in the program to make their voting decisions.
VOTE
Once nominations have closed and candidates are announced, candidates' nomination statements and photos will be available here. Please review the candidates' statements prior to voting.
Once you have reviewed the candidate statements, you may complete your vote at voting.utoronto.ca. For each open position, electorates have the option to vote for a candidate or decline their vote.
*Note that the voting.utoronto.ca site has been known to have issues on certain web browsers and devices. Please try another browser or device if you are receiving any error messages. If you require alternative accommodations for voting, please email the CRO (Vice President) at mussa.ischool@gmail.com.
Whether you are voting or running in the election, we thank all students for your interest and for having your voice heard!
Positions Available
These are the available MUSSA positions for our Fall 2021 Elections! Executive positions are in blue and Committee positions are in purple!
Position descriptions can be found below.
Available to 1st year MMST and 1st/2nd year CDP students only:
Available to 2nd year MMST and 2nd/3rd year CDP students only:
Available to any MMST or CDP student:
Position Descriptions:
Social Chair (2nd year MMST or 2nd/3rd year CDP student)
Secretary (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Treasurer (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
First-Year Representative (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Social Assistant (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Social Media Assistant (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Musings Communication Officer (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Second-Year Tech Fund Representative (2nd year MMST or 2nd/3rd year CDP student)
First-Year Tech Fund Representative (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
Alumni Association Representative (any MMST or CDP student)
*Note that the full list of responsibilities for each position is subject to change until approved by vote on the constitution at the AGM.
Position descriptions can be found below.
Available to 1st year MMST and 1st/2nd year CDP students only:
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Social Assistant
- Social Media Assistant
- First-Year Representative
- First-Year Tech Fund Representative
- Musings Communication Officer
Available to 2nd year MMST and 2nd/3rd year CDP students only:
- Social Chair
- Second-Year Tech Fund Representative
Available to any MMST or CDP student:
- Alumni Association Representative
Position Descriptions:
Social Chair (2nd year MMST or 2nd/3rd year CDP student)
- Plans, coordinates, and executes social and professional development events and trips;
- Helps to promote MUSSA events along with the Social Media Manager, and serves as a contact point for those events;
- Oversees the work of the Social Assistant;
- Sits on MUSSA’s social committee
Secretary (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Sets the Agenda for MUSSA meetings
- Takes minutes at MUSSA meetings & ensures the distribution and online posting of the meeting minutes (to council and on the MUSSA website)
- Retrieves MUSSA mail
- May be the GSU representative should the Vice President be unavailable
- Help the Vice-President with the grant writing process
- May help with social media administration
Treasurer (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Manages the finances of MUSSA
- Serves as a signing authority of MUSSA
- Presents a financial report at each MUSSA meeting
- May be the GSU representative should the Vice-President be unavailable
- Submits an end-of-year financial report to the outgoing/incoming councils
- Works with Second Year Representative regarding merchandise finances
- Helps all MUSSA members with their project budgets
First-Year Representative (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Represents first-year students best interests and communicates their concerns to MUSSA
- Makes announcements and reminders to first-year classes (i.e. class presentations) and online (i.e. Facebook groups)
- Sit on the MUSSA Social Committee
Social Assistant (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Assists the Social Chair in the planning, coordination and execution of events
- Leads development and coordination of social events targeted at fundraising
- Helps promote MUSSA events through digital (social media) and physical marketing tools and serves as a secondary contact point for those events
- Documents all MUSSA events via photographs and video clips, live tweets, etc.
- Sit on the MUSSA Social Committee and on the iSchool Conference committee
Social Media Assistant (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Assists the Social Media Manager in promoting MUSSA events through digital and physical marketing
- Attends MUSSA events and shares event photos and videos on MUSSA social platforms and website
- Sits on the MUSSA Social Committee
Musings Communication Officer (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Responsible for the administrative requirements of Musings between its committee, MUSSA, and the wider community (musingsmmst.blogspot.com/)
- Takes minutes at Musings committee meetings
- Assists Musings Editor-in-Chief (or co-Editors) with the organization of Musings social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), meetings, event planning, outreach, and specials projects.
- May represent the Musings Co-Editors-in-Chief at MUSSA council meetings when the former is unavailable
Second-Year Tech Fund Representative (2nd year MMST or 2nd/3rd year CDP student)
- Sits on Tech Fund Committee meetings & reports on the committee’s actions to MUSSA
- Represents and serves the interest of the MMSt students on how Tech Fund money is utilized
First-Year Tech Fund Representative (1st year MMST or 1st/2nd year CDP student)
- Sits on Tech Fund Committee meetings & reports on the committee’s actions to MUSSA
- Represents and serves the interest of the MMSt students on how Tech Fund money is utilized
Alumni Association Representative (any MMST or CDP student)
- Sits in on the Faculty of Information Alumni Association (FIAA) meetings and reports on the committee’s actions to MUSSA council;
- Serves on the Social Committee for FIAA-related collaboration and helps with its event planning;
- Works with the Treasurer for FIAA-related collaborations
*Note that the full list of responsibilities for each position is subject to change until approved by vote on the constitution at the AGM.
