By Julieanne Acosta, Eula Mengullo, October 10 2023—

Along with the responsibilities outlined for all Students’ Legislative Council (SLC) members, faculty representatives are accountable for responsibilities particular to their role including: Reporting to students of their faculty the policies, positions and programs of the Students’ Union (SU), reporting to their faculty itself (like Dean’s Council) the policies, positions and programs of the SU, representing student constituents of their faculty at SLC, representing student constituents of their faculty on university committees and reporting to the VP Academic on matters of academic importance within their faculty.

There is only one faculty representative position available so nursing students will have to decide on one of the two candidates.

KRISTI-ANNE WINGERT

Kristi-Anne Wingert is a third-year nursing student who is running for the faculty representative for the Faculty of Nursing. In an interview with the Gauntlet, Wingert elaborated on her points and discussed what she would do should she be elected into this role. 

Her platform consists of three goals: clinical affordability, mental capacity and communication. In regards to her first point, Wingert talks about what she plans on doing to advocate for affordability for nursing students.

“Students are facing a financial crisis,” said Wingert. “Within nursing, we pay over 400 dollars extra to go to clinical and then we have to pay for parking and gas to drive there because some aren’t transit accessible. I want to advocate for students to have a preference to choose placements closer to their homes so they can conserve gas prices and carpool with other students around the same area.”

Wingert has held this role over the last term and notes that she has been actively working on her platform points throughout this time. She also explained that she’s been advocating for students amidst the introduction of Alberta Health Services (AHS) new electronic tool called Connect Care. 

“Within nursing, I’ve had meetings with the dean, wellness clinic and [Undergraduate Nursing Society] UNS,” said Wingert. “One of the things I’ve been really focused on is Connect Care. To use Connect Care you had to undergo two days of training which was randomly scheduled and due before the semester started. Some students had to miss clinicals due to instructors not being Connect Care trained or themselves not being Connect Care trained and so I have been advocating for clinical hour compensation for that time missed because we need a certain amount of clinical hours to become a registered nurse and to graduate.” 

In her concluding statement, Wingert gives a final call to nursing students and states that she will be there to support her faculty. 

“I really do understand that the SU has not been a big part of nursing for a while. We’ve had fabulous representatives but it has been hard to get through the barriers. Nursing is a long and tough program that can be hard to get through without support and I want to be there to support students.”

COLTON CHANNON

Colton Channon is another student running for a faculty representative for the Faculty of Nursing. Channon did not sign up for an interview with the Gauntlet, but this is what students can expect from him based solely on his platform.

Outlined in his campaign, Channon was inspired to run for the faculty representative position by his role in the Undergraduate Nursing Societies where, along with peers, he created highly detailed pharmacological and pathological practice exams. 

While he does not provide details of implementation, Channon’s campaign involves supporting upper-year students, providing more healthcare positions by collaborating with external companies and collaborating with executive members of the faculty to facilitate better constructive communication between students and professors.

On the first point, he plans on supporting third and fourth-year students for their pharmacological and pathophysiological exams by releasing NCLEX-style materials of case studies, summary sheets for complex conditions and updated practice exams.

In addition, he wants to help students apply theory in practice, as well as students looking to land a job after completion of certain terms. Thus, he plans to provide more Health Care Aid, Undergraduate Nursing Employee, Graduate Nurse and Registered Nurse positions by collaborating with external companies.

Finally, recognizing the critically important roles that nurses play, Channon plans on collaborating with executive members of the faculty to improve the exchange of constructive communication between students. Recognizing that high-quality teaching is important as a nursing student, he also states that he plans on providing rewards for educators who are willing to go above and beyond for students, although he does not elaborate on any course of action he plans to take to achieve this. 

While it is clear that Channon wants to support students, he does not provide tangible details on how he intends to materialize his campaign points.  

All undergraduate students in Nursing can vote YES or NO on their ballot for one candidate for FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE or ABSTAIN from voting.