Kevin Doering is a fourth-year honours economics student originally from Washington, DC. This past year, he worked with the AMS as a clubs administrator, a role in which he oversees all 400 clubs in the AMS. Although he is running against many other candidates for Senate, Doering hopes to make himself stand out with an emphasis on finishing the enhanced learning record project, which will recognize extracurricular activities of students as experiential learning.
Describe your platform and what sets it apart from your opposition in a few sentences.
What's going to set me apart … is my experience personally dealing with students from my work in Arts Academic Advising and my intention to focus this year on finishing other projects that have been ongoing for the last three years as it’s the end of the triennium and really try to initiate projects for the next triennium. Not many students have been talking about the enhanced learning records* that have been taking place on the ad hoc committee for flexible learning and there's been a lot of progress that has been made ... so I’d like to finish that if possible.
* The enhanced learning record is is co-curricular transcript to recognize students' extracurricular involvement.
How have you been involved with the AMS before, and how will this help you?
I have worked in the AMS as a clubs administrator and that's part of the reason I have such a strong interest in the enhanced learning records. My job is to oversee all 400 clubs in the AMS and it really gives me a chance to see all the hard work that students put into their extracurricular activities and see how they learn and develop from those. I think that's one of the things that should really be recognized.
What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year?
The Senate operates on a three-year cycle with its faculty, so this upcoming year will be the final year in the triennium. I think it's very important that Senate finishes off as many of those projects as possible. I think the challenge will be to complete the progress made by so many student senators before and the members of the Vancouver Senate.
Who is the most important body or person you need to collaborate with in this position, and how will you foster a relationship with them?
Obviously, it's important that students and the caucus have cohesion in everything they do. More than that though, I think that given there are 17 student senators and approximately 70 caucus members, it's important that students who are working on these projects really connect with faculty and get an understanding of why these projects are important and why these goals are important. At the end of the day, nothing will go through Senate without the faculty's support. I think that's where students will need to connect and provide that student perspective to faculty and effectively engaging with them.
What three committees would you like to sit on as a senator, and why?
I would love to sit on the appeals committee or the appeals of academic standing committee. As I said, I work in advising and I see lots of students come through the academic concessions and academic appeals and I'd love to see that through on a higher level with more intricate policy involved. And as I mentioned before, the ad hoc committee for flexible learning, to work on enhanced learning records that are being developed and finalized. And I'd also like to sit on the curriculum committee if possible and see how programs and degrees are framed and the requirements in them. I think that's a very good step in ensuring the quality of education that students receive to thoroughly review the courses and their requirements that they have in their degrees.
Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.