Call for volunteers: University Appeals Committee (UAC) and University Appeals Tribunal (UAT)

The University Student Appeals Office is recruiting graduate students to volunteer as members of the University Appeals Committee (UAC) and the University Appeals Tribunal (UAT). Student representatives are appointed by the GSA and should represent as many different disciplines as possible at the University.

Role Description: As an UAC or UAT panel member, you will hear graduate student appeals relating to academic assessments, academic progression, and academic and non-academic misconduct. The term for these positions is 2 years (renewable). Please note that all volunteers must be in good academic standing and an enrolled student for their term.

Panel Members involvement contributes to a fair and just setting through which student appellants and faculty respondents are given an opportunity to state their cases. For some Panel Members, is also helpful for providing relevant work and life experience along with a range of transferable skills and a wide network of colleagues. With exposure to the appeal process, Panel Members can provide feedback to improve the student experience. 

The ideal appointee would:

• Have ability during business hours during July and August to attend appeal hearings
• Once assigned to an appeal, needs to be able to respond to SAO requests/correspondence within 48 hours
• Interest in learning more about institutional policies and regulation
• Feel comfortable with making tough but just decisions
• A commitment to fairness, impartiality, and equality
• Strong reasoning skills and decision-making experience
• Ability to keep an open mind while hearing all sides of an argument
• Interpersonal skills
• Reliable
• A willingness and ability to take advice where appropriate

Commitment: This will involve an orientation meeting 2.5hrs (virtual) during mid-June and depending on your availability. For appeal hearings, we will poll members for their availability and on average they may be asked to participate, with two other panel members, in one to two appeal hearings per year. Appeal hearings involve time to review the appeal file (~2-3hrs), a 1hr pre-meet before the hearing (virtual), and a 3-4hr student appeal hearing (in person).

For more information, please visit the University Student Appeals Office website here to learn more about the policy and procedures that are used to govern appeals, specifically, the Student Misconduct and Academic Appeals Policy, UAC Procedure and UAT Procedure

To apply, please email a brief statement of interest (about 300 words) indicating which role you are interested in and why and how you are the best candidate to lgirgis@ucalgary.ca by Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 4:00 PM
Please do not hesitate to contact us at appeals@ucalgary.ca if you have any further questions about the role.