The University of Alberta Students' Union (UASU) is the student society that represents undergraduate students at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

. Originally established in 1909, it is a non-profit corporation that operates under the authority of the Post-Secondary Learning Act (Alberta). Its membership consists of the roughly 31,000 undergraduate students enrolled at the university. With an annual budget of more than $10,000,000 and hundreds of paid and volunteer staff, the Students' Union serves as an advocate for students and provides a variety of services to its members. The Students' Union also operates a number of businesses, manages various targeted trust funds, hosts a wide variety of entertainment and educational events, and runs the Students' Union Building.

Students' Council

The Students' Council is the highest decision-making body of the UASU and is composed of a speaker, a general manager (both of whom are non-voting members), councillors elected from each faculty, 5 executive members and an undergraduate student representative to serve on the University's Board of Governors, all of whom are elected in an annual campus-wide

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

every March. The breakdown of faculty councillors is as below: * 2 from the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences * 7 from the Faculty of Arts * 1 from the Faculty of Augustana * 2 from the Faculty of Business * 3 from the Faculty of Education * 5 from the Faculty of Engineering * 1 from Faculte Saint-Jean * 1 from the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport & Recreation * 1 from the Faculty of Law * 1 from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry * 1 from the Faculty of Native Studies * 1 from the Faculty of Nursing * 1 from the Faculty of Open Studies * 1 from the Faculty of Pharmacy * 7 from the Faculty of Science

Representation

Provincially, the Students' Union participates in the

Council of Alberta University Students The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) represents the interests of over 140,000 Alberta university students across Alberta. They represent undergraduate students from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the Universit ...

. The Students' Union was a founding member of the

Canadian Alliance of Students Associations The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a federally focused student advocacy organization. CASA currently has 24 members, who represent over 275,000 students from across Canada. With a formal partnership with the Quebec Student Un ...

. While it took a brief hiatus on its membership, having pulled out in 2003, the Students' Union moved to rejoin CASA in March 2008. In the fall of 2016, the Students' Union expanded the U-Pass program to

Fort Saskatchewan Fort Saskatchewan is a city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It is part of the Edmonton census metropolitan area and one of 24 municipalities that constitute the Edmo ...

, Leduc and

Spruce Grove Spruce Grove is a city that is west of Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. The city is adjacent to the Town of Stony Plain and is surrounded by Parkland County. With a 2021 population of 37,645, Spruce Grove is the ninth-largest city in Alberta. ...

Services

The Students' Union provides a number of services to assist students in their academic careers. These services include: * Access Fund * Campus Food Bank * InfoLink * Ombudservice * Peer Support Centre * Safewalk * Student Job Registry The Students' Union also runs several businesses, which offer discounts to Students' Union staff and volunteers.

Students' Union Building

Built in 1967, the Students' Union Building (SUB) is the headquarters of the Students' Union. It contains the Horowitz Theatre.

Myer Horowitz Theatre

The Myer Horowtiz Theatre is a 720-seat

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

used a venue for a variety of music, dance and lectures. The theatre hosts no regular season, and is rented by various student and community groups. They also regularly host shows organized by local promoters looking for a smaller intimate venue in Edmonton. Built in 1967 during the building of the Students' Union Building, the theatre was originally called SUB Theatre. The theatre has been through two renovations since opening, a major overall in 1983 and a technical update in 1988. The theatre was renamed in 1989 to honour the outgoing university president at the time, Dr. Myer Horowitz.

Notable past presidents

Several people who have served as president of the University of Alberta Students' Union have gone on to achieve some level of fame. *James Harwood Ogilvie, who served as president in 1917-1918,Section 241.3 - General Information - University of Alberta
/ref> went on to become a long time alderman on

Edmonton City Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

and an unsuccessful candidate for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

in the

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

and

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

federal elections in

Edmonton West Edmonton West (french: Edmonton-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1988, from 1997 to 2004 and again since 2015. Demographics History and geography T ...

. *

Percy Griffith Davies Percy Griffith Davies, QC (October 29, 1902 – January 26, 1992) was a barrister and a Canadian federal politician. Davies ran in a by-election after the death of incumbent John Francis Buckley John Francis Buckley (November 26, 1891 – ...

was president in 1925-1926 and later served as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from 1932 until 1935. *

Gerard Amerongen Gerard Joseph Taets van Amerongen (July 18, 1914 – April 21, 2013) was a politician and lawyer from Alberta, Canada. He was born in 1914 in WinnipegPerry, Footz (2006) 381 and grew up in Edmonton. He graduated in law from the University of A ...

, president in 1943-1944, became a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from si ...

(and later its

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

), representing

Edmonton Meadowlark Edmonton Meadowlark was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1971 to 2019. The electoral district l ...

from 1971 until 1986. *

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. Bo ...

, president in 1951-1952, was

Premier of Alberta The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. The ...

from 1971 until 1985. *

Lou Hyndman Louis Davies Hyndman, (July 1, 1935 – November 24, 2013) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Alberta. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for 19 years and was a member of Premier Peter Lougheed and Don Getty's ...

, president in 1958-1959, was a Progressive Conservative member of the

(representing

from 1967 until 1971 and

Edmonton-Glenora Edmonton-Glenora is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It is located north of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton. The electoral district, as defined by the ''Electoral Divisions Act, 2003 ...

from 1971 until 1986) and provincial treasurer. *Marilyn Pilkington, president in 1968-1969, was the first female Dean of

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...

in 1983. *David Leadbeater, president in 1969-1970, became the youngest alderman in the history of the

, elected at the age of 27 and serving from 1974 until 1977. *

Mike Nickel Mike Nickel (born April 27, 1965) is a Canadian politician who served as an Edmonton city councillor from 2004 to 2007, and then again from 2013 to 2021. Early life and education Nickel was born in Edmonton and attended the University of Alber ...

, president in 1985-1986, became an alderman (2004–2007), two-time mayoral candidate, and prominent conservative in Edmonton. *

Mike Hudema Micheal George Henry Hudema is a Canadian activist who has worked for advocacy organizations including Greenpeace, Global Exchange, the University of Alberta Students' Union, and the Ruckus Society. He is best known for his work opposing the dev ...

, president in 2002-2003, is a prominent activist.

References

External links

*
University Site
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Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

Students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

1909 establishments in Alberta