Discover Governance

Vote. Run. Represent.

Discover Governance, operated by the Students' Union, is a resource and information centre for student representatives. Our mission is to facilitate improvements to the quality and effectiveness of all levels of student governance at the University of Alberta through impartial professional development, advisory, and support services to student representatives. To fulfill this mission, Discover Governance has four key areas of operation.

Governance Education and Programming

Online Resources

You can download written resources to help you improve your knowledge or skills in the area of governance that's relevant to you. This includes, but is not limited to, participating in meetings, running in an election, starting a new student group, navigating transition, writing minutes, and developing strategic planning. These resources are publicly available and free to download, so go take a look!

In-Person Sessions

We provide a range of in-person, professional development sessions, including effective meeting practice, transition facilitation, advocacy training, lobbying practice, introduction sessions on University of Alberta and Students' Union governance, and more! These sessions are free and available to all University of Alberta undergraduate student representatives, prospective SU/representative candidates, and student groups. To find out what's available and request a session for you or your group, visit our Governance Education page.

Comprehensive Retreats

Every year we run a retreat for Students' Council called GovCamp Retreat. This is a weekend-long, catered retreat held every Spring to teach new student representatives the basics of student governance and provide them with opportunities to network with governance staff and one another.

Advisory Services

Discover Governance provides governance advising services for undergraduate student representatives, undergraduate student groups, and any undergraduate students interested in governance at the U of A. If you want to ask questions, get advice on governance issues or find out how and where to get involved, you can get in touch with either Navjot Kaur, Governance Manager, or Courtney Graham, Governance Support Specialist. All questions can be emailed to governance@su.ualberta.ca. You can also drop by the Governance office in SUB 2-900 on weekdays between 8:30 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. to see if if any of the governance staff would be free to chat!

Administrative Support

Discover Governance provides administrative support for many of the high level student representative groups on campus, including Students' Council, GFC Student Caucus, Council of Faculty Associations (CoFA), and Council of Residence Associations (CORA). We help book space, produce and disseminate meeting materials, and keep in contact with members. If you have questions about what these bodies are doing, when they meet, and how to get in contact with them, you can direct your questions to to the governance office.

Governance Research

Our office can't do what we do unless we have good information on where student representatives exist, what they do, who they are, and what they need. As such, research on student governance at the U of A is integral to the development of our programming and our annual operational planning. We hope to share more and more of this research with the University community in the coming years. To see the information we've collected so far, check out our governance research page!

Phone

780-492-6675

Email
governance@su.ualberta.ca

Discover Governance
Room 6-24
Students' Union Building
University of Alberta
8900 - 114 Street NW
Edmonton, AB
T6G 2J7