President programming

Rob Staalduinen runs unopposed for Computing Students’ Association (COMPSA) president

Presidential candidate Rob Staalduinen says that he hopes expand student-run tutorials.
Image by: Justin Tang
Presidential candidate Rob Staalduinen says that he hopes expand student-run tutorials.

With an arsenal of great ideas, sole presidential candidate for Computing Students’ Association (COMPSA) Rob Staalduinen said he wants to bring change to the faculty society.

Staalduinen said his main goal is to increase the academic resources available to computer science students.

Staalduinen, CompSci’13, is currently the vice-president (University Affairs) for the faculty society. He said one of the main problems concerning academic resources is the TA to student ratio in first and second year classes. Upper-year students have volunteered to start group tutorials for first and second year students because of this ratio.

“Computer science students have already started group tutorials with students,” he said adding that this is an initiative he hopes to build on.

“I want to create an online system where professors can request these tutorials when they feel like they are needed,” he said, adding that this would require the society to promote the initiative to upper year students and create groups of tutorial leaders.

Staalduinen said he also hopes to increase the faculty’s visibility on campus.

“Most people don’t know where computing is and aren’t as aware of it as they are of the AMS or ASUS. I want to reach out to students outside of our faulty and I want to reach out to our students,” he said.

Staalduinen said he hopes to create a blog or a Twitter account, which will provide all students an opportunity to get a quick update on the latest COMPSA developments. “Social networking is getting so popular that it may be the best way to reach out to everyone,” he said.

Staalduinen said he also hopes to build on the alumni speaker program that he started this year and to find new ways to generate revenue for the society through sponsorship and fundraising.

With his previous experience on council, Staalduinen said he feels prepared to take on the position as president.

“I have the experience to do this,” he said. “I’m not doing this because I feel like it’s a job. I love COMPSA; I want our society to be part of [the student’s] lives.”

Voting days for COMPSA are Feb. 8 and 9

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