ACEGS History

The Association of Civil Engineering Graduate Students (ACEGS) was established on February 23, 1995. The first executive committee consisted of Kelvin Fields (President), Martin Gordon (Vice President), Tania Noble (Executive Secretary), and Tim Ryan (Treasurer). At this time there was 67 Master's Candidates and 11 PhD Candidates within the Department of Civil Engineering who had the opportunity to become members of this newly established Association.

ACEGS was formed to promote academic and social events not only within the faculty of Civil Engineering but to encourage interaction between other Graduate Student Associations (GSA), Engineering Undergraduate Societies (EUS), the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE), the faculty and staff of Engineering, and the Engineering industry itself.

As a method of conveying information amongst graduate students, a newsletter was started by the first executive committee which was entitled "The MATRIX Newsletter". The MATRIX was used as a method of communicating research news, student activities, paper information, and conference notices within the various groups of Civil Engineering (i.e. Structural, Geotechnical, Transportation, Environmental, Materials, Construction, and Hydrotechnical).

ACEGS would not exist if not for the participation of it's members and the cooperation of other societies and associations within and outside of the faculty of Engineering.

ACEGS By-laws

I. NAME:

This association shall be known and addressed as: The Association of Civil Engineering Graduate Students of the University of New Brunswick, hereinafter referred to as the Association.

II. OBJECTIVES:

The objectives of the Association are to:

a. Provide the structure within which the Civil Engineering graduate students may have financial autonomy to organize such activities as symposia, lectures, seminars, social and sporting events, competitions, field trips, etc, deemed necessary and educational for members.

b. Promote closer relationships and better understanding among members.

c. Encourage teamwork and exchange of ideas amongst members.

d. Promote and encourage the study of Civil Engineering in the community.

e. Coordinate with any other Graduate Student Societies, Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, etc.

f. Conduct relations with the Graduate Academic Unit and the Graduate Student Association.

III. MEMBERSHIP:

a. Full membership in the Association shall be open to any full-time or part-time Graduate Student studying Civil Engineering at UNB. Each member shall have full voting privileges. A graduate student who has done his/her departmental defense, but is still waiting for graduation is also included.

b. Associate membership shall be open to any full-time graduate student on the UNB Fredericton Campus. An associate member has no voting privileges. Note that this includes post-doctoral fellows of Civil Engineering of UNB.

c. Honorary membership may be granted to any person that the Association wished to recognize.

DRAFT OF BY-LAWS

IV. FEES:

a. The annual membership fee shall be $10.00 per full member.

b. The executive shall review the membership fee in August of each fiscal year.

V. FISCAL YEAR:

The fiscal year of the Association shall be from September until August.

VI. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

There shall be an executive committee of the Association which shall consist of the following officers:

a. President

b. Vice-President

c. Executive Secretary

d. Treasurer

VII. ADVISORS:

There shall be two advisors to the Association:

a. A Faculty Advisor shall be chosen by the Association.

b. The current departmental Director of Graduate Studies shall be a Departmental Advisor for the Association.

VIII. DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS:

a. The President shall:

i) Preside at meetings of the Association and of the Executive Committee

ii) Have general supervision of the affairs of the Association.

iii) Sign cheques in payment of authorized accounts and bills.

iv) Sign the approved Minutes

v) Provide a yearly report of the Association's activities to the Faculty and Departmental Advisors.

b. The Vice-President shall:

i) Assist the President in all his/her duties.

ii) Assist the Treasurer and Executive Secretary in all of their duties.

iii) Assume all the responsibilities of the President in the absence of the President.

c. The Executive Secretary shall:

i) Handle within two days the correspondence of the Association and report and thereon to the executive.

ii) Give due notice of all meetings of the Association and Executive Committee within two days.

iii) Keep adequate Minutes of the proceedings of the Association and the Executive Committee.

iv) Keep the membership roll of the Association.

v) Write news releases of the Association's activities for local media.

vi) Communicate with other students, professional bodies, etc, as may be directed by the Association or President from time to time.

vii) Notify appropriate individual(s) or organization(s) regarding resolutions of the Association on issue(s) of concern or common interest.

d. The Treasurer shall:

i) Receive all monies, issue and sign cheques for all authorized expenditures and present such cheques to the President for signatures.

ii) Keep a receipt of every transaction.

iii) Keep a proper account of all financial affairs of the Association. Report and/or present financial statements at meetings as required.

IX. MEETINGS:

a. Executive Meetings

i) Executive meetings shall be held monthly, or as called by the President.

ii) Any two members of the Executive Committee including the President or the Vice President shall form a quorum at Executive Meetings.

b. Association Meetings

i) The Association shall hold both Ordinary and Special Meetings.

ii) An Ordinary Meeting shall be a normal regular meeting.

iii) A Special Meeting shall be one that is convened by the President or on a written request of at least five members of the Association for some specific issue(s). Such issue(s) shall be communicated in brief along with the notice of meeting.

iv) A quorum at all meetings of the Association shall be 20% of full members.

X. AMENDMENTS:

a. The Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds majority vote of members present at any meeting.

b. Notice of motion indicating the intention of any proposed amendment of the Constitution of the Association is required two weeks in advance of that meeting at which the Constitution is to be discussed.

c. All amendments to the Constitution shall be subject to approval of a simple majority of Association members.

XI. VOTING:

a. A voting member shall be any graduate student who qualifies under section III-a of this Constitution and who has paid his/her annual membership fee.

b. The officers shall be elected by the voting members before the end of May, and their names filed with the Faculty and Departmental Advisors on or before the 30th day of June of each year.

c. The Executive Committee, in all or in part, may be changed during its mandate by a two-thirds vote of the Association members.

d. The officers shall hold office for one year or until their successors are elected. They shall be eligible for re-election.

e. Call for elections must be posted two weeks prior to the elections being held.

XII. COMMITTEES:

Committees may be formed at any meeting of the Association to handle special activities or events planned by the Association. Chairman of Committees shall regularly report at both Executive Committee and Society Meetings.

Fredericton, December 5, 1996

Updated: September 15, 2008