6 Weeks since I last posted!!

Wow! It really has been too long since I updated this. WAY too long. So what's been happening since Week 4?

I think I'm going to have to break it down into maybe 2-3 blogs. One will just get too crowded.

So this week is SHAG Week with Tara and Paddy putting in huge efforts so I really hope that it goes well. It's also Rainbow Week and I'm being married off as well as it being a good chunk of a way through Movember. It really is hectic with all of that going on, but this time of the semester is when iot starts to quieten down for me.

We'll be doing the usual exam drop in tea and coffee in the next few weeks and putting you at your ease. Remember to take breaks during study and that blocks of 40-50 minutes are the best way to study. Think of the way you break down time during an exam and take a break for 10-15 mins every hour

I had a huge blog written here about Kate Fleming and remembering our friends who have died, but I'm going to post it as a separate blog. It would just bee too long.

Lip-Dub

So a date has been cast for the Lip-Dub. It's going to be recorded on the 7th of March, Wednesday Week 7. This is the route and concept. I have to say this isn't my idea and that the credit for pushing this goes to Lily Carroll.

I really hope this goes well and before people ask why they haven't been told about it, there have been two, yes TWO emails about it.

Elections
So we've had progress on elections with ITD and we're on course to get them up and going for departmental councillors next semester to be elected for the 2012/13 academic year. There were some serious concerns over this, but we've managed to put those concerns to bed and ITD is now happy to proceed.

Student Centre
We've put up a survey on this HERE to ask your opinion on student facilities. This follows a meeting with the chairman of the Campus Development Committee. We're keen to guage how much you would be willing to see the Student Centre Levy increase to to provide top class facilities.

This debate has opened in response to the expected completion of the payments on levy projects a number of years ahead of schedule due to increased numbers of studetns attending UL. Many have cited sports facilities and storage for clubs and societies as major issues, whilst others have been affected by lack of groupwork space and break out rooms. In addition from monitoring the use of the SU Common room we feel that it is too small.

The location of the Students' Union has also been thrown into the mix by us as it was central when opened in 1997. However the Foundation building marked the corner of campus back then, there was no Arena and the Schuman Building was the most isolated and there were no bridges, and certainly no North Campus. Over €400 million has been invested in new buildings since then marking a distinct rebalancing of where the centre of campus is. We want to know what YOU think about this.

I will be travelling to New England next week where I will see some of the world's most modern and advanced student centres as part of a conference tour.

If you agree to extend the levy, the Student Facilities that will be developed here will shape student life not only for 2020, but hopefully towards 2050 and beyond. When the Student Centre was completed in 1999 there was no concept of how much student life would develop and how restrictive the space would be. Societies are starved of rooms to hold meetings, clubs have nowhere to stor large items and the building itself isn't the most inviting.

Stayed tuned for the second installment and in the meantime you can follow me and ask me questions on twitter by clicking the tweety bird!! D