1. Welcome new students as they arrive and introduce them to other graduate students.
2. Arrange GASA sponsored social functions -- traditionally the summer picnic, a welcoming event for new students, and the vernal equinox party -- and arrange GASA contributions to department events such as a Director's Party or the Christmas Countdown.
3. Refer to the  GASA Constitution, Article 2, Section (e) i. for further details.

1. Maintain minutes and all other GASA correspondence for posterity.
2. Refer to the  GASA Constitution, Article 2, Section (e) ii. for further details.

1. Apply for grants from the GSU.
2. Refer to the  GASA Constitution, Article 2, Section (e) iii. for further details.

1. Attend the monthly GSU Council meetings from September to April.
2. Collect the head grant applications from the GSU and forward them to the Treasurer.
3. Forward the GSU special grant for small course unions application to the Treasurer.
4. Inform the GASA members what is going on at the GSU and anything that is considered of interest.

   NOTE: The first GSU meeting is around August-September. Since the newly-elected GSU representative is still unknown to the GSU, it is the responsibility of the previous GSU representative to inform the newly-elected of the time of the meeting. This is also the time for the newly-elected representative to tell the GSU that he/she is the legally appointed representative for the following academic year.

1. Inform GASA of upcoming deadlines of sports in which students may wish to participate, notably GSU volleyball in the fall and intramural softball in the spring.
2. If no student volunteers to be captain of either of these teams yet there is sufficient student interest to enter a departmental team, the sports representative is expected to assume the role of team captain until such time as one can be found.

1. Call the juice supplier and order the juice.
2. Keep sufficient cash available to pay the delivery person.
3. Keep the money deposited in the container in the refrigerator of the lounge to a minimal amount for safety. The cost of juice should be posted on the refrigerator.
4. Manage the money involved and transfer any surplus to the treasurer.
5. Keep the refrigerator stocked.

1. Order every second week the supply of coffee, tea, sugar, and milk/cream.
2. Collect and manage money paid to GASA for the consumption of the above items. The coffee representative should be receptive to the needs and desires of the consumers, but is only responsible for providing a basic level of service.

1. Every Tuesday afternoon, invite all the students and some faculty (Hugh has set up an alias for the students and interested faculty and postdocs - ``tea@astro'') to meet in the lounge for tea and cookies. The invitation is sent by email, usually accompanied by a short story, poem, or quotation; one hopes to entice the teadrinkers to come to tea, and to mollify anyone who might be annoyed by getting another departmental spam in their mail every week. The cookies and tea must be bought beforehand, of course. The tea is paid for by the (meagre) profits from cookie sales (usually, a charge of 10 cents/cookie is enough to keep us in tea bags).

1. Find, for each scheduled colloquium/G2000, two students to prepare coffee and hot water for tea after the colloquium. Sufficient quantities of cream/milk should also be obtained if none have been delivered with the coffee. These students are also responsible for putting out the donuts and bagels (available from the office) and cleaning up after the gathering has dispersed.
2. A fixed sum of money is available for the purchase of all consumables. See Marlene Chapman with original receipts for reimbursement.
3. Find, for each scheduled colloquium, a student to host the speaker for supper. Money is provided by the department to pay for the speaker's dinner and to subsidize all students. See Marlene Chapman with original receipts (Not just a credit card receipt.) for reimbursement.

The McLennan Health and Safety Committee requires 17 representatives (one of which is a student member from the Astronomy Department) to serve on 4 sub-committees. The general committee members are selected from these representatives and committee meetings are usually held once a month. The committee has the following principal functions:

1. To identify and evaluate potential health and safety hazards.
2. To recommend corrective action.
3. To provide input to University health and safety programs.
4. To inspect the workplace on a regular basis.

1. Keep track of the availability and attributions of student desks on the 13th and 14th floors of the Burton Tower.
2. Announce the availability of new desks as they become available.
3. Record any stated wish for changing desks (priority for established students is according to seniority; when a desk is up for grabs and two equally senior students wish to move to it, the nod is given to the first one to speak up).
4. Take around new or visiting students to show them available new desks (priority for new students follows the order of arrival; first come, first served).
5. Maintain a sheet with the occupants' names on each graduate student office door.
6. Helping to make up the 13th and 14th floor plans could be described as a subsidiary part of the job.

1. Pick up the newspaper in the morning of every working day and put it in the lounge. The money for the newspaper is provided by GASA. The newspaper bought for the lounge is usually the ``Toronto Star'' since the ``Globe and Mail'' is available in the library and the ``New York Times'' can be found in the CITA lounge.

1. This person is responsible for dealing with external requests for astronomical information, typically requests from law firms concerning the sun's angle above the horizon on a given day (to determine whether it was a factor in an automobile accident).
2. Software that can provide this information is available. The position is typically filled by at least two individuals, one of whom has been the representative in the previous year in order to train the new representative.
3. This is a paid position. GASA typically charges a $80 fee for this service (exact amount can vary depending on quantity of information required and degree of difficulty in obtaining it). 20% of this, or $20, whichever is greater, is retained by GASA while the remainder is kept by the representative.
4. On occasion, the representative may be asked to testify in a trial as an expert witness, a service for which the representative charges by the hour.

1. Act as liaison between GASA members and CUPE Local 3902, the union representing teaching assistants (T.A.s) in the department. CUPE will provide training and support for answering the (rare) questions of members.
2. Make a short presentation at the training session for new T.A.s each September, and remind all T.A.s of recommended T.A. practices such as keeping time sheets.
3. Attend meetings called by CUPE Local 3902.
4. Notify students of all union issues.

1. Attend meetings of the departmental computer committee.
2. Communicate concerns that students have about the computing situation in the department to the committee.
3. Coordinate student requests for new computing equipment.
4. Keep GASA members informed of developments in the computing situation.

1. Maintain the GASA web pages.
2. Find student volunteers to provide material for the bimonthly feature displayed there.
3. Communicate with the department webmaster on issues pertaining to the departmental web pages.