Graduate Coordinator Legacy Doc

Yiqiu Viv Cai, 2019 - 2021

Contents
Welcome 1
CSI Team #fam 2
Assistant Director, Leadership & Gov. (MHK) 2
Graduate Assistant, Leadership 2
Assistant Director, Events & Traditions 2
Graduate Assistant, Events & Traditions 3
Graduate Assistant, Dance Marathon & Social Media 3
Assistant Director, Clubs (Angel) 3
Graduate Assistant, Clubs 3
Director, CSI (Bernie) 3
Timeline 3
Weekly Duties 3
Quarterly 4
Fall Goal: Team Bonding 4
Winter Goal: Wellness 4
Spring Goal: Leaving a Legacy 4
Yearly Goal: Advocating for Students, Doing the Work 4
Campus Partnerships 4
Organization 4
Advising & SGSU Team 5
Events/Projects 6
Recommendations 7
2017 – 2018 Timeline (Optional to Review) 8
Welcome
Welcome to CSI! I am excited for you to begin your journey with this fabulous team of folx.
These next two years will change and shape you in ways that I believe will leave you challenged
and growing deeper into your identities. I hope that this document helps provide some
institutional context and history to ground you in this work. I encourage you to treat this as a
living document, take note of what you have learned, and continue to pass on the knowledge
you have gained from this role.

Sincerely,

Yiqiu Viv Cai

CSI Team #fam

Your team here at the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) will deeply shape your experiences here.
They are central to your success and will be a support as you grow into this role. Let’s meet the team!

Assistant Director, Leadership & Gov. aka Co-Advisor, Partner in Crime!

The AD oversees both Governance and Leadership. In overseeing these programs, they have a full lens
and scope of all the happenings on campus, best practices, and tons of knowledge. They are balancing
multiple responsibilities and an invaluable resource in your growth. Leverage their knowledge!

As your supervisor, they can guide you in your experience and shape it into the professional
development that you need. Take advantage of this, and advocate for yourself. They can be your biggest
support and can advocate for your needs along with those of your students. Use them as a sounding
board and develop a relationship where you can bring in your creativity and knowledge to support in
both your professional growth and positively impact your students.

Communication is key! Ask questions! MHK helped me get a lay for the land when I first started and
provided me the opportunity to ask multiple questions. I communicated my questions, interactions to
students and other happenings to her almost daily. I would often have a sticky note of all my questions
that I would save up to help balance her time and make the most of our discussions.

Graduate Assistant, Leadership

The GA for Leadership is your counterpart in many ways. While in SGSU you will be doing much
advocacy work and diving deep into policies, your co-GA looks into the culture of leadership and how it
is developed across campus.

There is a mutual level of support that can be achieved by working directly with the GA in this role.
During my time, I was part of the iLead committee (a leadership conference for all student leaders on
campus) overseen by this GA.

Assistant Director, Events & Traditions (De’Andre)

This role oversees two GAs and our events and traditions on campus. This is everything from
Homecoming to Fall Ball. Most of the events that you participate in will come from this part of the CSI
team as they host so many of the events you’ll see on campus.
Get to know and work with this team. Their event knowledge is valuable as SGSU is not an event-
planning body, but they can help with best practices.

Graduate Assistant, Events & Traditions (TBD)

This GA oversees two student organizations on campus. The first is Student Events & Activities Council
(SEAC—pronounced “Seek”) and they host a variety of events, from large legacy and tradition events to
Seattle Programs, where they take students to different outings around Seattle (e.g. a viewing of Key
Arena, now TMobile park). The GA also oversees RedZone, which is our student spirit organization and
do a lot of work with athletics.

Graduate Assistant, Dance Marathon & Social Media (TBD)

The GA oversees Dance Marathon (DM), which is an event led by students to fundraise for Seattle
Children’s hospital in funding healthcare for children who have cancer aka Miracle Kids. They put on a 16
hour dance marathon in February #ftk (for the kids). You will support by attending and getting the word
out to have SGSU create a team.

Social Media is a collateral role that is sometimes held by this role, but may change depending on
skills/interests. They help get the word out about events and happenings on campus. I encourage you to
leverage this social media for getting the word out about happenings in SGSU (e.g. legislative agenda,
policy, initiatives, voter ballot).

Assistant Director, Clubs (Angel)

This role oversees the 150+ clubs on campus and has a deep connection with our clubs, particularly our
cultural clubs. Clubs are the core of our spirit and culture at SU, and their events (mainly hosted in the
Spring quarter) have high impact on our students. It is also important to have a relationship with this
role as our VP of Finance/Finance Committee works closely with clubs in allocating them funds for the
academic year. As the GC, you will be overseeing VP of Finance & Finance Committee.

Graduate Assistant, Clubs (TBD)

This GA role was paired with the DM GA and supports with clubs. You can brainstorm with them on
student support. Specifically, about how SGSU funds clubs and doing so in an ethical way.

Director, CSI (Bernie)

This role has an overview into the Senior Leadership team aka Directors across campus, so all the
Department knowledge. They have a strong understanding of what’s going on around campus and can
provide context, direction and much more. Bernie in particular has a great deal of institutional context
to draw from, so I encourage you to leverage that.

Timeline
There’s a sample timeline from 2019 – 2021, but don’t stress following it as much since it changes.

Here are some highlights!

Weekly Duties
Your duties will include the following:
 ● Create agendas for week🡪 this includes: 1:1 w/ Supervisor, Team Meeting Updates, Exec, 1:1s
w/ Execs, Rep Assembly, etc.
● 1:1 w/ Supervisor🡪 review updates on team dynamics, upcoming events/projects, logistics
info/general questions
● Review Upcoming Projects & Events
● Rep Assembly 6 – 8pm every Wednesday evening, the intention of being here is to guide
students through these processes (Robert’s Rules, the “Why” piece—why do we care about
these issues) & fostering healthy team dynamics.
● Create your schedule to see how it might need to flex depending on events, etc.

Quarterly
Begin each quarter documenting your plan for the next 10 weeks and integrate the quarterly events
occurring. You will meet quarterly with your representatives, so this is a great time to understand the
work they are doing at least at a quarterly level.

Fall Goal: Team Bonding

You will be developing the team bonds and onboarding a new batch of SGSU members. Develop
connections with your students and encourage them to connect, shift away from “new elects” vs. “old
elects” as soon as possible. This time is about supporting each other and learning how to function as a
team. Collaboration is key!

Winter Goal: Wellness

This quarter is where burnout often happens. The weather is gloomy, there is the storming and norming
where conflicts happen. You might feel tired and drained. Wellness is key and lean into integrity and
drive. Keep going, you got this.

Spring Goal: Leaving a Legacy

Student may feel nostalgic or checked out during this time.

Yearly Goal: Advocating for Students, Doing the Work

Enough said!

Campus Partnerships
Campus Events 🡪 go to as many as you can, it’ll help you get to meet those around campus and you’ll get
a pulse of what you should vs. shouldn’t attend

I would check in with MHK. The CSI office has a strong presence on campus. SGSU can change up
depending on the year. Currently, we’ve done a lot of work to grow in our partnership RHA, which is the
Resident Hall Association aka the SGSU but for residents living on campus.
Below are opportunities for collab w/ RHA 
● How we engage with administrators, deciding bodies, etc. (Both process to follow and approach) 
● Deciding bodies/university structure  
● Project planning & event planning 
● Advocacy training 
● What it means to make large-scale decisions on behalf of other students 
● Robert’s Rules 
 ● Diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competency—individual, as a team, and particularly in
relation to advocacy work 

Get to know Senior Leadership, GAs, other offices around campus, clubs—these will all help you to
understand the roles of these groups/people and how to leverage this understanding to build better
relationships.

Organization
Organization
● Use OneNote, Google Doc, etc
o 1:1s Page
▪ Create an agenda beforehand (includes Committee Updates, weekly 1:1s with
Execs, quarterly 1:1s with Reps, Projects)
o Projects Page
● Outlook—this will better help you track!
o Email folder for all SGSU members
o Email folder for Committees (will include President’s Advisory Board, Steering, Finance,
and University Affairs with any other committees that come up during the year)
● Recommend creating folders for each position (e.g. I have a Folder entitled “SGSU Members”
and when I open it, I have subfolders of each position) & committee emails will go there too
(e.g. Finance Committee emails go into “VP Finance”)
● Keep folders for additional projects (e.g. iLead Committee)
● Afternoon times are generally best to speak w/ students, but use mornings to get stuff done &
lulls in the day
● An outline of the quarter will help you think ahead, but your supervisor can help you while you
get the hang of things

Advising & SGSU Team

Rep Assembly—happens weekly so you’ll want to know how this works. Use the recommendations
below to support you in this process.
● Quorum – importance of it
● Be sure to review the Bylaws & Constitution (bring them as a physical or electronic copy 
electronic lets you find it quick)
● Before Rep Assembly review the agenda, look at Bylaws & Constitution so you can know the
policy
● Learn the Robert’s Rules/Parliamentary Procedure structure for Rep esp. how we vote,
amendments, point of ___ (order, information, privilege), making a motion.
Team Dynamics
● Students are heavily involved or believe they are (?)
● Although they are stretched thin, they are hard, driven workers.
● As with all students, note the way this will shift across the quarter
o They begin excited but unsure of what to do
o As they get the hang of things, they will come w/ stress of mid-terms
o This drops and they will push through until finals when you’ll notice a distinct drop in
attendance, enthusiasm, etc.
 o Leverage this to support them in these times of need & to know how to structure
programming, initiatives, etc.
● How the dynamic shifts from quarter to quarter:
o Fall Quarter is focused on elections & onboarding of the new team 🡪
o Winter Quarter is where heavy storming happens🡪
o Spring Quarter is the time that students push through legislation, feeling burnt out (?)
● Note the structure of the committees:
o Presidential Advisory Board (PAB)—EAB, SUSS, Did You Know (Awareness Campaign on
Campus Resources)—lots of project work as directed by the President
o University Affairs (UA)—covering mission day (everything is in the Google Drive,
particularly the Day of Script!), coverage of committees from recruitment to onboarding.
o Steering—internal team bonding and accountability. This committee is the core of SGSU,
for team morale.
o Finance—very focused on the work. Help them find more time to work on internal
documents & how to create an efficient appropriations process.
● Breakdown of committees (roles & events)
o President’s Advisory Board 🡪 Supports the vision & mission, overseen by the President
o University Affairs 🡪 Academics, overseen by the VP UA
o Finance 🡪 oversees club appropriations, overseen by Finance
o Steering 🡪 supports internal accountability and morale, overseen by Executive Vice
President
● Exec Team does a lot of work
o President—directs the vision and speaks to lots of senior leadership (e.g. Board of
Trustees) to advocate for student needs and also give them a pulse on the student body.
o EVP—President’s 2nd hand person, morale & accountability
o VP UA—works with provost on academic side
o VP Finance—heavily impacted by club funding requests

Events/Projects
While SGSU is primarily an advocacy organization, there are some events that the team annually holds.
Here are two guiding principles for events:
1. Leverage Relationships
a. We are not an event planning body, so encourage collaborations with campus partners
whether that be departments or clubs.
2. Integrating Legislative Agenda
a. We can plan events but we are not an event planning body

Some events hosted include:

● Elections—occurs in Fall & Spring.
o Listen to a lot of what MHK does and says as it’ll feel like a lot when you first start
o Elections Recruitment
▪ Onboarding 🡪 show them the document on the Google Drive, link it & talk about
shadowing, meeting with an Advisor, etc.
▪ May 29, 5-6, New Elects Social - The idea was suggested that since we
have so many returners, this could be a good time to expand the "new
 elects social" to include incoming leaders with RHA, GSC, and SAAC (if
SAAC has people by then, i din't know their timeline). Id like to know
Execs thoughts on this.
▪ SGSU Incoming Exec Meeting: May 31, 1:00-4:00pm
▪ SGSU Incoming All-Team Meeting: June 7, 1:00-4:00p
▪ Fall Training: September 15-18
▪ New Student Move-In: September 21
▪ Welcome Week Events: September 21-25 
▪ Fall Retreat:<November or early December, incoming team will decide>
▪ CSI Retreat: January 18, 2020
● External Advisory Board/Club Council
o Club and organization leaders speak with SGSU about topics impacting them. Take this
information and use it as a guide for how SGSU can enact change
● Finance—there are a variety of projects, most of which are discussed in the Recommendations
sections
o All the most up to date projects are in the SGSU Google Drive titled “Finance Documents
(includes Bylaws & Projects)”
● Halfway There—celebration of being halfway through the program
o Can be challenging to get a full list of sophomore students as it is based on how many
credits they have, which can vary depending on their status
o The shirts are a huge draw, though often students stay for the shirt and not the event.
Think of how we could leverage this event and the t-shirts to create deeper engagement
with SGSU
● Senior Soiree aka Senior Showcase—a celebration of the work of seniors
o Consider if it makes sense to host this event within SGSU, a non-event planning
organization. But if it is within our role, what is the intention and alignment with our
mission.
o Repurpose to be an equitable celebration in alignment with the university mission.
o Collaborate with the Graduate Student Council on Cheers 2 U! (a networking event for
grad students) and Alumni office ( did no
o Students should not have to pay for it and there should be no alcohol unless it is an off-
campus event in collaboration with GSC. (Note that it often turns into an odd “club” feel
and party for the most privileged of our students.)
o This event has been put on hold but might still be brought up, discuss with supervisor
● Transfer BBQ
o Did not occur in 2019 but has occurred in the past, so may resurface.
o This event was held to address the needs of Transfer students who often feel
disconnected and need a sense of community and ways to be engaged as they enter SU.

Committees/Projects are listed below, note that you have flexibility in what you choose to be a part of,
but this is to give you an idea:
● Divisional Committees
o These can vary from year to year. Depending on bandwidth, you could join 1 -2 more,
but no more than that.
● Finance Binder
o Remember to work with supervisor on transferring money via Journal Entries into sub-
budgets to reflect internal budget allocations (supervisor will know what this is)
 o Track all receipts and cross reference it against InformSU
● iLead
o This is the leadership conference hosted by your Co-GA. I encourage you to be a part of
this as it will deepen your understanding of what leadership looks like on campus,
increase partnerships with divisions across campus, and show tangible support for your
team.
● Legislative Agenda
o While this is relatively new, there are now extensive documents on it from the past 2 – 3
years in our google drive now
o These are the guiding principles for the work that we do throughout the year

Recommendations
Remember, much of your first year will be about getting a lay of the land and familiarizing yourself with
the role. Be patient with yourself! Use this time to get a feel for the work, your advising style, the impact
you can have and build campus relationships.

● End of Year Data—you will need to collect it!

● Work more with each GA/AD
o Clubs
o Leadership
o Events & Traditions
o Overall—show up! Events and celebrations, be present to have impact
● Finance Appropriations Process
o Work with the SIAs to get them onboarded
● Finance Projects
o Finance bylaws (Updated during Covid, is in the Google Drive & ConnectSU, review once
with supervisor before moving forward) 
o Club funding ideas  (places where clubs can request funds—also in the GoogleDrive)
o Rep Assembly cheat sheet (complete 2019! In the Google Drive, may need to be
revamped)
o Funding Criteria  (Updated during Covid, It’s in the Google Drive, but review for equity
and social justice lens)
o Deductions list (check the Google Drive but there’s a lot of them!)
o Process for Receipts follow-Up (we don’t have a great process for this and it tends to fall
off. Provide the VP Finance more bandwidth and it can get done!)
● Every quarter (?) or every time new students come in (perhaps every 1:1) review the purpose of
1:1s & your role as an advisor to re-establish boundaries.
● Move SGSU elections for the new team to Winter Quarter (e.g. February) or 2-3 weeks into
Spring
● Developing a sense of community🡪 SGSU is very much about the work, people only hear from
the organization when SGSU is taking a stance. Not perceived as “fun”
● Have a goal for each quarter 🡪 you will most likely be getting a feel for things the first quarter
● Onboarding process 🡪 streamline or create a checklist of To-Dos so new students know what to
do
● Creating an SGSU calendar of events
● Encourage them to document their work throughout the year so it gets easier to manage
(quarterly check-ins are a great time to do this with your team)
 ● How to get awareness out to the student body about everything SGSU is doing
● Legislative agenda must be specific and actionable.
o Here is the language I use “There is only so much 20 students can do in hrs a week for 2
quarters (winter and spring).” Consider listing just priorities with actionable steps.
Introductions should be minimal, we want to get to the point and the actions that would
be taken. Nice if it was something that could be advertised across campus, easily
readable & understood.
● Class Shirts (aka Sophiomore or First Year class) as a marketing tool, similar to what Halfway
There has.

Challenges
● Beginning of each quarter to schedule 1:1s and committee meetings
● Thinking of ways to collect data
● Managing team dynamics
● Integrating conversations on identity and privilege
● SGSU Reputation🡪 not perceived as fun

Below is a slightly outdated timeline. Unfortunately I cannot give you an accurate timeline as I spent
majority of my time virtually due to Covid.

2017 – 2018 Timeline (Optional to Review)

If you have extra time, you can review this timeline to get a perspective of how to plan your time!

FALL QUARTER
(Note: Fall Quarter begins 3 weeks early to account for GA & SGSU training)
Week T-Minus 2 (August 28th)
GA Training

Week T-Minus 1
GA Training Continued
SGSU Meeting w/ Execs if Time

Week 0
SGSU Trainings (Connect w/ RHA if possible)

Week 1 (September 18th)

Classes Start
SGSU Elections Interest Meetings

Week 2 (Sept. 25th)

SGSU Elections Interest Meetings
First SGSU Rep Assembly Meeting (?)

Week 3 (October 2nd)

SGSU Mandatory Elections Orientations
Finance had first committee meeting
(Next year: Rep Assembly Training w/ RHA)

Week 4 (October 9th)

SGSU Advisor 1:1s
SGSU Voting (3 days) & Training (Weekend)
Candidate Packets Due
UndocuQueer Conference

Week 5 (Oct. 16th)

Call DC Night

Week 6 (Oct. 23rd)

SGSU Priorities

Week 7 (Oct. 30th)

CSI Retreat

Week 8 (Nov. 6th)

ExecVP Pro Tempore Selected
Interview for New Hires

Week 9 (Nov. 13th)

External Advisory Board Meeting

Week 10 (Nov. 27th)

Christmas Tree Lighting
Rep Determines Legislative Agenda Priorities

Over Break
PAB Reviewing SUSS Questions & Leg Agenda

WINTER QUARTER
Goal: Team-Bonding & Wellness
Week 1 (Jan. 8th)
Leg Agenda Presentation
Get Office Hours
SUSS Questions Finalized by EOW
Exec Reflection Meeting (schedule earlier next quarter?)

Week 2 (Jan. 15th)

Leg Agenda Voted On
Office Hours Finalized
SUSS Questions Review by SGSU

Week 3 (Jan. 22nd)

Winter Retreat (Full Day on Weekend)
External Advisory Board Meeting (Reviewing Leg Agenda Priorities)
SGSU New Elects Interviewing

Week 4 (Jan. 29th)

SGSU New Elects (for roles to be filled) completed
FYI on SUSS Upcoming
Voting on Elections Code Revisions

Week 5 (Feb. 5th)

Week 6 (Feb. 12th)

Week 7 (Feb. 19th)

SUSS Analysis Review
Get to Know RHA (New Execs)

Week 8 (Feb. 26th)

Legacy Docs Sent Out

Week 9 (Mar. 5th)

SUSS Data Report from Teams

Week 10 (Mar. 12th)

SGSU Interest Meetings
Exec Reflection
Last Rep Assembly

Finals Week (Mar. 19th)

Project Work (RNO, Legacy Doc & Timeline, Leg Agenda Process, ConnectSU)

SPRING QUARTER
Goal: Legacy
Week 1 (April 2nd – 8th)
Elections Candidates
SUSS Analysis Due
Legacy Docs Due
Office Hours
SGSU Mid-Year Report
Steering Budget, EOY Banquet Prep
Staff Position
SUSS Presentation Draft (Due April 5th)
Use this time to get governing docs changes

Week 2 (April 9th – 15th)

Staff Position Recruiting
Campaign Week
University Mission Day (12th)
Evaluate Legacy Docs
1:1 Prep: Final Evaluations
SUSS Presentation to Rep

Week 3 (April 16th – 22nd)

UA Prep for SUSS Presentation begins
SUSS Divisional Leadership Presentation (April 19 th)

Week 4 (April 23rd – 29th)

SUSS Presentation (April 24th)

Week 5 (April 30th – May 6th)

Certificates for SGSU members & Connect w/ Bernie RE: Perennial Plaques
SUSS Presentation to StuDev Subcommittee of BOT (May 2 nd)
SUSS Presentation to BOT (May 3rd)
UA SUSS Prep Complete (May 3rd)
Training for New Staff & Retreat (Tentative Dinner) May 5 th

Week 6 (May 7th –13th)

Update Michelle
Staff Position Recruiting

Week 7 (May 14th –20th)

Legacy Docs Begin

Week 8 (May 21st – 27th)

Week 9 (May 28th – June 3rd)

Legacy Docs Due

Week 10 (June 4th – 10th)

EOY Banquet (June 6th)