university news

I've recently been hired in a work-study position with my department, the School of Social Work and Human Services. I am a research assistant on campus, I work from 5 to 10 hours a week, from the beginning of October to the end of April. The job itself isn't particularly thrilling, I'm updating the department's policy manual (I was a little slow with applying, due to getting married and all). However, it's a great job for me; I can really use the extra cash, but I don't have the time to commit to even a part-time job - who wants an employee who only wants to work 8 hours a week?

My school is a very small one; there are so few BSW students that several of their upper level courses are only offered once a year, even once every two years. This gives it a cozy, close-knit feel, which I am really enjoying. However, sometimes things seem a bit too casual, like with my job. I don't really have any supervision, and I'm kind of making things up as I go. This isn't all that bad, I'm good with ambiguity in general, and I'm really great at creating structure (I am not very good, however, at maintaining structure!)

Case in point: the professional association for social workers for my province (BCASW) is having their annual conference in November. There are some really fascinating sounding lectures and workshops - one about sex workers, and their current Constitutional challenge before the courts, another about migrant workers and their quasi-legal status and lack of rights. I registered for one of the two days at the beginning of October, at the early-bird registration deadline. At this same time, the social work student association (SWSA) put out an email offering to sponsor students at the conference. I sent in a letter of intent, expecting to hear something back, but didn't.
Until today, that is, when I got an email from the BCASW. It was my official receipt for the moneys covered by the university!

So now I guess I see if I can get my money refunded?


UPDATE, Oct 28: So today I finally called the Association office to ask about a duplicate registration. The person who answered the phone looked me up, and found only one registration in the system - the one from the student association. I then clarified that I'd registered by phone, and she double-checked - yes, indeedy, they had charged my credit card $75, which will be refunded to me. Yay for being proactive!!