SoM Student Affairs Committee
About
The Student Affairs Committee is composed of Officers and Representatives. The Chairperson, Graduate Vice-Chairperson, Undergraduate Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer, and DEIJ Advocate are considered Officers. Representatives are a single Doctoral, Masters, Senior, Junior, Sophomore, and International representative from each respective class. Get to know the current SAC members here!
Purpose
The Student Affairs Committee (SAC) is a Registered Student Organization of the University of Oklahoma serving the students of the School of Meteorology. SAC’s purpose is to ensure formal communication between faculty and students regarding School of Meteorology and College issues of direct importance to both undergraduate and graduate meteorology students. SAC represents the student body at all faculty meetings and relays student input on various issues such as curricula changes, degree requirements, and School resources.
Current and Recent SAC Activities
Multicultural Fest: SAC holds an annual Multicultural Fest, where students, faculty, and staff within the National Weather Center bring a dish to share that represents their culture. In 2023, over 200 people attended this event, and it featured performances from three OU student groups - AfroBeatz, the Armenian Student Association, and Sitaaras. SAC thanks the College of A&GS and the OU Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office for sponsoring this event!
Examination of Graduate Student Stipends: Continuing an effort that began as early as 2015, SAC Officers and Representatives did a complete review of the stipends of graduate students at OU compared to those at other institutions, taking into account not only pay, but fees and cost of living expenses, to name a few. This review of how our stipends compare to other schools helped lead to a comprehensive review and overhaul of the graduate student pay structure here at OU. Previous efforts, in part, led to a reduction in graduate student fees at the University level.
Hurricane Relief: Each year, students from SAC, OWL, and SCAN join together to raise funds for those impacted by hurricane (and other natural disaster) destruction. In 2023, students, faculty, staff, and scientists within the NWC donated money to jars with various faculty and student leader names, and the winning (or losing?) faculty and students with the most money raised received a pie in the face! Thanks to the generosity of everyone involved, we raised $4001.24 to help those impacted by Hurricane Idalia and the Maui Wildfires.
International Students: The SAC International Representative continues to work each year on documenting procedures and policies useful to international students. Further information is available on the International Student Resources page on this site.
Representation on the GSC: SAC representatives attend Graduate Studies Committee meetings to provide student perspective on proposed changes to graduate curriculum. In addition, several changes were recommended for the Fall 2018 Graduate Student Handbook (most recent version available on the Graduate Student Resources page on this website) including new "best practices" for the direct-track PhD.
Research Fair: SAC hosts an annual college-wide research fair displaying current work of SoM and DGES graduate students. The research fair is intended to give graduate students an opportunity to present their research, provide ideas to attending students of the wide variety of research conducted with the College and its partners, and discuss various opportunities to which students may have access (i.e., internships, jobs, grad school opportunities, Capstone projects, etc.). The most recent research fair was held in March 2023, in collaboration with the Junior-level Principles of Research and Communication course.
Student Concerns: SAC continues to hear and communicate several student/departmental concerns including undergraduate facility usage, graduate and undergraduate courses, length of graduate study, and other issues. These discussions have led to several departmental changes to better suit student needs. Town Hall meetings are held each semester for undergraduate and graduate students and provide a space for students to discuss their concerns and voice comments about departmental issues.