Treasure(r): That is what you are

By: Sosi Papazian, RSGA Treasurer

Welcome to Rollins!

While there is a lot of information, activity, and opportunity floating around these next few weeks and up until the end of Orientation that should not deter you from getting involved within the Atlanta community or with a student organization at Rollins.

This past year serving as the Rollins Student Government Association (RSGA) Treasurer has been an honor, not only being able to work with many of my great peers at Rollins but also getting to know them outside of RSGA. In addition to the more formal call and application for the Treasurer position, I wanted to take the opportunity to decode the position and hopefully answer questions that anyone may have.

Though all the details below are important, I want to make sure that everyone knows how rewarding it is to serve on the RSGA board. The student groups here create a culture that I might have missed out on if I hadn’t been involved with RSGA. I had the opportunity to meet so many students outside my department, and will really miss being connected to the school in that way.

Position Description:

• Responsible for all financial records maintained by the RSGA
  • What it really means: As the RSGA treasurer I maintain an internal budget tracker that reconciles what we’ve spent with the University managed spreadsheet for our account. This means keeping track of the coding for each event, and recognizing when something has been mischarged or wrongly coded in our account.
• Serves as the RSPH divisional treasurer, and therefore act as liaison between student organization treasurers and the Emory University school-wide SGA Treasurer
  • What it really means: RSPH acts as its own division that reports up to the greater Emory University Student Government Association (SGA), so the treasurer is responsible for relaying information between both organizations… Surprise! In addition to acting as liason, I spend a lot of time at the DUC signing off on reimbursement requests and vendor payments for all the student groups here at Rollins. Developing a good relationship with the staff in the SGA office has been critical for me—without that trust it is hard to vouch for student groups and make sure that they are aware of University policy before they break it, rather than after.
• Serve on the Student Government Association Finance Committee
  • What it really means The treasurer attends monthly SGA finance meetings with all the divisional treasurers from across the University. These meetings are used to problem-solve and to vote on supplemental funding requests/other financial bills that come through SGA.
• Serve on the GSGA Finance Committee
  • What it really means Similar to SGA, the graduate schools have their own student government with allocated funding to support the development of relationships and communication between all graduate programs at Emory.
• Prepare the RSGA budget for submission and review the submission of student organization budgets in consultation with the Executive Board of the RSGA
  • What it really means Similar to SGA, the graduate schools have their own student government with allocated funding to support the development of relationships and communication between all graduate programs at Emory.
• Manage all financial accounts of student organizations at RSPH in accordance with the monetary code set forth by Emory University
  • What it really means This is one of the greater responsibilities of the treasurer. Based on the feedback from the RSGA board and history of expenditures, the treasurer creates a budget in March for the following Academic year . The treasurer is also responsible for working with the newly elected student group treasurers to create realistic budgets designed to promote the success and growth of each student group. This process involves a lot of communication.
• Assist in reimbursement processes for RSPH student organizations, RSGA members, and conference participants
  • What it really means RSGA manages the Conference Reimbursement program, which is an excellent opportunity for any RSPH student to ease the financial burden of attending an academic conference. RSGA will cover the cost of “what it takes to get there” (e.g. conference registration & travel) up to a total of $200 depending on the distance traveled and amount of conference fees. In addition to that, the treasurer signs-off on any reimbursement issued to a student from a student group at Rollins.
• Must demonstrate proficiency and integrity in handling routine monetary proceedings
  • What it really means The treasurer is key to defining the interpretation of the University monetary code. Though it seems there is a lot of gray space, consistent interpretation of the financial policy ensures the most appropriate and beneficial usage of the student activity fee (SAF).
• Estimated 5-8 hours work per week
  • What it really means In addition to basic duties, the treasurer is responsible to hold regular office hours in the RSGA office (along with all members of the Executive Board). These hours are used (most of the time to study), but also to answer questions in person, and to accept requests for supplementary-funding from student group treasurers. The treasurer is then responsible for relaying the details of the supplementary funding reqeust to the RSGA board prior to a vote.

Additional Details:

• I attend the Executive Board meetings on a bi-weekly basis
• If you have any questions and/or are interested in learning more about my position and RSGA, plan to attend the RSGA information session in the CNR auditorium on Tuesday August 23^rd from 12:00-1:00pm in the CNR Auditorium. The deadline to submit an application is Wednesday August 24^that 5pm.
• Interviews for the treasurer position will take place on Friday August 26th based on your availability.
• Mandatory Emory treasurer training for fall is scheduled for August 29 and August 30, 2016, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Harlan Cinema in the DUC. (Just keep this in mind! In addition to this training session the new treasurer will have a scheduled training with me to ask as many questions as needed!)

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any concerns! I would be happy to answer any questions about school, RSGA, or student life at Rollins! I hope I haven’t bored you with my explanation of the job – there are many perks that I didn’t mention but you just have to wait for.

Wishing everyone a wonderful last month of summer!

Sosi Papazian (sosi.papazian@emoryhealthcare.org)