STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
STUDENT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (SEC)
Website: Student Executive Council
The SEC is the official student government of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine which meets on a monthly basis to discuss issues, exchange information, and make decisions that effect students at Pitt Med. Its membership consists of SEC Executive Officers, SEC Committee Chairpersons, Official Representatives of the SEC, Class Officers, representatives from student organizations and general members. Representatives from the Administrative Offices attend SEC meetings to work with student groups on joint concerns.
The SEC Committees provide many services for the medical students at the school including: coordinating fund- raising for the student-initiated SEC Endowment Fund, collecting information on medical informatics and study abroad opportunities and representing Pitt medical students on the Admissions Committee, the Faculty Executive Committee, the University's Graduate and Professional Student Association (GSPA) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
All members of the School of Medicine are eligible to become voting members and/or serve on committees of the SEC.
STUDENT EXECUTIVE COUNCIL ENDOWMENT FUND BY-LAWS ARTICLE I
Object
The object of this fund is to eliminate as much student debt as possible, especially that incurred through the borrowing of HEAL Loans. Every year, revenue earned by the fund shall be paid out in the form of scholarships.
ARTICLE II Policy Making Power
Section 1: This fund will be established as part of the University's endowment under the terms and conditions as set forth in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Student Executive Council Endowed Scholarship Fund Agreement dated May 6, 1992 and incorporated as Article XI.
Section 2: The SEC shall have full policy making power regarding the use of the revenue from the fund. All actions regarding the usage of the fund's revenue must be approved by a majority vote of the SEC.
Section 3: If the SEC is no longer a governing body, then the President, Vice-President, and two elected representatives of all four current medical school classes will assume full policy making power and all actions regarding the fund must be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of this policy making power.
Section 4: If the SEC is no longer a governing body and there are no longer class officers, the collective medical school student body will elect four (4) medical students from each of the four current medical school classes. These sixteen (16) people will assume full policy making power regarding the fund and all actions regarding the fund must be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of this policy making power.
Section 5: The policy making power shall select two (2) medical students to serve as liaisons between the University and the policy making power.
ARTICLE III Responsibility of the Student Liaison
Section 1: The appointed student liaisons shall have the responsibility of making certain that any changes to the fund, approved by the SEC or appropriate power, are implemented. In addition, the liaisons will be responsible to make certain that the goals of the fund are being met by those assigned to help distribute the scholarship
ARTICLE IV Enactment of Changes
Section 1: The appointed student liaisons should maintain contact, on at least a bi-annual basis, with the Director of Financial Management of the Medical School. The Director of Financial Management will be the contact person between the students and the University of Pittsburgh's Treasurer's Office, through which the fund is invested.
Section 2: The Director of the Financial Management will require a copy of the Official SEC minutes, signed by the current Secretary and President, which outlines the decisions regarding changes in any aspect of the fund, before such actions are implemented.
Section 3: If the SEC is no longer a governing body, a written proposal of the actions must be signed by 2/3 of the 16 total representatives of all four medical school classes and presented to the Director of Financial Management before such actions are implemented.
ARTICLE V Changes permitted
Section 1: The fund is always to remain for the purpose of providing scholarships to medical students for the purpose of reducing educational debt.
Section 2: The policy making power may agree to change the criteria used to decide to whom the scholarship is awarded provided the criteria is in some way related to educational financial indebtedness and that parental information is never used as a discriminating criteria.
Section 3: The voting power may agree to change the amount of money awarded per student, which will directly affect the number of scholarships awarded per year.
ARTICLE VI Scholarship Criteria
Section 1: The student shall be a rising fourth year medical student. If at such time, the fund becomes large enough to rid all rising fourth year students of the need to borrow from the HEAL program, then rising third year students may also be considered. The same will apply to rising second year students and incoming students once the class ahead of them has been relieved of all HEAL dependency for the upcoming year.
Section 2: The student must have a demonstrable need such as a large existing HEAL indebtedness of the need to borrow from the HEAL program for the upcoming year without the said scholarship. At no time is parental information to be considered with regards to eligibility to receive the said scholarship.
Section 3: The student with the highest current HEAL debt who also has the highest expected HEAL indebtedness for the upcoming year will be considered as a candidate for this scholarship. In addition, all students with total and expected HEAL indebtedness within 10% of this amount will also be considered as candidates for this scholarship. In the event that the HEAL loan program is discontinued, then the loan program which replaces it is considered a loan of last resort will used to determine extreme educational indebtedness.
Section 4: The students' involvement in medically oriented educational activities will be used to decide the scholarship awardee.
Section 5: In the event that several students have similar involvement with medically oriented educational activities, then other traditional educational loan indebtedness, such as that borrowed from SLS or Stafford, but not those considered University Aid or borrowed from private outside agencies, may be used to decide the recipient of the scholarship.
ARTICLE VII Scholarship Awards
Section 1: The scholarships shall be awarded at the beginning of the Fall term.
Section 2: The amount awarded should be at least $1,000.
Section 3: In the event that the total amount to be awarded does not total $1,000, the entire amount shall be awarded to the student fulfilling the highest overall criteria.
Section 4: In the event that the total amount to be awarded is greater than $1,000 but is not divisible evenly by 1,000, the following shall apply. If the remaining amount is less than $250, that remaining amount, in addition to the original scholarship award amount, will be awarded to the student fulfilling the highest overall criteria. If the remaining amount is greater than $250, an additional student will be chosen to receive the lesser scholarship. The person receiving the lesser scholarship shall be the student fulfilling the next highest overall criteria out of those students already deemed most eligible.
ARTICLE VIII Scholarship Awarding Committee
Section 1: This committee will select the scholarship recipient and will consist of at least four (4) persons, half of which must be students.
Section 2: The appointed student liaisons shall be members of this committee in order to make certain that the recipient of the scholarship meets the criteria deemed most important by the establishers of the fund.
Section 3: There shall be two (2) representatives of the Medical School's Administrative staff on this committee, the Director of Financial Aid and the Dean of Students. Their only role with regards to the fund is to help fairly decide which students best fulfill the criteria for receipt of the scholarship.
ARTICLE IX Awarding of the Scholarship
Section 1: The committee will decide upon the recipient of the scholarship between May 1 and July 1. The awardees will be notified of their selection as recipients of the scholarship by August 1.
Section 2: The scholarship money will be distributed through the Office of Financial Aid of the School of Medicine
Section 3: The scholarship award shall be sent directly to the bursar's office for deduction from the student's tuition account. The student will be responsible for complying with all rules and regulations of the Financial Aid Office for receiving scholarship money, including signing or appropriate forms.
ARTICLE X Amendments
Articles VI, VII, VIII, AND IX may be amended by a 2/3 majority vote of the policy making
body, the other articles may be amended by a 90% majority of the policy making body.
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Alpha Omega Alpha is a national medical honor society whose aims are the "promotion of scholarship and research in medical schools, the encouragement of a high standard of character and conduct among medical students and graduates, and the recognition of high attainment in medical science, practice and related fields." Election to AOA is a distinction which accompanies a physician throughout his/her career. Members are selected from junior and senior medical classes, house officers and faculty of the University, and as honorary members.
Students elected to the society are men and women who, in the judgement of the local chapter, have shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession. Criteria for election include scholastic excellence, integrity, and leadership abilities. The number of students elected to the local chapter may not exceed one-sixth of those expected to graduate from each class, with one quarter of these invited to join during the junior year.
Activities of the Gamma Chapter at the University of Pittsburgh include, sponsoring the
annual AOA lecture by a prominent individual in medicine. Additionally, the chapter has
continued it tradition of service to the community by beginning a recruitment project that
encourages medical students to register with the National Marrow Donor Registry as
potential bone marrow donors.
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The student branch of the AAMC is comprised of representatives from all U.S. Medical
Schools. The goal of the OSR is to influence undergraduate medical education
through student input. Meetings are held bi-annually to discuss the concerns of students
in general and from these meetings proposals are made to the AAMC. To be accurate about
the concerns of his/her school the representative must have active communication with
his/her classmates. Be concerned about your education and talk to your representative.
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The Scope & Scalpel Society is a fourth-year drama society created in 1955. Each year, Scope & Scalpel produces a spoof play on the weekend before graduation. Past productions have included ""Coldfinger"" in 1965, ""The Sound of Mucus"" in 1974, ""Back to the Suture"" in 1990 and this year’’s 50th Anniversary production entitled ""Lasix: Unloaded.. The senior class writes, directs, and produces the play, which typically lampoons the trials and tribulations of four years of medical school in Pittsburgh. Scope & Scalpel is the largest amateur performance in Western Pennsylvania and the longest running production in Pittsburgh.
Talent is welcome from all four classes in the areas of band, stage crew, lighting and sound, technical assistance, costumes and props. To join in the fun and to gain experience for your own Scope & Scalpel production, volunteer! The producers will solicit help in the spring.
C. F. Reynolds Medical History Society
The C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society, one of the nation’s largest regional history of medicine associations, is a University of Pittsburgh based group of practicing physicians, medical students, and other interested parties in the Western Pennsylvania region who share an appreciation and enjoyment of the broad scope of the history of medicine. The Society sponsors five major lecture/dinner meetings annually, as well as an annual award for the best history of medicine research paper by a University of Pittsburgh medical student. Members of the Society comprise the teaching faculty for the history of medicine courses taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Duquesne University. Speakers for the Society’s lectures are drawn from the national history of medicine scholarly community, as well as from the local Pittsburgh area. Lectures cover a wide range of topics within the history of medicine including biographies of noted medical pioneers, the evolution of particular medical specialties, and the relationship between medicine and art, literature and ethics. The meetings and dinners provide medical students with the opportunity to meet and converse with senior clinical faculty outside of the formal classroom setting. For information about joining the Society contact the Society’s Secretary/Treasurer, Dr. Jonathon Erlen, Curator, History of Medicine, Falk Library of the Health Sciences (412) 648-8927 or erlen@pitt.edu.
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