Third-year philosophy student Amy Liao is running for VP administration on a platform centering around improving the the Nest, improving clubs and AMS subsidiaries' experience and working towards the AMS Sustainability Action Plan (ASAP)’s 2026 goals.
She wants to expand study spaces, streamline health and wellness services and sustain the Commons lounge as a commuter hub by implementing lockers and quiet hours. She also plans to refine the AMS’s hiring website to streamline “job and volunteer postings of constituencies and clubs” to help students “figure out how to get involved within the student community.”
Liao is currently the AMS clubs administrator and noted that her position allowed her to gain a high degree of background knowledge about the AMS’s relationships with stakeholders and campus groups.
“I know about the relations that we have to continue to foster and relations that we have to continue to improve,” said Liao. “To be quite frank, there are relations that the AMS has, groups on campus that we might be ignoring.”
Liao said she has seen what it looks like to be available to clubs as a member of the current office and is a familiar face to club members.
A common theme across all her priorities is transparency.
Liao aims to take a “club-centric” approach to community engagement “through more drop-in style club-hosted activities on site” that amplify the scale and interactivity of campus events while still ensuring that the spotlight remains on AMS clubs, resource groups and constituencies.
She plans to improve the Nest’s booking system by making the “calendar more interactive” and including further details.
Liao also aims to leverage club marketing by building on current initiatives such as Club Corners, and facilitating club relationship development through conferences “to provide a platform for clubs speakers to spark new collaborative initiatives.”
Last year, Liao worked on the consultation group for ASAP and she aligned many of her campaign priorities with the plan’s guidelines to reach net-zero energy by 2025. Liao wants to continue to be an advocate for the plan's goals.
She also seeks to align and collaborate with other sustainability groups on campus such as the UBC Sustainability Hub to implement short-term and long-term goals in decision-making, building operations and programming to enhance sustainability efforts across campus.
Liao wants to add a sustainability training program for executives to the annual orientations, which would be “developed in collaboration with sustainability groups to compile resources that are tailored to club management and event programming.”
Liao pointed out that collaborating with other campus groups will be important in achieving the action plan’s goals despite the AMS’s current financial deficit. She will look to strategize budgeting for the portfolio’s most costly event, Clubs Fair.
“Having more [low budget activities] will really help the financial costs of Clubs Fair,” Liao said. “I personally enjoy these events more because I was able to see relationships being fostered between friends and even between strangers at these events.”
Amy Liao is running for VP administration alongside fellow first-time candidates Jai Sodhi and Kevin Heieis.
This article is part of our 2024 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting February 27.
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