Grad Services at Carleton – A Year in Review
The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs(GS) has spent the last year putting a number of new initiatives in place that are designed to enhance graduate student services at Carleton.
Many of these initiatives are the result of a one-year Benchmarking Committee that Graduate Studies undertook in 2011-12 to better understand what grad students want and to come up with solutions.
As professional services are a priority for grad students, Graduate Studies has now introduced the following:
- a new Grad Services website (PREP Services) that showcases numerous resources and professional services available to Carleton graduate students
- a site that lists all potential training opportunities for graduate students. TAs can find training workshops listed in Carleton Central
- a two-day project management workshop offered by Mitacs. We hope to offer again in the Summer and Fall. Registration for the Mitacs Teambuilding workshop in March is now open.
- in conjunction with the GSA, offered a pilot workshop that teaches grad student how to use visual strategies to organize research and solve problems such as ‘thesis block’
- the new PREP seminar series. Check the website for details
To help grad students better promote their research, Graduate Studies has organized Carleton’s first Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT). The top two winners will compete at the first Ontario 3MT competition. As well, the Graduate Students’ Association, in conjunction with Graduate Studies, will be hosting the inaugural Graduate Student Research Forum on March 27. As well, Graduate Studies created the GRIT award for senior PhD students to help them fund their travel expenses to national and international conferences associated with their research. A story about the winners of this new award is on the Graduate Studies website.
Another area that the Benchmarking Committee recognized as a specific need for graduate students was improved Communication. As such, Graduate Studies:
- has established the Graduate Student Services Committee, which brings together representatives of key service organizations on campus to keep everyone up-to-date with new initiatives being offered to grad students.
- changed the dates that TheGraduate@Carleton newsletter is distributed. It now goes out twice a month on the first and third Wed. of every month (except July and August). Each newsletter profiles a story about one service at Carleton that is relevant to graduate students.
- In conjunction with the GSA and CUPE 4600, hosted a Winter Orientation for new graduate students and TAs to help them with their transition to Carleton.
- Is undertaking a process to make the Graduate Studies website more user-friendly, based, in part, on the results of a grad student focus group held last December.
Together with the Educational Development Centre and the Paul Menton Centre, Graduate Studies has helped to create a new workshop for new faculty on best practices when supervising graduate students. As part of that workshop, three professors who won Graduate Mentoring Awards in 2012 will then share their strategies for effective communication, conflict management, and facilitating completion in their roles as graduate student advisors.