2015-2016
Progress
Report
CONTENTS
ON THE COVER
Brittany Palm-Flawd is a Fulbright Scholar from New York, USA and current PhD Candidate in the Department of Biology with the Fish Evolutionary Ecology Research Group. Working with federal agencies and non-profit organizations from different countries, she explores new concepts in fish reproduction to improve Atlantic salmon conservation and management.
INTRODUCTION MANDATE MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN MESSAGE FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN
03 04 05
GRADUATE STUDENTS BY THE NUMBERS
06
ACHIEVEMENTS ENROLMENT MANAGEMENT STUDENT AWARDS NEW PROGRAMS AND COURSES AWARDS
11 12 13 13
IMPACT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS JILLIAN KENDRICK KSHAMA ROY LILY REPA
14 15 16
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
17
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
18
INTERNATIONALIZATION
19
SGS FACULTY/STAFF PROFILE 20 20 21
008 17005
DR. AIMÉE SURPRENANT, DEAN DR. DANINE FARQUHARSON, ASSOCIATE DEAN SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES STAFF
02 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
Mandate THE
SCHOOL
OF
GRADUATE
STUDIES
(SGS)
WAS
under its first dean, Dr. Frederick A. Aldrich. A total of 830 graduate students enrolled in the 51 programs offered at the time. Today, SGS offers over 100 programs to over 3,600 graduate students and oversees more than 60 postdoctoral fellows at the university. It is the central agency responsible for the collection, maintenance, and distribution of materials concerning all graduate students at Memorial. SGS maintains graduate files and administers graduate applications, admissions, comprehensive examinations, thesis examinations, and doctoral defences. SGS is also responsible for registrarial functions, graduate enrolment management and recruitment, and administers graduate student funding including assistantships, external and internal scholarships, baseline fellowships, supervisor support, and federal Tri-Council global payments. ESTABLISHED IN 1975
SGS also assists academic units in developing new program proposals and administers the approval process. Through its Academic Council, SGS also provides a forum for representatives from all faculties, schools and the Graduate Students’ Union to discuss matters pertaining to graduate education and to ensure standards across all graduate programs.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 03
Message from the Dean
had an amazing year in 2015-2016 as enrolment increased to a record 3,687. We are now the largest graduate school in Atlantic Canada and are producing some of the finest graduates in the world. This growth is due to many factors including our distinguished researchers and forward-looking graduate programs. I’m eagerly anticipating the new programs being developed on the St. John’s campus, the Marine Institute, and Grenfell Campus. THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
We continue to focus on all aspects of a graduate student’s experience including: recruitment and admission; retention, training, and support; completion and labour market integration. Ably managed by Andrew Kim, Director of Graduate Enrolment, staff in SGS work together as an integrated team to meet the goals laid out in our Strategic Plan. My thanks for working so hard to provide great service to students. Our collaborations across the university including the Provost’s Office, the Vice-President Research’s Office, the Internationalization Office, Centre for Institutional Analysis and Planning (CIAP), and others are also crucial to our success. Increasing funding for graduate students is a constant struggle. We have boosted our efforts to support students applying for external fellowships by offering workshops on application strategies and writing as well as one-on-one consultations.
04 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
Dr. Danine Farquharson, Associate Dean, Carol Sullivan, Manager, Fellowships and Awards, and Gail Lamkin, Scholarships Officer, spent many hours assisting the students in their pursuit of these awards. Of course, the main focus of our work is supporting our outstanding students and faculty mentors. Many of these talented individuals have been profiled in The Gazette and you will meet some of them in the following pages. Michael Oman-Reagan, Anthropology, and Quinn Webber, Biology, won the Vanier Scholarship, Canada’s most prestigious award for doctoral students. The President’s Award for Graduate Student Supervision went to Dr. Brent Snook, Psychology. The SGS Dean’s Service Awards were awarded to Dr. Leonard Lye and Ms. Joy Simmons. I hope you experience the same sense of pride and accomplishment that I do in reading the stories in this report and seeing the progress made in the past year. We are ready to meet the challenges of the next year and will continue to strive to enhance the experiences and outcomes of our graduate students in the coming years. DR. AIMÉE SURPRENANT D E A N , S C H O O L O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S
Message from the Associate Dean
GRADUATE STUDENTS AT MEMORIALÂ are
passionate about their research, committed to their local and global communities, and devoted to a better future. They work on land and water and in the air, in Newfoundland and Labrador and across the world, in libraries and archives, in laboratories, on social media, in classrooms, with community organizations, with governments, with industries. They build new technologies, they design new neighbourhoods, they develop new means of communication. They challenge established ideas, they create new opportunities, they deepen and broaden our knowledge of history, of ideas, of ethics, and of worlds as we know them and wish them to be. Memorial University’s graduate students are the heartbeat of our research, teaching, and public engagement culture and the School of Graduate Studies is proud to be part of their lives. At a point when many are concerned about the future of our planet, the effectiveness of democratic institutions, the safety of our food and energy supplies (to name but a few anxieties), it is even more imperative to recognize and support these emerging scholars and researchers. Graduate students at Memorial work through programs as different and diverse as Environmental Policy, Political Science, Ocean Sciences, Community Health and
Humanities, and Engineering (again, to name but a few). They are the ones whose ideas, innovations, and initiative will lead in the decades of uncertainty to come. The experience of graduate school brings students into deep study of their disciplines, but it also provides them with the opportunity to build and strengthen their abilities to work independently and in collectives, to make decisions in complex situations, to analyze and evaluate information, and to become effective and persuasive communicators. Graduate students do all these things while also volunteering in their communities, working on campus as research and teaching assistants, working off campus part-time jobs, raising families, taking care of their elders, and organizing and inspiring nonprofit organizations. Their ability to manage their advanced education and lead full lives off campus is astounding. Most annual report introductions will, at this moment, call on readers to recognize graduate students as our leaders of the future. I want to disrupt that convention. Graduate students at Memorial University are leaders right now. D R . D A N I N E FA R Q U H A R S O N A S S O C I AT E D E A N , S C H O O L O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 05
Graduate Students
by the numbers MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO INCREASE
the number of graduate students enrolling in and graduating from our graduate programs. Since 2011, there has been an overall increase of 18% in graduate enrolment at Memorial.
Our out-of-province Canadian and international graduate student population continues to grow. Since 2011 there has been a 21% and 82% increase in students from out-of-province Canadians and international locations, respectively.
TA B L E 1 — G R A D U AT E E N R O L M E N T B Y F A C U LT Y / S C H O O L / C A M P U S CHANGE
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Arts
379
398
439
418
440
16%
Business Administration
161
148
130
131
126
-22%
Education
850
919
893
833
781
-8%
Engineering & Applied Science
376
459
488
559
623
66%
85
93
86
96
95
12%
119
125
113
104
124
4%
80
92
128
151
150
88%
F A C U LT Y / S C H O O L / C A M P U S
Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary* Human Kinetics & Recreation Marine Institute Medicine
2015 / 2011
239
270
293
265
296
24%
Music
19
21
25
21
24
26%
Nursing
93
107
129
131
132
42%
6
3
7
7
9
50%
615
657
713
736
736
20%
97
94
106
112
110
13%
Grenfell
0
0
15
31
41
Unspecified
0
0
0
2
0
3,119
3,386
3,565
3,597
3,687
Pharmacy Science Social Work
T O TA L * includes MAEd, MER, IDPhD
06 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
18%
TA B L E 2 — G R A D U AT E E N R O L M E N T B Y R E G I O N FA L L
PROVINCE
Nova Scotia
2011
2012
FA L L
2013
FA L L
FA L L
2014
2015
FA L L
2015 / 2011
CHANGE
190
193
175
170
149
-21%
Prince Edward Island
21
25
28
26
28
33%
New Brunswick
52
51
64
56
64
23%
Quebec
22
17
11
46
29
32%
Ontario
228
246
278
286
312
37%
Manitoba
13
17
24
22
23
77%
Saskatchewan
13
15
14
14
16
23%
Alberta
49
76
85
89
85
73%
British Columbia
49
61
72
65
81
65%
Northwest Territiories
7
6
6
7
4
-43%
Nunavut
5
6
7
10
13
160%
Yukon
4
4
2
5
4
0%
86
85
96
48
84
-2%
S U B - T O TA L
739
802
862
844
892
21%
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S U B - T O TA L
646
791
909
1,038
1,178
82%
Other* O U T- O F - P R O V I N C E
NEWFOUNDLAND & L A B R A D O R S U B - T O TA L
1,734
1,793
1,764
1,715
1,617
-7%
T O TA L
3,119
3,386
3,565
3,597
3,687
18%
* Canadian citizens applying with an international address
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 07
Graduate Students
by the numbers F I G U R E 1 — I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R A D U AT E E N R O L M E N T B Y R E G I O N 2,000
NUMBER OF STUDENTS
1,800 1,600 1,400
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
1,200 NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
1,000 800
O U T- O F - P R O V I N C E CANADIAN
600 400 200 0
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
FALL SEMESTER
TA B L E 3 — I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R A D U AT E E N R O L M E N T B Y C I T I Z E N S H I P
Asia
CHANGE
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2015 / 2011 51%
377
454
513
556
571
Europe
53
55
62
62
71
34%
Latin America / Caribbean
18
24
30
37
50
178%
113
145
177
201
241
113%
52
53
56
68
73
40%
Middle East & North Africa North America Pacific Oceania Sub-Saharan Africa T O TA L
08 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
2
1
2
2
3
50%
31
59
69
112
169
445%
646
791
909
1,038
1,178
82%
F I G U R E 2 — I N T E R N AT I O N A L G R A D U AT E E N R O L M E N T
THERE WAS AN OVERALL increase
of 18% in the number of graduate degrees and diplomas awarded at Convocation ceremonies in 2015. Memorial awarded a total of 901 graduate degrees in 2015 compared to 763 in 2011.
NUMBER OF STUDENTS
1,178 1,038
1,000 800
909 791 646
600 400 200 0
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
FALL SEMESTER
TA B L E 4 — G R A D U AT E D I P L O M A / D E G R E E S C O N F E R R E D B Y D I S C I P L I N E 2013
2014
2015
2015 / 2011
12
9
10
8
9
-25%
—
—
2
1
1
—
Professional
24
21
24
26
30
25%
Sciences
23
34
28
40
21
-9%
S U B - T O TA L
59
64
64
75
61
3%
Arts
91
80
81
105
76
-16%
F A C U LT Y
Doctoral
Arts Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary*
Master’s
Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary*
2011
CHANGE
2012
DEGREE
14
31
14
20
23
64%
489
523
553
577
611
25%
91
89
101
109
110
21%
S U B - T O TA L
685
723
749
811
820
20%
19
23
15
20
20
-13%
T O TA L
763
810
828
906
901
18%
Professional Sciences Graduate Diploma
* includes MAEd, MER, IDPhD SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 09
Graduate Students
by the numbers FIGURE 3 — DOCTORAL DEGREES CONFERRED BY DISCIPLINE
NUMBER OF CONFERRED
40 ARTS
35 30
INTERDISCIPLINARY
25 20
PROFESSIONAL
15 10
SCIENCES
5 0
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
YEAR
NUMBER OF CONFERRED
FIGURE 4 — MASTER’S DEGREES CONFERRED BY DISCIPLINE
600
ARTS
500 400
INTERDISCIPLINARY
300 200
PROFESSIONAL
100 0
SCIENCES 2011
2012
2013 YEAR
10 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
2014
2015
Highlights of the year Graduate student enrolment increased by 18% (Fall 2015 versus Fall 2011). More than $21 million in financial support was provided to graduate students from internal and external sources. Tw o e s t e e m e d h o n o u r s w e r e a w a r d e d : t h e P r e s i d e n t ’s A w a r d f o r O u t s t a n d i n g Graduate and Postgraduate Supervision and the School of Graduate Studies D e a n ’s A w a r d s f o r S e r v i c e E x c e l l e n c e . Memorial provided financial support to over 1,600 graduate students.
Enrolment Management SGS’S GRADUATE STRATEGIC ENROLMENT management
plan continues to guide Memorial’s efforts to increase the number of graduate students and improve conditions for student success. The plan has hinged on partnerships with multiple academic and service units across the institution. The outcomes have been exceptional and include the following: The total number of graduate students grew by 3% from 2013 to 2015. The number of international graduate students grew by 30% from 2013 to 2015. The number of students in doctoral programs grew by 17% from 2013 to 2015.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 11
Student Awards A total of $545,530 in internal scholarships was awarded in 2015-2016 to graduate students. Of the 154 awards and scholarships available for graduate students, 10 were newly created last y e a r. Graduate students at Memorial continue to excel in external scholarship competitions.
12 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
16 master’s students were awarded Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Scholarship, valued at $17,500. Three doctoral students were awarded the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, valued at $20,000 per year for a maximum of four years, and two doctoral students were awarded the SSHRC Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Scholarship valued at $35,000 per year for a maximum of three years. IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FIELDS,
AMONG SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS, 11
master’s students were awarded the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Scholarship valued at $17,500. Five doctoral students were awarded the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, valued at $21,000 per year for a maximum of three years. Two recipients were also awarded the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Scholarship valued at $35,000 per year for a maximum of three years.
New Programs and Courses One new graduate program, the Master of Marine Studies (Marine Spatial Planning and Management), was approved by Senate in 2015-2016. Several enhancements were made to existing graduate programs offered by Memorial during this period. A large number of new programs across all of the major campuses are currently in development and expected to be available in the coming a c a d e m i c y e a r.
Awards IN 2016, Dr.
Brent Snook was awarded the 2016 President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate and Postgraduate Supervision. The award is presented to a graduate supervisor who demonstrates exemplary supervisory behaviours and serves as an outstanding role model for other supervisors to emulate. Dr. Snook is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Memorial University, with research pertaining to the study of human behaviour within the criminal justice system. He has a 12-year track record in graduate student supervision, having acted as supervisor or co-supervisor for approximately 19 graduate students, and contributed to the success of all of the graduate students in the department through his service as Graduate Officer. Dr. Snook is noted for treating his graduate students as colleagues and values their input through an inclusive and supportive learning environment. IN 2016, Dr.
Leonard Lye and Ms. Joy Simmons were awarded the School of Graduate Studies Dean’s Awards for Service Excellence. The Dean’s Awards recognize the work and contributions of graduate staff members that exceeds the expectations for those positions. Dr. Leonard Lye is Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and has been involved with graduate students since first starting at Memorial in 1988. Graduate enrolment in the faculty has doubled since he became Associate Dean and he has managed this tremendous growth very successfully. He has made significant improvements of staff morale, streamlining of various processes, promotion of graduate studies, and in providing academic and non-academic services to graduate students and faculty. Ms. Joy Simmons is Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, and has been a member of the Department since 1982. One of the most important aspects of her work is serving graduate students. She is the most important source of information regarding program and university regulations, and students have approached her for assistance with personal issues and conflict resolution, which she handles with empathy. She has been instrumental in fulfilling the goals of the Department and its graduate program. SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 13
Impact of
Graduate Students
J I L LIA N K EN DRI CK Getting rocks to tell you a story may sound impossible, but Jillian Kendrick, a graduate student in the Master of Science in Earth Sciences program at Memorial, is up to the challenge. Jillian completed her Bachelor of Science with a major in Earth Sciences at Dalhousie University. Her project supervisor there was an alumna of Memorial University who had previously collaborated with several faculty members from Memorial, including Dr. Aphrodite Indares, Jillian’s current supervisor. Thinking Dr. Indares’ work would be a good match to Jillian’s research interests, her former supervisor encouraged Jillian to explore Memorial for her graduate degree. Jillian admits that a personal recommendation from her trusted advisor went along way in helping her choose where to study next. Other
convincing factors included Memorial’s Earth Sciences department’s reputation and the university’s east coast location. Originally from Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, Jillian wanted to remain close to home, while also experiencing life somewhere new. Working with Dr. Indares, Jillian specializes in metamorphic petrology. She studies rocks that were caught up in a massive mountain-building event over one billion years ago. By examining the rocks’ minerals and their relationship to one another, she hopes to unravel what happened to those rocks so long ago. The minerals Jillian studies were once thought to be relatively simple, but using novel analytical techniques, she’s on her way to exposing their true and much more complex recorded story. Rocks are a natural record of Earth’s processes and history. They hold so much truth – some
“M E TA M O R P H I C R O C K S IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND M A N Y PA R T S O F T H E W O R L D RECORD EVIDENCE OF MAJOR TECTONIC EVENTS, AND BY EXAMINING MINERALS IN N E W W AY S , W E C A N A D D M O R E D E TA I L T O T H E S T O R Y. ”
14 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
of which Jillian hopes to expose through her research at Memorial. Reconstructing Earth’s history through the study of metamorphic petrology is like reading an adventure story about Earth’s building blocks forming and moving, mountain ranges growing, ocean floors deepening, and even the destruction of some continents as new ones are born. It’s an exciting story, one that Jillian would like to add more detail to. Having received an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Dr. Alfred K. Snelgrove Scholarship, and the F.A. Aldrich Graduate Award during her time at Memorial, it’s clear that Jillian is talented and dedicated to her work. Once she’s completed her Master’s, she intends to pursue a PhD then a career in research, mostly likely in academia.
K S H A MA ROY Sometimes the motivation you need to pursue your goals can be found in a few simple words of wisdom. Kshama Roy knew he’d found the right school for his graduate studies when he read the words provehito in altum – launch forth into the deep. Kshama felt Memorial University’s motto embodied the pioneering spirit of his aspirations for research, and from that point on everything else seemed to fall in place. Having earned his B.Sc. (Engineering) in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Kshama set out to find an ideal school for the next leg of his research career. While exploring North American schools he discovered Memorial University and its inspiring motto. Memorial’s Civil and Geotechnical Engineering
graduate program offered the right scope to pursue his interests, unique facilities not available anywhere else in Canada, and he considered Memorial to be one of the leading Canadian universities in offshore geotechnical engineering. He appreciated how students were encouraged to pursue research projects under the guidance of supervisors from a relevant array of academic disciplines. Ultimately, it was the opportunity to hone his technical skills in collaboration with other universities and world-class professors that won him over. As a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil Engineering, Kshama specializes in pipeline geotechnics. He hopes outcomes from his research will be used to predict the response of pipelines subjected to geohazards, such as submarine slope failure or ground subsidence. Kshama finished his master’s degree in 2012,
and is expected to complete his PhD in April 2017. He credits part of his success to the supervision of several pioneering professors in geotechnical engineering, including Dr. Bipul Hawlader. Since starting at Memorial, Kshama has earned over 20 awards and accolades, including the RDC Ocean Industries Student Research Award, an award given to 20 promising researchers pursuing ocean industries-related studies for the strategic development of Newfoundland and Labrador. These awards encouraged him to stay at Memorial, a place he believes offers the best in onshore/offshore geotechnical engineering related challenges, and to continue his research work at the PhD level.
“I N A L L M Y Y E A R S O F E X P E R I E N C E , S O M E P E O P L E S TA N D O U T F O R T H E I R G R E AT L E A D E R S H I P A N D S U P E R V I S O RY Q U A L I T I E S A N D D R . B I P U L H A W L A D E R I S D E F I N I T E LY ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE AND I R E A L LY F E E L V E R Y L U C K Y T O WORK UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF HIM.”
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 15
Impact of
Graduate Students
L I LY R EPA Big dreams start with a good sleep, which can be hard to come by for many stressed, hardworking students. Lily Repa, pursuing a Doctor of Psychology degree in the field of clinical psychology, aims to better understand sleep and the barriers students face when seeking a good night’s rest. Having earned a Bachelor of Science with specialization in Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Lily moved to St. John’s, to attend Memorial University, one of the few universities in Canada that offers the unique PsyD program she was seeking. Moving halfway across the country would a big change, but Lily found herself charmed by this region of Canada and was lured into taking an adventure.
At Memorial, Dr. Shelia Garland supervises her research work. While Lily always knew she wanted to pursue clinical psychology, an ambition fueled by her strong forensic perspective and deep curiosity, Lily credits Dr. Garland with helping her find a passion in the study of sleep. Lily’s doctoral thesis is a campus-wide survey on the sleep, health, and wellness of MUN students. In addition to its primary focus on sleep, the survey probes a wide array of healthand wellness-related areas, including physical activity, hypnotic and stimulant use, mood, social support, and mindfulness. She hopes the data will help to inform prevention and/or intervention programs for MUN students experiencing sleep problems through collaboration with the Student Wellness and Counselling Centre. Currently, this is the largest survey of sleep, health, and wellness
ever conducted at a Canadian university, and Lily hopes it will help fill a gap in the literature that has, until now, been dominated by American and International research. Lily is the recipient of the Terra Nova Aboriginal Doctoral Student scholarship, awarded to a full-time Aboriginal student pursuing a doctorate degree at MUN. The award, combined with encouragement from Dr. Garland and the faculty, gives Lily confidence to push herself during the tougher parts of her studies. While she looks forward to one day entering the workforce to use her training to provide services for marginalized members of the population, including Aboriginal peoples, Lily isn’t in a rush to arrive at that destination. She says she’s enjoying the journey and the adventure that goes along with it.
“I N T E R M S O F R E S E A R C H , I C A N S AY T H AT A LT H O U G H S L E E P W A S N ’ T S O M E T H I N G T H AT H A D C R O S S E D M Y M I N D B E F O R E G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S , D R . G A R L A N D H A S T R U LY I N S P I R E D M Y PA S S I O N F O R T H E A R E A . ”
16 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
Professional
Development
PSDP
initiates and supports pan-university collaboration to provide graduate students with professional skills beyond their disciplines. Designed for all graduate students, Enhanced Development of the Graduate Experience (EDGE) is a comprehensive collection of professional development programs and services to help provide students with the complementary skills required to be successful in their lives after graduate school. EDGE fosters skills and knowledge around various themes such as communication, leadership, career development, global competencies, teaching and research. Some of the major programs and services include:
WRITING SKILLS
THE
THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
SERVICES & PROGRAMS ETP CAREER DEVELOPMENT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
TRAINING
PROGRAM
(ETP) for
GRADSWEP TSEP
Graduate Students is a 16-week program designed and developed to raise awareness of entrepreneurship and new venture creation as viable career options among international graduate students. The ETP also aims to nurture stronger communication, analytical, leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills in students leading to better integration, success, and employability. CAREER
DEVELOPMENT
AND
EXPERIENTIAL
offers a series of eight career development workshops for graduate students focused on career enhancement and the job search on an ongoing basis each semester. LEARNING (CDEL)
THE PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
for International Students is an eight-week, non-credit certificate program offered each semester which helps prepare international students for professional employment in North America. It covers themes of communication, culture, volunteering and interactive professional skill development. (PSDP)
in the spring and fall semesters, the Thesis Writing Retreat is an intensive one-week program designed to help graduate students make significant progress on or complete their theses. It provides a dedicated time and space free from distractions to help students write within a supportive and interdisciplinary intellectual community. OFFERED BY THE WRITING CENTRE
THE
GRADUATE
STUDENT
WORK
EXPERIENCE
provides Memorial’s graduate students with the opportunity to participate in 75hour job placements and is directed by a Memorial faculty or staff supervisor. The program provides relevant career experience in the student’s area of study and connects the student with a community organization for all or part of his/her hours worked. PROGRAM (GRADSWEP)
THE TEACHING SKILLS ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM
is a two-semester, non-credit program that provides graduate students with training and practice in teaching at the undergraduate level. (TSEP)
More details on these and additional EDGE programming can be found at: www.mun.ca/sgs/edge.php SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 17
Financial Support F U NDING & SC HO L A R SHI PS
FUNDING FROM MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY SOURCES Fellowships Scholarships
Memorial University continues to build on its success to increase graduate student enrolment by providing competitive funding packages and accessing additional financial resources to help support our graduate students in their research activities. Financial support from internal and external sources to Memorial graduate students has once again surpassed $20 million dollars. Internal funding helps student’s professional development through graduate assistantships and conference travel assistance. Our exceptional students are recognized financially from TriCouncil agencies, provincial funding agencies and through the support of faculty research grants. All these funding sources gives students access to competitive financial support to pursue their studies at Memorial University.
18 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
Departmental Funding (includes GAs)
$ 7,817,140 $ 545,530 $ 3,298,044 $ 71,826
Student Conference Travel Assistance T O TA L I N T E R N A L S O U R C E S
$ 11,732,540
FUNDING FROM SOURCES EXTERNAL TO MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY NSERC
$ 510,713
SSHRC
$ 901,710
Research and Development Corporation Scholarships
$ 405,000
Faculty Research Grants T O TA L E X T E R N A L S O U R C E S
TOTAL FUNDING SOURCES
$ 7,947,299 $ 9,764,722 $ 21,497,262
Memorial provided financial support to 1,675 graduate students (1,047 master’s students and 628 PhD students). The funding sources include fellowships, graduate assistantships, departmental support, grant funding and scholarships. DURING 2015-16 YEAR,
Internationalization S G S c o n t i n u e d i t s w o r k i n 2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6 t o s u p p o r t M e m o r i a l ’s b r o a d e r i n t e r n a t i o n a l i z a t i o n s t r a t e g y by attracting international students and developing high-value support services and programs. Among the more notable achievements are the following: SGS’s international graduate recruitment strategy yielded impressive results. The use of a combination of e-marketing, webinars, foreign social media, and direct sales has helped increase the total number of international graduate students at Memorial by 30% from 2013 to 2015.
SGS continues to work with Student Life to offer career and professional skills programming for international graduate students. The EDGE program offers a comprehensive range of relevant workshops and sessions for graduate students to make the transition to the labour market more seamless and successful.
SGS participated in the 2015 PhD China Workshop in Beijing, recruiting PhD students through a joint sponsorship agreement with the China Scholarship Council, the China Scholarship Council - Memorial University of Newfoundland Joint Funding Program. A similar strategy is underway in a number of countries, including Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil.
In 2015, SGS and the Internationalization Office were awarded funding through ACOA’s Business Development Program to continue the Entrepreneurial Training Program for international graduate students. Memorial’s first-of-its-kind program aims to develop both the entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours as well as provide training in technical and managerial competencies necessary to create new ventures, and makes use of a combination of lectures, social events, special presentations, one-to-one advising, and mentorship.
SGS continues to negotiate MOUs with high-potential partner institutions at various international education conferences. With funding from Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), SGS and the Internationalization Office pursued new institution-level agreements. The MOUs confirm intent between Memorial and its partners to undertake any number of activities, such as: the exchange of faculty members; undergraduate and graduate student mobility; joint research projects, teaching and faculty development; development of joint initiatives with partner institutions, including joint or collaborative degree programs; opportunities for full-degree fee paying undergraduate/graduate study; and an exchange of publications, research materials or newsletters.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 19
SGS Faculty
Faculty Profile D R . A IMÉ E SURPREN AN T D E A N , S C H O O L O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S Dr. Aimée Surprenant is dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Professor in the Department of Psychology. She completed her BA at New York University and her MSc and PhD at Yale University. An expert in the intersection of auditory perception and memory, Dr. Surprenant is the coauthor of two books; Human Memory: An Introduction to Research, Data, and Theory, and Principles of Memory. She has also authored, edited and contributed to numerous book chapters, papers, publications and other
scholarly articles. She is a member of the Acoustical Society of America, the Canadian Acoustics Association and the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science and is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychonomic Society. She has also served as chair of the Scientific Affairs Committee for the Canadian Psychological Association and is active in Science Atlantic and the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science.
D R . DA NINE FARQUHARSON A S S O C I AT E D E A N , S C H O O L O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S Dr. Danine Farquharson is Associate Dean, School of Graduate Studies, and Associate Professor of English. An established scholar in Irish literature who also teaches literary theory and British literature, Danine is engaged in Cold Water Oil: a joint research project with Dr. Fiona Polack that contributes to the field of Energy Humanities. They examine how the North Atlantic offshore oil and gas industry is imagined in a wide range of high and popular contexts – everything from oil company
20 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT
websites, to government-sponsored documentaries to literary fiction. Danine’s publications include Shadows of the Gunmen: Violence and Culture in Modern Ireland (Cork UP, 2008, with Dr. Sean Farrell) and Energy Image (forthcoming, with Dr. Arthur Mason). She’s a member of the Petrocultures Research Cluster, the Canadian Association for Irish Studies, and the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English.
Dr. Aimée Surprenant
School of Graduate Studies Staff (2015-2016)
Dean, School of Graduate Studies Dr. Danine Farquharson
Associate Dean, School of Graduate Studies Dr. Susan Drodge
Public Servant in Residence Ms. Katrina Arbuckle
Fellowships Officer Ms. Ruby Barron
Programs Officer Ms. Julie Bowering Senior Career Development Coordinator Ms. Libby Carew Entrepreneurship Training Program (ETP) Coordinator Ms. Athena Farr Applications Officer Ms. Heather Harris Applications Officer
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2015-2016 PROGRESS REPORT 21
Ms. Ashley Hurley
Marketing Coordinator
Ms. Carol Sullivan Manager, Fellowships and Awards
Admissions Officer
Ms. Annette Williams Secretary to the Deans
Ms. Cassandra Kean
Ms. Sharon Winsor
Receptionist
Records and Registration Officer
Mr. Andrew Kim
Ms. Chunyan Zhu
Ms. Kim Hearn
Director, Graduate Enrolment Services Ms. Gail Lamkin
Scholarships Officer Mr. Sheridan Moores
Financial Assistant Ms. Dawn Quinton Programs Assistant Ms. Krista Shea Committees Secretary
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Recruitment and Retention Coordinator
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES M EM OR I A L U N I V E R S I T Y O F NEW F O U N D L A N D
ST. JOHN’S
NL
T. 709 864 2445
A1C 5S7
CANADA
F. 709 864 4702
www.mun.ca/sgs
sgs@mun.ca