2017-18
Progress
Report
CONTENTS ON THE COVER INTRODUCTION MANDATE
03
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
04
MESSAGE FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN
05
GRADUATE STUDIES BY THE NUMBERS
2017-18 recipients of prestigious graduate scholarships and postdoctoral awards. Kori Andrea, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, was a
06
recipient of a 2018 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, valued at $50,000 a year for three years. Dr. Robie
ACHIEVEMENTS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
11
ENROLMENT MANAGEMENT
11
STUDENT AWARDS
12
NEW PROGRAMS AND COURSES
13
Awoonor-Williams, a PhD student in the Department of
AWARDS
13
Chemistry, Faculty of Science, was a recipient of a 2017
Hennigar was recipient of a 2018 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, valued at $70,000 a year for two years. Ernest
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, valued at $50,000
IMPACT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS & POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS
a year for three years.
KORI ANDREA
14
ERNEST WILLIAMS
15
ROBIE HENNIGAR
16
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
17
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
18
INTERNATIONALIZATION
19
SGS FACULTY/STAFF PROFILE DR. AIMÉE SURPRENANT, ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT (ACADEMIC) AND DEAN DR. DANINE FARQUHARSON, ASSOCIATE DEAN
20 21-22 008 19007
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES STAFF
20
02 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 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 more than 110 programs to more than 3,800 graduate students and oversees close to 100 post-doctoral fellows at Memorial 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 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 03
Message from the
Dean
THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES had another great year in 2017-18. We continue to produce some of the finest graduates in the world. This excellence is due to many factors including our distinguished researchers and forward-looking graduate programs. I’m eagerly anticipating a number of new programs currently being developed on the St. John’s campus, the Marine Institute, and Grenfell Campus.
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. Ably managed by Andrew Kim, director of graduate enrolment, SGS staff work together as an integrated team to meet the goals laid out in our Strategic Enrolment Management 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. Dr. Danine Farquharson, associate dean, Carol Sullivan, manager, fellowships and awards, and Gail Lamkin,
04 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
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. Ernest Awoonor-Williams and Kori Andrea, in chemistry were recipients of the 2017 and 2018 Vanier Scholarship, Canada’s most prestigious award for doctoral students. Dr. Robie Hennigar, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, is our latest Banting Post-doctoral scholar. The President’s Award for Graduate Student Supervision went to Dr. Meghan Burchell, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. We are very pleased that Ms. Donna Fitzgerald, Faculty of Business Administration was recognized with the President’s Awards for Exemplary Service. I hope you experience the same sense of pride and accomplishment that I do while 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 A S S O C I AT E V I C E - P R E S I D E N T ( A C A D E M I C ) A N D D E A N O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S
Message from the
Associate Dean
MEMORIAL’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. 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, and they develop new means of communication. They challenge established ideas, create new opportunities, and both deepen and broaden our knowledge of history, of ideas, of ethics, and of worlds as we know them and wish them to be. They are passionate about their research, committed to their local and global communities, and devoted to a better future.
initiative will lead us in the decades of uncertainty to come. The experience of graduate school brings students into deep study of their disciplines, but also provides them with opportunities 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. 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
At a time when we 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 imperative to recognize and support these researchers. Graduate students at Memorial work through programs as diverse as environmental policy, political science, ocean sciences, community health and humanities, and engineering (again, to name but a few). Their ideas, innovations, and
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 05
Graduate Studies
by the numbers MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO INCREASE the
number of graduate students enrolling in and, graduating from, our graduate programs. Since 2013, there has been an overall increase of six per cent in graduate enrolment at Memorial.
The International graduate student population continues a pattern of strong growth. Since 2013 there has been a 48 per cent increase in international student enrolment. Out-of-province student population increased one per cent.
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 — F A L L S E M E S T E R CHANGE
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Business Administration
130
131
126
132
147
13%
Education
893
833
781
729
729
-18%
Engineering & Applied Science
488
559
623
671
643
32%
86
96
95
87
68
-21%
Human Kinetics & Recreation
113
104
124
119
104
-8%
Humanities and Social Science
418
395
419
460
466
11%
Marine Institute
128
151
150
191
191
49%
Medicine
293
265
296
305
320
9%
46
44
45
53
50
9%
129
131
132
118
122
-5%
7
7
9
10
12
71%
Science
713
736
736
727
749
5%
Social Work
106
112
110
104
110
4%
15
31
41
53
63
320%
0
2
0
0
0
3,565
3,597
3,687
3,759
3,774
F A C U LT Y / S C H O O L / C A M P U S
Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary*
Music** Nursing*** Pharmacy
Grenfell Unspecified T O TA L
2017 vs. 2013
6%
* includes MAEd., MER, IDPhD ** As of 2016, the ethnomusicology graduate students previously counted with humanities and social ciences, are now counted with usic. The 2013-15 data has been restated to reflect this change. * * * I n c l u d e s s t u d e n t s e n ro l l e d a t t h e C e n t re f o r N u r s i n g S t u d i e s a n d t h e We s t e r n R e g i o n a l S c h o o l o f N u r s i n g . 06 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
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 CHANGE
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2017 vs. 2013
175
170
149
153
135
-23%
Prince Edward Island
28
26
28
27
30
7%
New Brunswick
64
56
64
45
51
-20%
PROVINCE
Nova Scotia
Quebec
45
46
29
36
41
-9%
Ontario
278
286
312
314
300
8%
Manitoba
24
22
23
25
24
0%
Saskatchewan
14
14
16
18
15
7%
Alberta
85
89
85
105
92
8%
British Columbia
72
65
81
80
87
21%
Northwest Territiories
6
7
4
10
9
50%
Nunavut
7
10
13
6
9
29%
Yukon
2
5
4
3
2
0%
62
48
84
92
79
27%
Other* O U T- O F - P R O V I N C E S U B - T O TA L
862
844
892
914
874
1%
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S U B - T O TA L
909
1,038
1,178
1,272
1,346
48%
& L A B R A D O R S U B - T O TA L
1,794
1,715
1,617
1,573
1,554
-13%
T O TA L
3,565
3,597
3,687
3,759
3,774
6%
NEWFOUNDLAND
*Canadian citizens applying with an international address.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 07
Graduate Studies
by the numbers F I G U R E 1 — 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
2013
2015
2014
2016
2017
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
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2017 vs. 2013 11%
513
556
571
569
569
Europe
62
62
71
81
98
58%
Latin America / Caribbean
30
37
50
64
86
187%
177
201
241
277
315
78%
56
68
73
78
86
54%
2
2
3
2
3
50%
69
112
169
203
189
174%
909
1,038
1,178
1,274
1,346
48%
Middle East & North Africa North America Pacific Oceania Sub-Saharan Africa T O TA L 08 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
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 S T U D E N T E N R O L M E N T
NUMBER OF STUDENTS
1,400 1,178
1,200 1,000
1,346
1,272
909
1,038
800 600 400 200 0
2013
2014
2016
2015
2017
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 2014
2015
2016
2017
2017 vs. 2013
10
8
9
12
13
30%
2
1
1
0
3
50%
Professional
24
26
30
26
57
138%
Sciences
28
40
21
41
33
18%
S U B - T O TA L
64
75
61
79
106
66%
Arts
81
105
76
94
95
17% 100%
F A C U LT Y
Doctoral
Arts Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary*
Master’s
CHANGE
2013
DEGREE
Graduate Studies — Interdisciplinary*
14
20
23
21
28
Professional
553
577
611
620
590
7%
Sciences
101
109
110
112
122
21%
S U B - T O TA L
749
811
820
847
835
11%
15
20
20
23
37
147%
T O TA L
828
906
901
949
978
18%
Graduate Diploma
* includes MAEd., MER, IDPhD
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 09
Graduate Studies
by the numbers FIGURE 3 — DOCTORAL DEGREES CONFERRED BY DISCIPLINE
NUMBER CONFERRED
60 ARTS
50 40
INTERDISCIPLINARY
30 PROFESSIONAL
20 10 0
SCIENCES 2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
YEAR
THERE WAS AN OVERALL INCREASE of 18 per cent in the number of graduate degrees and diplomas awarded at convocation ceremonies since 2013. Memorial
awarded a total of 978 graduate degrees in 2017, compared to 828 in 2013.
FIGURE 4 — MASTER’S DEGREES CONFERRED BY DISCIPLINE
NUMBER CONFERRED
700 600
ARTS
500 INTERDISCIPLINARY
400 300
PROFESSIONAL
200 100 0
SCIENCES 2013
2014
2015 YEAR
10 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
2016
2017
Highlights of the year Recipient of a Banting Post-doctoral F e l l o w s h i p , D r. R o b i e H e n n i g a r, c h o s e Memorial University as the university at which to further his research in thermodynamics of black holes. Memorial doctoral student, Kori Andrea, from the Department of Chemistry was a w a r d e d t h e p r e s t i g i o u s Va n i e r C a n a d a Graduate Scholarship Award. Nineteen new graduate programs were approved by Senate in 2017-2018. Graduate student enrolment increased by 6 per cent between fall 2013 and fall 2017.
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 hinges on partnerships with multiple academic and service units across the institution. Outcomes have been exceptional and include the following: The total number of graduate students grew by two per cent from 2015 to 2017. The number of international graduate students grew by 14 per cent from 2015 to 2017. The total number of students graduating from graduate programs grew by 8.5 per cent from 2015 to 2017.
More than 1,700 graduate students had access to more than $23 million in financial support from various internal and external sources. The first-of-its-kind in Canada “Bake Yo u r T h e s i s ” c o m p e t i t i o n w a s f e a t u r e d i n U n i v e r s i t y A f f a i r s , b r i n g i n g M e m o r i a l ’s research to a wider public.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 11
Student Awards A total of $776,378 in internal graduate student scholarships was awarded in 2017-18. Of the 177 awards and scholarships available for graduate students, 19 were n e w l y c r e a t e d l a s t y e a r. Graduate students at Memorial continue to excel in external scholarship competitions. Some examples of their success include:
FROM THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ,
17 master’s students were the awarded Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Scholarship, valued at $17,500 per award. 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.
FIVE DOCTORAL STUDENTS WERE AWARDED
FROM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FIELDS , nine 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.
the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, valued at $21,000 per year for a maximum of three years. Four 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.
FIVE DOCTORAL STUDENTS WERE AWARDED
ONE DOCTORAL STUDENT was the recipient of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (NSERC) valued at $50,000 for a maximum of three years.
12 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
New Programs and Courses Nineteen new graduate programs were approved by Senate in 201718: the Doctor of Philosophy in scientific computing, the Master of Applied Science in energy systems engineering, the Master of Applied Science in safety and risk engineering, the Master of Business Administration in social enterprise and entrepreneurship, the Master of Fine Arts in visual arts, the Master of Occupational H e a l t h a n d S a f e t y, a n d t h e Graduate Diploma in business administration, arts, and engineering and applied science. 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 academic y e a r.
Awards PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING GRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION
The award is presented to a graduate or postgraduate supervisor who demonstrates exemplary supervisory behaviours and serves as an outstanding role model for other supervisors to emulate. Dr. Elizabeth Yeoman was awarded the 2018 President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate and Postgraduate Supervision. Dr. Yeoman is a professor in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University. In her 27 years at Memorial, she has supervised, or mentored a total of 55 graduate students in five different academic programs (four outside her home faculty). She has also co-supervised students at the University of Salamanca in Spain and Shanghai Jiaotog University in China, thereby extending Memorial’s profile and global connections. Dr. Yeoman’s career as a supervisor and mentor is best described as creative, collaborative, inclusive and interdisciplinary. 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. In 2018, Dr. Meghan Burchell and Ms. Donna Fitzgerald were awarded the School of Graduate Studies Dean’s Award for Service Excellence. Dr. Meghan Burchell has served in the role as graduate officer with the Department of Archeology since 2015. In this short time, Dr. Burchell has been responsible for new initiatives and positive outcomes. Notably, she actively promotes the graduate program in archeology to national and international audiences, making the program one of the most successful archeology programs in North America. She is successful in securing significant amounts of external funding, which has been used for the installation of the Applied Archeology Sciences Laboratory. She continues to mold the graduate students into a strong and academically-vibrant cohort. Ms. Fitzgerald is the program administrator for the MER/PhD and M.Sc. in management programs, Faculty of Business Administration, and has been a member of the faculty since 2003. Ms. Fitzgerald plays a pivotal role in the whole student process, beginning with the initial application and progressing through to program completion at Memorial. She contributes innovative suggestions to increase the quality of the applications to the M.Sc. and PhD programs, and to improve the administrative process. She has been “the core, and in fact the heart, of our programs.” SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 13
Impact of
Graduate Students KO R I A NDR E A Whether in chemistry or in life, Kori Andrea says it’s all about making the right bonds. In her PhD work studying green chemistry, Ms. Andrea is exploring novel combinations of chemical bonds to create new, more sustainable materials that will hopefully lead to less pollution on Earth. However, it’s the bonds she’s created with her peers, supervisors, and professors over the years that have helped her get to where she is today. With the intention of strengthening Canada’s ability to attract and retain world-class doctoral students and establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning, the Vanier program awarded Ms. Andrea a 2018 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, valued at $50,000 a year for three years. Ms. Andrea says the scholarship has significantly lessened the financial burden that weighs on all students, enabling her to concentrate more on her work. Attempting to help combat the overall emissions crisis happening in the world today, Ms. Andrea’s research is taking some of the heightened amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and turning it into something useful. The goal is to reduce emissions and create a new material that leads to less waste pollution. Ms. Andrea has chosen to focus on plastic, creating a biodegradable polymer that breaks down naturally at the end of its lifecycle. She says there
14 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
are bacteria in our environment that are adept at breaking down carbon-oxygen bonds, and by creating a new polymer out of carbon dioxide, any plastic waste from the use of this new material will break down naturally using processes that already exist in nature. She says the goal isn’t necessarily to replace the man-made petroleumbased plastics we currently use, but to find an alternative. This new polymer has the potential to undergo further tests and experiments where it can be altered to perform better under a variety of conditions, like temperature, for use in a broad spectrum of applications. Even though she has a Vanier scholarship, she still finds time to be a teaching assistant. However, she doesn’t do it for the money. She finds teaching and interacting with undergraduates rewarding, and she’s grateful for the teaching assistants who helped her along the way, so now she wishes to pay it forward. Kori stresses to students that hard work, curiosity, dedication — all of these things will help you go far in research, but nothing could be more beneficial than the bonds you build with those around you during your studies. “You need to love what you’re doing, you need to be a hard worker, you need to surround yourself with people to help you succeed, and everything else kind of falls into place.”
E R NE S T WI LLI AMS When you award a student a scholarship, what you’re really giving them is the opportunity to give something back to society. In Ernest Awoonor-William’s case, he set himself the goal of contributing to the next generation of medical researchers. When he was awarded the Vanier Scholarship in 2017, Mr. Williams was given a chance to improve the efficacy of tomorrow’s cancer treatments. At 17, Mr. Williams left his parents and siblings in Accra, Ghana and travelled thousands of kilometres to complete his undergraduate degree at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., where he majored in chemistry (honours) and minored in math and biochemistry. He found it hard living away from home. The climate, culture, food and cost of living were completely different from the life he was used to in the tropics. But like most international students who leave home to study abroad, he adapted and found joy in experiencing new things. However, he was soon ready for a change of scenery. He looked east to Memorial and was inspired to join the Rowley group, a research group led by Dr. Chris Rowley focused on computer modelling techniques used in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Williams says that as an international student, affordable tuition was also an important factor
in his decision to come to Memorial, and that his love for the city has since grown due to its natural beauty and local hospitality. Now as a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mr. Williams is focused on computer-aided drug discovery. Using computer software to develop better medicines for the future, he identifies druggable targets in biological enzymes whose malfunction can lead to physiological disorders such as cancer and inflammation. The ultimate goal of his research is to enhance the efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs, with the goal of improving cancer treatments. He considers it an honour to have been awarded the Vanier Scholarship and is very grateful to the Government of Canada for supporting not only his future success, but potentially everyone’s. “St. John’s is a beautiful city and the hospitality of its inhabitants is second to none.”
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 15
Impact of
Graduate Students RO B I E H E NNI G A R
16 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
Some forces of nature are too strong to be reckoned with, like gravity or the need to answer one’s true calling. Dr. Robie Hennigar truly understands the power of both these phenomena, as he has built a career around his passion of studying the thermodynamics of black holes. Recognized nationally and internationally as a postdoctoral researcher who will positively and significantly contribute to Canada’s economic, social and research-based growth, Dr. Hennigar is the recipient of a 2018 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, valued at $70,000 a year for two years. A theoretical physicist from Chester Grant, N.S., Dr. Hennigar completed his PhD at the University of Waterloo before meeting Dr. Ivan Booth, his primary supervisor, at a conference on black hole physics in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was inspired by the work being done by drs. Booth and Kunduri in the field of gravitation physics, an expertise closely related and somewhat complementary to his own. Originally from Atlantic Canada, Dr. Hennigar was eager to return to the region, but he credits his relationship with drs. Booth and Kunduri, as well as their help in securing a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, as the reasons he ultimately came to work at Memorial. As part of Memorial’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, Dr. Hennigar studies the thermodynamic properties of black holes. He’s interested in exploring the interplay between gravity,
quantum field theory and quantum information theory in a way that furthers our understanding of all three areas. As it turns out, black holes are an effective way to accomplish this. A large part of his research to date has revolved around black hole phase transitions. Just like how water boils, changing from liquid to gas, black holes can undergo phase transitions as their temperature changes, due to quantum effects. These phase transitions are expected to be a consequence of microscopic degrees of freedom in the gravitation field, and by studying them, he hopes to gain some insight into what a quantum theory of gravity is capable of. Dr. Hennigar has always yearned to understand how things work. He says he enjoys studying physics because it allows him to explore reality itself. While he’s considered alternative avenues of research throughout his studies, the puzzle of theoretical black hole physics continued to lure him back, time and time again. Having received the highly competitive Banting Fellowship, Dr. Hennigar feels validated by his decision to answer his true calling, and looks forward to exploring the many doors that this fellowship will open for his future research activities. Dr. Hennigar has been accepted to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting in Germany during this summer. “Because of the Banting, I will be able to continue to direct intense focus on my research and it will provide plenty of funding to present my results at conferences, while also allowing me to maintain existing — and forge new — collaborations.”
Professional
Development
PSDP
THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 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 during and 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 are as follows:
WRITING SKILLS
THE
SERVICES & PROGRAMS ETP CAREER DEVELOPMENT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
TRAINING
TSEP
for international students is an eight-week, non-credit certificate program offered each semester that helps prepare international students for professional employment in North America. It covers topics such as communication, culture, volunteering, and interactive professional skill development.
(PSDP)
(offered by the Writing Centre in the spring and fall semesters) is an intensive one-week program designed to help graduate students make significant progress on, or complete their thesis. It provides dedicated time and space free from distractions to help students write within a supportive and interdisciplinary intellectual community.
THE THESIS WRITING RETREAT
PROGRAM
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.
THE
CAREER
(TSEP)
(ETP) for
GRADSWEP
THE PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
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)
GRADUATE
STUDENT
WORK
EXPERIENCE
provides Memorial’s graduate students with the opportunity to participate in 75-hour job placements, providing relevant career experience in the student’s area of study and connecting the student with a community organization for all or part of hours worked, and directed by a Memorial faculty or staff supervisor.
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. More details on these and additional EDGE programming can be found at: www.mun.ca/sgs/edge.php. SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 17
Financial Support F U NDING & SC HO L A R SHI PS
FUNDING FROM MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY SOURCES Fellowships Scholarships
Financial support from all sources, internal and external, to Memorial graduate students has once again surpassed $20 million. 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. 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 give students access to competitive financial support to pursue their studies at Memorial University.
18 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
Departmental Funding (includes GAs) Student Conference Travel Assistance T O TA L I N T E R N A L S O U R C E S
$ 9,166,953 $ 776,378 $ 3,647,766 $ 122,702 $ 13,713,799
FUNDING FROM SOURCES EXTERNAL TO MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY NSERC SSHRC Faculty Research Grants
$ 693,481 $ 742,086 $ 8,751,802
T O TA L E X T E R N A L S O U R C E S
$ 10,187,369
TOTAL FUNDING SOURCES
$ 23,901,168
DURING THE 2017-18 ACADEMIC YEAR , Memorial provided financial support to 1,730 graduate students (1,020 master’s students and 710 PhD students). The funding sources include fellowships, graduate assistantships, departmental support, grant funding, and scholarships.
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 7 - 1 8 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 follows below: SGS’s international graduate recruitment strategy, using a combination of e-marketing, webinars, and direct sales, has helped increase the total number of international graduate students at Memorial by 14 per cent from 2015 to 2017. SGS participated in the 2017 PhD China Workshop, recruiting PhD students through the China Scholarship Council - Memorial University of Newfoundland Joint Funding Program. A similar joint sponsorship agreement strategy is underway in a number of countries, including Vietnam, Mexico and Brazil. SGS continues to negotiate MOUs with high-potential partner institutions at various international education conferences. With funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), SGS and the Internationalization Office pursued new institutionlevel 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.
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. In 2017, 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 develops both the entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviours as well as provide training in technical and managerial competencies necessary to create new ventures, and employs a combination of lectures, social events, special presentations, one-to-one advising, and mentorship.
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 19
SGS Faculty/Staff profile D R . AIMÉE SURPRENANT A S S O C I AT E V I C E - P R E S I D E N T ( A C A D E M I C ) A N D D E A N O F G R A D U AT E S T U D I E S Dr. Aimée Surprenant is associate vice-president (academic), dean, School of Graduate Studies, and professor in the Department of Psychology. She completed her BA at New York University and her M.Sc. and PhD at Yale University. An expert in the intersection of auditory perception and memory, Dr. Surprenant is the co-author 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 Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Psychonomic Society and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies and the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools.
D R . DANINE FARQUHAR 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 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 websites, to government-sponsored documentaries to literary fiction. Danine’s 20 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
publications include Shadows of the Gunmen: Violence and Culture in Modern Ireland (Cork UP, 2008, with Dr. Sean Farrell) and Cold Water Oil (forthcoming, with Dr. Fiona Polack). She is a co-founder with Dr. Julia Wright of SSHORE (Social Sciences and Humanities Oceans Research and Education initiative), and 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
Associate Vice-President (Academic) and Dean of Graduate Studies Dr. Danine Farquharson
School of Graduate Studies Staff
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 Co-ordinator
(CURRENT)
Ms. Michelle Corbett
Financial Assistant Ms. Athena Farr
Applications Officer Ms. Heather Harris
Applications Officer Ms. Ashley Hurley
Marketing Co-ordinator Ms. Kim Hearn
Admissions Officer SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT 21
Ms. Diana Joanes
Ms. Annette Williams
Programs Assistant
Secretary to the Associate Vice-President (Academic) and Dean of Graduate Studies
Ms. Cassandra Kean
Receptionist
Ms. Sharon Winsor
Records and Registration Officer Mr. Andrew Kim
Director, Graduate Enrolment Services Ms. Gail Lamkin
Scholarships Officer Mr. Keir McIsaac
Recruitment and Retention Co-ordinator Ms. Krista Shea
Committees Secretary Ms. Carol Sullivan
Manager, Fellowships and Awards Ms. Grace Tatigian
Entrepreneurship Training Program (ETP) Co-ordinator
22 SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES 2017-18 PROGRESS REPORT
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES MEMORIAL U N I V E R S I T Y OF NEW F OU NDL A ND
ST. JOHN’S
NL
T. 709 864 2445
A1C 5S7
CANADA
F. 709 864 4702
www.mun.ca/sgs
sgs@mun.ca