Friday, February 3, 2012

Gradschool e-News : February 2012

need-to-know

February 27 course drop deadline
The deadline to drop full-year or January-session courses without academic penalty is February 27. After the deadline, late-drop requests are normally only considered considered in cases of valid, documented, health or other serious personal circumstances adversely affecting your ability to complete the coursework. Use the Course Add/Drop form found on the SGS website if making such a request. Late drops need approval from the graduate unit offering the course, your home unit and the School of Graduate Studies.

Undergraduate courses and 500-level courses have their own deadlines to drop without academic penalty. Consult your home unit if in doubt. Withdrawal from courses or programs without academic penalty does not necessarily result in a refund. Check the Student Fees refund schedule for details.

Thesis Submission: What You Need to Know About Going Global
Getting ready to submit your thesis/dissertation? Theses and dissertations are submitted electronically, housed on T-Space - University of Toronto's research repository - and searchable via Google and other search engines, from anywhere in the world. To find out What You Need to Know About Going Global with your thesis, attend the SGS and UT Library Administration workshop March 5 from 11:00-12:00 noon in the OISE Library, 252 Bloor St. W. The workshop will be webcast live to locations at UTM and UTSC or you can view the webcast on your own computer. Registration is required. Visit the News section of the SGS home page for details.

money matters

Travel Grants
Applications for the School of Graduate Studies Travel Grant Program will be open from February 6-24. The program is open only to Ph.D. students in Humanities or Social Science for whom research travel (e.g., fieldwork, consultation of specialists and of primary or secondary sources, etc.) to sites either within or outside Canada is required in order to complete their dissertation.

The SGS Conference Grant Program will also be available during the winter session. Applications will be on-line in early March. Keep checking the News section of the SGS Home Page or Ulife Opportunities in March for more information on the Conference Grant Program.

Child care reimbursement for extra and co-curricular activities
The Family Care Office has a limited amount of funding available to assist with child care costs for St. George campus students wishing to attend extra and co-curricular activities. Students must apply for the child care cost reimbursement at least one business day in advance of the event. See the Family Care Office website for application forms or more information.

Master's tuition fee bursary
The Master's Tuition Fee Bursary (MTFB) fund is awarded to both course-work and research-based Master's students who have exceeded program time limit, yet still have a small amount of work outstanding due to unanticipated delays beyond your control. Apply after you have completed all outstanding degree requirements. If awarded, the bursary is applied to your fees account, reducing the cost of your final session tuition to that of part-time fees. The deadline to apply for the MTFB in the Winter session is March 30 for students in a research program and April 20 for students completing a course-based program.

news

500-million-year-old-news
Ph.D. candidate Lorna O’Brien (Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) and her supervisor, adjunct professor Jean-Bernard Caron (curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum) are making news studying 500-million-year-old fossil remains of some of the earliest complex animals that ever lived on earth. Even the soft tissue of these tulip-shaped creatures is uniquely preserved in the "Tulip Beds" of the Burgess Shale deposits - remnants of an ancient sea that once covered Western Canada.

Healthy, affordable and sustainable café opens on campus
Harvest Noon, a new sustainable, vegetarian café is now open. Located on the second floor of the Graduate Students' Union Building at 16 Bancroft Ave, the cafe offers a variety of tasty, homemade vegetarian and vegan menu options in a relaxed and inclusive space for you to study or take a well-deserved break. Harvest Noon is a project of the Toronto Sustainable Food Co-operative, a campus-based organization initiated by volunteers and members of the student group Hot Yam! in the Fall of 2011. The operation is starting out on entirely volunteer power and there are many opportunities for those who want to get involved - from cooking to accounting. Those who want to know more or get involved are encouraged to stop by the café or send the group an email at volunteers@harvestnoon.com.

upcoming events

Aboriginal Awareness Week
Aboriginal Awareness Week is an annual celebration of Indigenous culture that takes place February 6-10. Participate and learn about Indigenous cultures in Canada and around the world. Events include roundtable discussions, craft workshops, exhibitions, sunrise ceremonies, traditional teachings and cultural exchange.

Should judges be elected?
Join us for an evening of spirited debate and conversation with the Hon. Mr. Justice Ian Binnie (retired) and former Member of Parliament Ian Waddell on the topic "Be it resolved that Canada should elect its judges." Part of the Hart House Debate Committee’s first annual Alumni Debate and a NorthAms co-programming event, Binnie and Waddell will be joined by two law students - Richard Lizius and Anisah Hassan - as they argue either for or against the issue. The formal debate will take place in the historic Debates Room at Hart House, followed by a reception.

Thesis avoidance with style
Explore Toronto's great cultural riches in the company of other stressed-out grad students by taking part in Grad Escapes. Upcoming events include a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame, a guided tour of the Bata Shoe Musuem, The Orpheus Choir of Toronto and Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience. Tickets can be purchased online at bookit.studentlife.utoronto.ca.

supports & resources

Learn business-ready skills with Mitacs Step
The Graduate Professional Skills Program is pleased to announce three upcoming offerings from the Mitacs Step program. The program provides graduate students with opportunities to build professional and transferrable skills, strengthen working relationships, connect with industry, and improve research results and impact. Offerings include Practice Your Presentation Skills (UTSC), Managing Projects (UTM), and Foundations of Project Management I (St. George). To register for GPS and enrol in offerings, please visit the GPS Blackboard Community.

ELWS February/March courses
Online registration for February/March courses offered by the Office of English Language and Writing Support (ELWS) will open Monday, February 6 at 10:00am. ELWS courses are free, non-credit and available exclusively to U of T graduate students. Courses fill quickly so register early to avoid disappointment. ELWS also offers free single-session workshops and one-on-one writing consultations.

Effective journal research for graduate students
Learn how to find the articles that you need efficiently and effectively. This U of T Library workshop will help you find the right journal indexes for your needs, judge when to use a specialized index and when to use one of the brand-new super-indexes, learn to search the indexes like an expert to find the best articles in less time and find the full text of journal articles online or in print. February 8, 1:00pm. Registration required.

Fairness!
The University Ombudsperson offers confidential and impartial advice and assistance on university-related problems to students, faculty and staff on all three campuses. For details visit the Office of the Ombudsperson.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to the CIV-MIN Blog

This is where we compile all the announcements, postings and non-urgent alerts that used to clog up your email inbox. Feel free to scroll through the latest postings organized by date below, or check our categorized listings on the right for the information you want.