New Graduate Program Directors Orientation

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New Graduate Program Directors Orientation

• August 30, 2007
• Martin Kreiswirth, Associate Provost (Graduate
  Education)
• Dean, Graduate Postdoctoral Studies

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Some important issues

• Working Together Roles and duties of Graduate
  Program Directors, the Assoc Provost, and
  Associate Deans
• Admissions
• Conflict Resolution
• FAQs/Information Sources
• Supervision
• Funding

• Retention
• Research Integrity and Responsibility
• Intellectual Property
• Postdocs
• Career development
• New Graduate Education Environment
• McGills Response

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Administration of Graduate Postdoctoral
Studies at McGill

• Responsibility for graduate programs is shared by
  the Deans of the Faculties and the Dean of
  Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
• As you well know, many of the details of the
  daily administration of graduate studies takes
  place in the department
• Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) is
  responsible for the central administration of
  graduate studies, including admissions,
  registration, fellowships, theses, graduation,
  some funding, and overall quality assurance

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GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIESOrganizational
OverviewBlack Deans Office, James Building,
3rd floor, room 325Red Graduate and
Postdoctoral Studies Office, James Building, 4th
floor, room 400
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Role/Duties of Associate Provost (Graduate
Education), Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral
Studies

• Graduate education
• advancing and promoting a strategy for
  strengthening the quality of graduate and
  postdoctoral education across the university
• Graduate programs
• facilitating the development and enhancement of
  graduate programs and the resources necessary for
  achieving these goals
• Graduate students
• improving the overall academic and non-academic
  graduate student and postdoctoral experience

• Collaboration with Faculties and all stakeholders
  involved in graduate and postdoctoral studies to
  achieve goals
• Oversee GPS and graduate and postdoctoral
  activities at McGill
• Act as an advocate for Graduate and Postdoctoral
  Studies, both intra- and extra-murally
• Develop policies, strategies, and processes to
  position McGill among the top graduate and
  postdoctoral institutions internationally

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Role/Duties of Associate Deans of Graduate and
Postdoctoral Studies

• Disciplinary Officers for graduate students and
  postdocs
• Help departments with serious difficulty and
  problematic supervisory situations
• Program development

• Work with Associate Provost, Faculty Associate
  Deans, and GPDs, in planning and policy
  development
• Oversight
• Fellowships and Awards
• Appeals

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Formal Interactionof GPS with University

• Either Dean or Assoc. Dean a member of
• Council on Graduate Studies
• Research Policy Committee
• Subcommittee on Courses and Teaching Programs
• Academic Policy Committee
• University Committee on Scholarships and Student
  Aid
• University Admission Committee
• Committee on Student Affairs

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Graduate Studies and Postdoc Communication with
Units

• Announcements, regulations, etc. on the website
  (will be made even more user-friendly in the
  Fall)
• Graduate studies messages are sent from GPS
  through the GRADPROG Listserv to all
  departments. Departments convey the messages to
  all professors and graduate students
• The Graduate Studies Advisory Committee, which is
  made up of an Associate Dean from each Faculty,
  is an important venue for sharing information on
  graduate studies. The Associate Dean
  representing your Faculty on the committee is a
  conduit between GPS and your Faculty Dean,
  Department Chairs and Graduate Program Directors.
  Information thus passes back and forth between
  the Associate Dean, GPS, and all Faculty
  stakeholders.
• Postdoc messages are sent to postdocs and
  supervisors on the POSTDOC Listserv
• The Dean and Associate Deans of GPS meet with
  GPDs biannually

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Role of the Graduate Program Director

• Communication link between departments and the
  Deans Office and GSPO email pathways and
  website
• With GPS, instruct students re procedures
  policies
• Interpret GPS policies guidelines for the
  department
• Mediate in problematic supervisory situations
• Participate in planning
• Monitor and implement program design

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Expectations for the Graduate Program Director

• Know the universitys policies and procedures
  (general information booklet and Green Book)
• Know the departments written policies (handbook)
• Inform students professors of policies
  procedures and funding possibilities
• Keep Chair and Faculty Associate Dean informed

• Inform students professors of your role as
  mediator and of pathways for resolving conflict
• Inform students professors of supervisory
  processes practices
• Attend meetings information workshops on
  graduate education

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Who Are They?

• Total graduate students 2006-7 7,375
• (including graduate degree, certificate diploma
  students)
• Men 3,517
• Women 3,858
• __________________________
• Quebec 4,613
• Other Canada 1,357
• International 1,405
• ____________________________
• Masters 3,466
• Doctoral 2,597
• NB These data report the university of origin of
  the student
• Graduate Admission and Registration Statistics
  are available in Minerva Reports.

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Admissions

• GPS Viewbook is available for your admissions
  packages and recruitment efforts
• More on this later
• Admissions letters require careful wording See
  Dos and Donts
• www.mcgill.ca/files/gps/aadmissionletterguideline
  sR.pdf
• Potential Students Guide on CAGS website
  (www.cags.ca) very useful

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The GPS Website

• Designed to give FULL information
• Important updates coming
• We still answer the telephone at 398-3990
• People to contact are on the web

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Graduate Student Orientation

• Information for new students
• Tuesday, Sept. 4th, Thursday, Sept. 6th, Thomson
  House
• A mandatory event
• Useful to have Department orientation events as
  well Meyer can provide samples

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Supervision

• Encourage all new professors to attend the
  workshops announced on the listserv
• More attention to this in the coming year

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Pathways for Conflict Resolution

• Sensible admissions
• Clear university departmental policies
• Policies should be explicit and easily avialable
• Students should be well-informed
• GPS is making policies clearer
• Review Departmental policies?
• Post grad studies policies on Website? (Mech.
  Engineering as model)
• Levels of problem solving
• Departmental problem solving
• University problem solving
• Best to solve problems at lowest level, where
  substantive knowledge is frequently highest

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Departmental Problem Solving

• Supervisor
• Supervisor Student
• GPD
• GPD Supervisor
• GPD Student
• GPD Supervisor Student
• Chair
• Chair Supervisor
• Chair Student
• Chair Supervisor Student

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University Problem Solving

• Student ? Ombudsperson ? Assoc. Dean
• ? Supervisor
• Student ? Assoc. Dean ? GPD ? as above
• ? Supervisor ? as above

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GPS Topics

• Graduate student funding
• Improving progress
• Integrity
• Responsible conduct of research
• Intellectual property
• Postdoctoral issues
• Career placement opportunities
• New Environment for Graduate Education
• McGills response

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1. Graduate Student Funding

• Important to attend the Fall workshops on
  graduate fellowships that pertain to your
  disciplinary area
• There are both provincial and federal fellowships
  for graduate students and postdocs
• New Midas program
• Student success is frequently dependent on
  funding
• More on new funding models coming up

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Graduate Student Funding (contd)

• NB
• Graduate fellowships and stipends paid from
  grants are tax-exempt in Quebec RA salaries are
  not. Pay stipends when possible.
• Stipend money from a grant for work on
  research in the area of the students thesis
• RA salary money from a grant for work not in
  the area of a students thesis work

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2. Improving Progress

• Mandatory Annual Progress Tracking Procedure is
  important and GPS will be looking to you this
  year for improvements
• Advisory/supervisory committees are crucial
• GPDs should encourage supervisors to have
  frequent meetings with their students
• Improvement of student experience and program
  design are significant factors
• More on this

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3. Integrity

• Make sure your students understand plagiarism and
  academic dishonesty
• A definition of plagiarism to share is at
  www.mcgill.ca/integrity/studentguide
• It can have grave consequences at the graduate
  level
• Report suspected plagiarism and other forms of
  academic dishonesty to the Associate Dean (GPS)

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4. Responsible Conductof Research

• Make sure your graduate students know about
• Ethical approval for human subjects research
  www.mcgill.ca/rgo/ethics/human/
• Animal care workshops www.mcgill.ca/research/comp
  liance/animal
• Bio-hazardous and radioactive materials
  workshops www.mcgill.ca/ehs/training and
  www.mcgill.ca/ehs/laboratory

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5. Intellectual Property

• Make sure you and your students read our
  intellectual property policy (Red Book) and
  discuss it
• Make sure students working with non-university
  partners sign an NUP agreement with that partner
• Watch for announcement of workshop on the
  listserv
• Make sure you and your students read the
  universitys authorship policy (Red Book) and
  discuss it

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6. Postdoctoral Issues

• Make sure all postdocs are registered with GPS
• The federal research councils will pay for
  mandatory extended insurance for postdocs
• All postdocs are members of PGSS
• PGSS insurance is mandatory
• Encourage your professors to request funding for
  the insurance of their postdocs
• Postdoc GPS Orientation, Sept. 6, Thomson House

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Postdoc Statistics

• Total registered postdocs 2006-7 424
• Men 247
• Women 177
• ____________________________
• Quebec 147
• Other Canada 50
• International 227
• ____________________________
• Postdocs in 2002 283
• Postdocs in summer 2007 546
• NB These data report the university of origin of
  the student

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Postdoctoral Issues (contd)

• Rules for postdoc registration are set by the
  MELS for 5 years, no more than 5 years after
  the PhD
• See MELS website at http//www.mels.gouv.qc.ca
• After time limits postdocs must leave or be
  converted to Research Associates (an employment
  category with benefits and immigration and time
  implications)

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Postdoctoral Issues (contd)

• A letter of agreement for postdoctoral
  education is now necessary for registration
• template is on the website at www.mcgill.ca/gps/po
  stdoc (under Postdoctoral forms)
• Postdocs should not teach more than one course a
  year
• Postdocs need to pay for student services

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Postdoctoral Issues (contd)

• International postdocs in certain fields pay
  reduced provincial income tax
• In Quebec, postdocs are primarily trainees, not
  employees and thus their training experience
  should ideally include opportunities for learning
  (seminars, etc.)
• Fellowships are tax exempt salaries are not
• See the government website www.meq.gouv.qc.ca/ens-
  sup/ens-univ/recherche-univ.asp

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7. Career and Placement Opportunities

• CAPS has a graduate student advisor
• departmental activities
• individual consultations
• university wide workshops on careers in and
  outside of academia
• Encourage your students postdocs to use the
  service and request departmental sessions
• contact CAPS at 398-3304
• More on this

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8. New Recruitment Environment for Graduate
Students

• Competitors (Ontario and Alberta) are putting
  enormous resources into graduate education
• World-wide realization of importance of HQP in
  knowledge-based economy
• Unprecedented competition for high-quality
  students

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Response New McGillGraduate Environment

• As stated in our planning documents, a top
  priority for McGill is a pan-university emphasis
  on graduate student recruitment, retention, and
  high-quality enrolment growth
• Ongoing improvements in funding, graduate student
  experience, supervision, program development,
  times to completion, etc. will be promoted to
  re-brand graduate education in McGill
• Reformulate GPS funding model
• goals
• flexibility and nimbleness, more collaboration
  with units
• coordinated, guaranteed, multi-year funding
  packages
• Capitalize on new MIDAs program
• Introduce new Doctoral travel awards

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Response New McGillGraduate Environment (2)

• Enhance student experience
• Pedagogical Training
• Clear expectations of regulations and program
  requirements
• Emphasis on outcomes
• Aid in language and writing skills
• Assuring adequate space
• Extended Career Development
• Alumni community and outcomes
• Professional Skill Development both academic
  and non-academic
• Cultural and Academic Orientation
• Coordination of Grad student services
• Aid in supporting family life
• New program development interdisciplinarity

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Response New McGillGraduate Environment (3)

• Initiatives to enhance program and researcher
  publicity
• Facilitate and provide resources for website
  development
• Global and Department/Program
• Consistent pan-university information
• Templates for truth in advertising
• Initiatives to aid times to completion and reduce
  attrition
• program development
• Milestones
• Enhance supervision data and workshops

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Response New McGillGraduate Environment (4)

• Improved coordination between GPS and graduate
  programs
• Admissions decisions
• Service and flexibility
• Enhance GPD role and training
• Enhance GPC role and training