Attention:  All currently registered LFS research-based graduate students

Next month, sixteen new research-based graduate students will be starting their programs in LFS.  Our first-ever virtual orientation is scheduled for early September.  We’re excited to meet with our new incoming students and give them an introduction to our Faculty.

An important aspect of the student experience is the connections made with other graduate students within and outside of their own program.  Peer support is invaluable and can have an impact on a student’s success.   Establishing connections for our incoming students this year will be challenging as many of them won’t be here physically.

We’re hoping to create a mentor/coach peer program that would match new incoming students with current, senior graduate students.   The LFS Grad Office will be preparing a template that you can use for your introduction email along with some general program guidelines.  We want to keep this really informal for this year, but we hope to consult with the LFS Grad Student Council and LFS Faculty to get their input on where this program could go in the future.  For this year, we just want to make sure we do whatever we can to let our new incoming students feel as welcomed and supported as possible during these times of uncertainty and distance.

If you would be interested in participating in this program, please reply by Thursday, August 20th.   When you reply, could you also include a couple of questions you may have had as an incoming student, especially those where you didn’t know who to go to for answers?  I’m hoping to put together a quick point-form FAQ for the students based on your feedback.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you, in advance, for your participation.

Shelley

Shelley Small
Administrative Manager, Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
The University of British Columbia
Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Room 293 MacMillan Building
2357 Main Mall Vancouver BC  V6T 1Z4
Phone:  604-822-4593       Fax:  604-822-4400
lfs.gradmgr@ubc.ca          www.landfood.ubc.ca