mdphd open house 2014

Open House for the MD/PhD program at UBC taking place Friday, September 5, 2014 between 2-5pm in Room 216, AMS Student Union Building, 6138 Student Union Boulevard, UBC Campus.

PHRN 2014 Housing Symposium Call for Abstracts

Wednesday November 19, 2014
1:30p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Richmond BC

The Pacific Housing Research Networkhas a vision to facilitate multi-sectoral housing research activities across BC and foster dialogue and collaboration among housing researchers and stakeholders to encourage the effective application of research results to housing solutions.

The purposeof the Symposium is to encourage multi-sectoral networking and discussion of housing issues, to announce opportunities, to present research results, best practices and ongoing projects, to get input on research that is underway, and to determine housing research priorities. The Symposium will include research presentations, panel discussions, research poster presentations and networking opportunities.

The symposium will be held as part of BC’s Non-Profit Housing Conference, November 16 – 19, 2014, at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel (7551 Westminster Hwy, Richmond BC).  The Conference is organized by the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and is the major education and networking event of the year for the non-profit housing sector in BC. For more information about the conference, please visit conference.bcnpha.ca

Dear Graduate Students,

With rain, comes opportunity. It’s an old Vancouver saying, or it should be. Our newsletter this week is chock-full. Enjoy.

GSS opportunities

Contribute your graduate non-thesis coursework to the GSS cIRcle Open Scholar Award Collection in cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, by September 24th for the chance to win one of two awards of $500, each. Your work will have global reach, which you’ll be able to monitor. For more details about the award and to enter, visit the GSS cIRcle Award’s information page.

Contribute your graduate non-thesis coursework to the GSS cIRcle Open Scholar Award Collection in cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, by September 24th for the chance to win one of two awards of $500, each. Your work will have global reach, which you’ll be able to monitor. For more details about the award and to enter, visit the GSS cIRcle Award’s information page.

Maybe you should become your grad departments representative on the GSS Council. Find out whether your department has a representative, ask them what they’re doing to improve your graduate experience at UBC. Intake of new councillors is coming up at the GSS October council. Want to shake things up? Contact info@gss.ubc.ca

Access and Diversity is seeking graduate students to invigilate exams for students with disabilities. These are part-time positions offering a wage of $16.16/hr. Applications close on August 17th. Open to UBC Graduate students who are not currently taking courses with exams. Please read the full job description and application instructions here.

– Remember when you were new to UBC, and didn’t know where anything was, when it was dawning on you how much set up was involved in your graduate work that had nothing to do with it?! Make yours the friendly, reassuring face incoming graduate students meet this year. Become an Orientation Volunteer! It will be fun. New Graduate Student Orientation, hosted by G+PS, International Student Development and the GSS, runs from Wednesday, August 27th to Friday, August 29th. Register here. Questions? Email: graduate.orientation@ubc.ca

GSS Sponsored Events & Opportunities

Become a mentor with Undergraduate Research Opportunities! URO runs the Research Experience Program (REX), which encourages and facilitates undergraduate students into research. They are currently recruiting mentors (like you!) who will assist students in developing a theoretical research project which they will present as a poster at the MURC conference. Check out their work, and sign up!

– Need a refresher to get into the new semester? Join the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) for the 2014 Summer Institute between August 25 – 29, 2014! This is a series of workshops that focus on exploring new teaching and learning practices relevant to graduate students and teaching assistants.

– Enter the 2014 MAGIC and GRAND I-cubed (I3) Idea, Innovation and Inaugurate Challenge for a chance to win a residency in the MAGIC Lab and in-kind technical and business support/mentoring, as well as some potential seed money for your idea. Register by August 31, 2014.

GSS Research & Conferences

The GSS and the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies is carrying out a qualitative study of graduate students’ perceptions of mentoring. The study will inform and improve mentoring as an integral part of teaching and learning at UBC. We’d love to hear about your experiences and perspectives. Please review the official invitation letter and submit the consent form to sign up. Thanks!

Registration is open for the Instructional Skills Workshop September 13, 14, 20, 2014.  Please note that participants must be able to attend the entire 24 hour workshop.  Please find attached the new policy for registration in the ISW.

The Instructional Skills Workshop is an internationally recognized program and students receive transcript notation for their participation.  It is a 3-day intensive workshop that develops participant’s teaching skills and confidence.  It is appropriate for first time teachers or those with years of experience.  Join the thousands of students who have taken this workshop.

This workshop is always in high demand. To register for the September 13, 14, 20 ISW, please go to: http://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/event-registration/?ee=530

If you have any questions, please contact myself.

Thank you for your interest in the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) offered for
Graduate Students at the UBC Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology (CTLT).
The ISW is an internationally recognized workshop in high demand, resulting in
waitlists averaging 80‐100+ people for each ISW that we offer.
We currently offer the maximum number of ISWs available within our budget.

Our past policy of ‘First come first served’ has resulted in workshops reaching full
enrollment within 10 minutes of announcement and many prospective participants
being placed on waitlists up to 10 times without successfully enrolling in the
workshop. Based on graduate student feedback, we are implementing a new
registration procedure with the goal of making the process more equitable.

Our new registration system places the names of all people registering within the
first 48 hours of the ISW being announced by CTLT to a potential selection list.
Additionally, registrants that have been on a previous ISW waitlist will have their
name added to the potential selection list one additional time for each waitlist they
have been on in the preceding 12 month period.
From the potential selection list, twelve names will be randomly selected and
informed via e‐mail of their opportunity to enroll in the ISW within five business
days. All registrants not selected for the current ISW will be placed on the waitlist.

Here is an example of how this could work in practice:
Sam registers for the March ISW within 48 hours of the ISW being announced by
CTLT and Sam’s name is added to the potential selection list. Sam has also been on
four waitlists for previous ISWs in the last 12 months, thus Sam’s name is added
four additional times to the potential selection list. Sam’s name is therefore on the
potential selection list five times, increasing Sam’s chance when twelve names are
randomly selected from the potential selection list for enrollment in the March ISW.

Thank you again for your interest in the Graduate Student ISW. We hope that this
new system provides greater equity in the enrollment process.

Best regards,
Mischa Makortoff

MISCHA MAKORTOFF | Marketing & Events Assistant
Marketing & Communications
Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology
Irving K. Barber Centre, University of British Columbia
#214-1961 East Mall, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1