Year: 2025

Graduate Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) February 22, March 1 & 8, 2025 Application Opens January 10!

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The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) will be offering a Graduate Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) on February 22, March 1 & 8, 2025.

The Grad ISW is a 24-hour, fully participatory, and peer-based professional development workshop for graduate students that is beneficial to both new and experienced instructors.

Please note: You must attend all sessions and complete all independent work for the complete duration of the workshop, (i.e. the entire 24-hour workshop).

Click the link to apply for the waitlist for February 22, March 1 & 8, 2025 ISW: https://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/events/graduate-instructional-skills-workshop-february-22-march-1-8-2025/

Application opens on January 10 at 9 am and closes on February 19 at 4:30 pm. By clicking this link, you are applying for the WAITLIST only and this DOES NOT register you for the workshop. Graduate ISWs at UBC are in high demand. To create an equitable registration process all graduate students who apply for an ISW will first be enrolled on a waitlist, from which participants are randomly selected. If a participant has applied for more than one ISW waitlist, their name will appear more frequently when generating the participant list, giving them a higher chance of being selected for an ISW. If you are accepted into the workshop, you will be contacted by our office to confirm your registration. For more information and a list of all upcoming sessions visit: http://ctlt.ubc.ca/gradisw

Workshop Eligibility:

Please read the application process and workshop eligibility prior to applying.

A participant who wishes to take the Grad ISW is eligible if they are:

  • a full-time or part-time registered graduate student at UBC during the academic term when the ISW is offered
  • a graduate student at UBC who has completed degree requirements but has not yet convocated
  • a joint degree graduate student who is enrolled at UBC and another institution
  • a graduate student at UBC pursuing non-degree studies
  • a visiting graduate student that is eligible to take courses

 

A participant who wishes to take the Grad ISW is not eligible if they are:

  • not a graduate student at UBC
  • a graduate student at UBC who has on-leave status
  • a visiting graduate student that is not eligible to take courses

 

 

 

Elisa Herman
Event Coordinator
Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
The University of British Columbia

http://www.ctlt.ubc.ca

THESIS DEFENSE – PHD – SOIL – JORDAN KERSEY

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Announces

The Oral Examination for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
(SOIL)

Jordan Kersey

“Evaluation of Agricultural Practices for Regenerative Outcomes in Cropping Systems of Southwestern British Columbia”


Tuesday, January 14th, 2025 – 12:30 PM

 Exam Location: Zoom

 

EXAMINING COMMITTEE

Chair: Dr. S. Mansfield

Supervisory Committee:
Dr. S. Smukler– Supervisor

Dr. K. Mullinix – External member

Dr. M. Krzic– Committee Member

Defense Committee Composition
Dr. S. Smukler – Supervisor

Dr. M. Krzic – Committee member

Dr. A. Black  – University Examiner

Dr. M. Jones – University Examiner

Dr. K. Mullinix– Committee Member

Dr. J. Whalen – External Examiner

Work toward the LFS TA Letter of Completion!

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Happy New Year, LFS TAs! We wanted to remind you about the LFS Advanced TA Skills Letter of Completion, which recognizes TAs who have gone above and beyond to develop teaching skills.

Eligibility:

  • A TA must be a part of the LFS Faculty to receive a letter.
  • TAs must attend 5 independent advanced TA skills training opportunities to receive a letter. These training opportunities can be offered by the LFS TA Training Program, the LFS Learning Centre, The Centre for Teaching Learning and Technology (CTLT) or another recognized TA training entity at UBC. Three of 5 workshops must be completed within LFS programs.
  • The 5 workshops must consist of the following content:
    • 3 workshops related to content in teaching fundamentals.
    • 1 workshop related to content in equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) aspects.
    • 1 workshop related to teaching theory/pedagogy.

Good news! The CTLT is hosting a winter TA Institute, which has many workshops that can count toward your Letter of Completion. Here’s some examples below.

Teaching Fundamentals

  • Establishing a Positive TA Experience Working with Faculty Members: Dos and Don’ts
  • Facilitating Discussions
  • Marking, Assessment, and Feedback as a TA

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

  • Active Learning and Inclusion: Using Student Gender, English as an Additional Language, and Neurodivergence Case Studies
  • Social Class in Our Classrooms

Teaching Theory/Pedagogy

  • Designing High Impact Experiential Learning

See all of the sessions here: https://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/event-category/ctlt-institute/

Not sure where a session that you’re interested in fits? Have questions about the Letter of Completion? Email us! (lexisly@mail.ubc.ca & sbristow@student.ubc.ca)

The Social Value of Hurricane Forecasts

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IOF SEMINAR – January 10, 2025
The Social Value of Hurricane Forecasts
What is the impact and value of hurricane forecasts? We study this question using newly-collected forecast data for the universe of land-falling US hurricanes between 2005–2022. We find higher wind speed forecasts increase pre-landfall protective spending. Erroneous under-forecasts of wind speed increase hurricane damage and after-hurricane rebuilding expenditures. Our main contribution is a new theoretically-grounded approach for estimating the marginal value of forecast improvements. We find that the average annual improvement reduced total per-hurricane costs, inclusive of unobserved protective spending, by over $500,000 per county. Improvements since 2007 reduced costs by 19%, averaging $2 billion per hurricane. This exceeds the annual budget for all federal weather forecasting.
Dr. Renato Molina
Assistant Professor
Environmental and Resource Economics
Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science
University of Miami
Friday, January 10, 2025 – 11:00am  – 12:00 pm
Over Zoom
IOF community members (students, faculty and staff) do not need to RSVP for this seminar series.

UBC members, alumni, and all others, RSVP REQUIRED:
https://oceans.ubc.ca/rsvp-iof-seminars/

GradUpdate – Using Visual Thinking to Communicate the Essence of Graduate Students’ Research, Every Semester Needs a Plan, Writing a Literature Review, Network to career success, TA Institute, Summer Sustainability Scholars Program, Foundations of Pedagog

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GradUpdate

In this issue, Using Visual Thinking to Communicate the Essence of Graduate Students’ Research, Every Semester Needs a Plan, Writing a Literature Review, Network to career success, TA Institute, Summer Sustainability Scholars Program, Foundations of Pedagogy, and more.

Registration Open

Using Visual Thinking to Communicate the Essence of Graduate Students’ Research
Online | Tuesday, Jan 21 | 10 am – 12 pm

Register

Events and Opportunities

A selection of upcoming events are highlighted below. 
Visit  community.grad.ubc.ca and grad.ubc.ca/current-students/professional-development for our full events calendar.

ACADEMIC

Every Semester Needs a Plan
Online | Thursday, Jan 9 | 11 am – 12 pm
Join ncfdd.org through UBC’s subscription, then register.

CAREER

Social Insurance Number (SIN) Clinic
Service Canada agents will be on campus to help you obtain your SIN
In-person | Tuesday, Jan 7 | 9:30 am – 3:30 pm Register

Employer on Campus: Government of Canada
In-person | Thursday, Jan 9 | 12 – 1:30 pm Register

Network your way to career success
Online | Tuesday, Jan 14 | 12 – 1 pm Register

Employer on Campus: Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management
This global investment manager based in Vancouver offers a wide range of roles and career paths. Team members have academic training in the fields of math, science, engineering, data science, and/or computer science. A background in Finance is not a requirement to join their team.
In-person | Thursday, Jan 16 | 1 – 2 pm Register

Entrepreneurship for Arts Graduate Students
A series of three synchronous online and two in-person workshops that will allow you to learn a variety of skills and techniques to develop a venture idea.
Jan 21 – April 1 | various times | Learn more and register

Sustainability Scholars Program, Summer 2025
Paid, part-time internship, May 1 – Aug 15. Learn more at info sessions:
Online | Wednesday, Jan 15 | 12 – 1:30 pm Register
Online | Thursday, Jan 16 | 5 – 7 pm Register
Resumes, Cover Letters & Best Practices: Refining Your Scholars Application Online | Tuesday, Jan 21 | 5 – 6:30 pm Register

Life Sciences BC’s 6th Annual Career Connect Day 2025
This dynamic full-day event brings together life sciences employers from across the sector, post-secondary students, and job seekers.
In-person, Vancouver Convention Centre | Friday, Jan 24 | 9 am – 4 pm | $25
Learn more and register.

RESEARCH

Introduction to Spatial Data in R
Online | Monday & Tuesday, Jan 13 & 14 | 10 – 11 am Register

Data Bites – Best Practices for File Formatting
Online | Tuesday, Jan 14 | 12:30 – 1 pm Register

TEACHING

How Do I Get Started?”: Exploring in/relation and Storying Instructor Experiences
Online | Thursday, Jan 9 | 1 – 2:30 pm Register
Prior to attending, take a tour of the in/relation website and listen to episode 1 of the Stories in/relation podcast.

Foundations of Pedagogy
Online | Feb 3 – March 31 | Mondays 2 – 4:30 pm
Successful completion involves participation in 7 out of 8 classes including pre-work, teaching one 10 minute mini-lesson and writing a first draft of your teaching portfolio. Upon completion, you will be awarded CIRTL Associate status.
Learn more and apply by Jan 13

CTLT TA Institute
Online and in-person | Jan 13 – 16 | various times | Session details & Registration. Sessions include:

  • Establishing a Positive TA Experience Working with Faculty Members: Dos and Don’ts
  • Facilitating Discussions
  • Marking, Assessment, and Feedback as a TA
  • AI in Teaching and Learning Spaces
  • Active Learning and Inclusion: Using Student Gender, English as an Additional Language, and Neurodivergence Case Studies
  • TA’ing a Community Engaged Learning Course: Exploring Roles, Tension Points and Opportunities for Professional Development
  • Leveraging TAship for Future Career & Self-Advocacy, Negotiation, and Boundaries
  • Developing a Classroom Community
  • Learn About Your Rights as a TA: Intro to TA Union
  • Social Class in Our Classrooms
  • Effective Use of the UBC Early Alert System
  • and Designing High Impact Experiential Learning

WRITING AND COMMUNICATION

Writing a Literature Review: Mapping the Scholarly Conversation
Hybrid | Thursday, Jan 16 | 10 – 11:30 am Register

SSHRC Storytellers Challenge
Submit a 3-min video or audio clip of your SSHRC-funded research and win prizes. 3 UBC graduate students were in 2024’s SSHRC Top 25!
Learn more and submit by Tuesday, Jan 21 at 2 pm.

Refined project communication plan
Online Mitacs training | Wednesday, Jan 15 | 9 am – 12 pm | Mandatory online pre-requisite “Enhance your communication skills”.
Learn more and register for this or upcoming sessions through Mitacs Edge.

Framing your project in a masterful presentation
Online Mitacs training | Thursday, Jan 16 | 7 – 10 am | Mandatory online pre-requisite “Refine your writing and presentation skills”.
Learn more and register for this or upcoming sessions through Mitacs Edge.