Today on University Affairs’ website, there’s a great article by UBC’s own Danielle Barkley, of the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers, called “Finding your community in grad school”. In it, she talks about two different communities that students need: one outside the university, and one inside.

Why is the inside community important? Barkley notes that these are people

who can share the experience because they’re also pursuing graduate studies, or have done so in the past. These are individuals who care as much about a (possibly obscure) topic as you do. They can pick up your references; they laugh at your highly specific jokes. These people will make all the difference when you need to talk to someone who just gets it.

It’s usually relatively easy to find these people in one’s own department. It’s often hard to find them beyond the departmental confines: not because they’re not out there, but because students are so often siloized in their departments that it’s just hard to connect with people in other departments and disciplines.

Spaces like the Research Commons are designed to facilitate this kind of cross-disciplinary community building. Through workshops, peer consultations, writing and research communites, and other opportunities, graduate students can meet and build connections with their peers from across the university who “just get it”.

The best way to to that? In person, in a space dedicated to those students.

Where can’t you do it? In an administrator’s office.