The Black Hole
Is age a proxy for success when launching a biopharma startup?
Without question, Continue reading. Recently, a feature in Forbes (Gray Hair in ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-black-hole/ageism-in-biotech/
Speculative Diction
Many of those of us kicking around the academic Twitterverse over the past few days have been witnessing (and participating in) an intense discussion that’s raised issues at the core of academic values and assumptions about knowledge and research. This discussion has been focused on the “ethics ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/tweeting-out-loud-ethics-knowledge-and-social-media-in-academe/
Speculative Diction
On Thursday March 28th, I participated in a panel titled “The Future of the University in Canada”, at the University of Toronto. The discussion was hosted by Drs. Emily Greenleaf and Pamela Gravestock, who organised it as a part of their undergraduate course on “The University in Canada” (wh...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/the-future-of-the-university-tell-me-about-it/
Speculative Diction
networking for over ten years now, starting with snail mail and leading all the way to Twitter. I’m not particularly sociable by nature, because unfamiliar social situations tend to tire me out; all social interaction is a form of performance, but some people find it more taxing than others. Over ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/theres-no-place-like-here/
Speculative Diction
As my last academic event of the season, I attended Continue reading in Toronto on June 20th and 21st. I’m not going to write about the panel in which I p...
Speculative Diction
There's nothing like the perspective of distance to bring murky issues into focus. I was able to re-discover this recently when I (unexpectedly) ended up spending two weeks in New Zealand, where I travelled on short notice to attend my father’s funeral, then visited extended family afterwards.
...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/priorities-and-productivity/
Speculative Diction
It’s not all that often that we see a case study in Canadian university crisis communications and in particular, where a crisis happens because of a conflict involving fundamental ideas about what universities are for and how they should be governed. That’s one way to look at the recent events a...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/dissecting-the-usask-fiasco/
Speculative Diction
This post is an expanded version of a keynote talk that I presented on August 26, 2014 at the 11th Annual Workshop on Higher Education Reform, at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The post is in two parts, because it’s quite long and I’ve expanded on every point; but hopefully i...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/student-engagement-and-the-phd-part-1/
Speculative Diction
With the new academic year comes a new round of headlines and tweets promoting the Continue reading (THE) results for 2014; and each year, along with THE, other prominent international rankings such a...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/rank-file/
Speculative Diction
Some of you may recall that there was a piece in the ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/speculative-diction/critiques-higher-ed-beyond-animosity-anecdote/
Career Advice
How to find your first postdoctoral fellowship
networking still play an important role in locating appropriate opportunities. Just as with any job search, waiting for the ideal fellowship to appear in your inbox or on the Internet is far too passive, and may leave you with a postdoc that is simply palatable rather than preferred. You are your ow...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/from-your-lab-to-your-livelihood-part-one/
Career Advice
Strategies for success in your postdoc
Click here to read part one of this article.
So you've pinned with the perfect P.I.; now what? Making the most of your fellowship experience requires some foresight and flexibility. Here are some tips to help keep you on the...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/from-your-lab-to-your-livelihood-part-two/
Career Advice
Help in a hurry for your grant proposals
Like the careers of most young researchers, that of Kathy Gottschall-Pass has been marked by highs and lows. Her two initial applications for research funding were rejected by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The experience, she says, was "really discouraging".
Before applyi...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/application-finesse-equals-grant-success/
Career Advice
A pair of profs seasoned in service learning offer their thoughts
The typical undergraduate expects to attend lectures, write essays and exams, and weather the occasional caffeine-fuelled study session. But, at a growing number of universities, students are taken beyond that traditional route and at the same time are making a difference in their community.
The ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/how-to-build-service-learning-into-your-course/
Career Advice
An explanation of whether this is the right fit for you.
networking to make sure the two of you will be a good fit.
Your potential supervisor might have a strong positive contribution to make to the design of your postdoctoral project. He or she may even have research funds to support your research or be in the process of putting together a grant appli...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/should-you-do-a-postdoc/
Career Advice
A discussion on whether scholars should take the time to write a blog about their work.
networking and collaborating, finding new audiences and opportunities, disseminating research more widely, and building one's reputation. Bloggers argue that far from diluting scholarly success, online writing can be a serious tool for academic practice.
David Phipps, director of the office of re...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/should-you-enter-the-academic-blogosphere/
Career Advice
Use your problem-solving hat for this difficult situation.
For a graduate student, a PhD dissertation is your first major independent scholarly work, supported in its production by a supervisor. As with any relationship, the one between doctoral student and supervisor can experience difficulties establishing what works well for both parties. What seemed ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/how-to-tell-your-supervisor-you-want-a-divorce/
Career Advice
How to make sites like LinkedIn and Twitter work for you.
networking opportunities by asking former and current co-workers if they have contacts at companies you're interested in working for. On LinkedIn, send the contacts a message to introduce yourself and mention the shared connection. Alternatively, you could suggest that the shared connection introduc...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/using-social-media-to-find-a-job/
Career Advice
“Each map features in its centerfold a visual timeline that suggests strategies for staying on track.”
Given the range of career options available to graduate students – both the academic and the “alt-ac” routes – it’s no surprise that some struggle to find direction. While the pathways to academic careers are relatively well lit, graduate students often lack awareness of other career optio...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/helping-grad-students-map-futures/
Career Advice
When we stop to consider the demands that leadership can involve, we are enabling each other to move forward, together.
Eight years ago, a small group of people from Carleton University got together to reconsider the future of leadership on their campus. They began with the question: “What does great leadership look like in practice and how can we create the conditions for more of it? As we had further conversation...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/collaborative-leadership-in-higher-education-it-works/