Features
Law students offer their time pro bono to help guide groups and individuals – many of whom can’t afford legal counsel–through the judicial maze
On a blustery November morning, Rina Jeyakumar dashes, coatless, to the chambers of Toronto’s small claims court from a cramped law office across the courtyard, to have a word with the presiding judge. Leaning towards the bench, sotto voce, Ms. Jeyakumar requests a delay before her client...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-voluntary-counsel/
Features
When a university president leaves unexpectedly, the one who’s appointed interim leader assumes a crucial role in preparing the ground for the next president.
When the phone rings, the person who answers the call may have expected it for weeks, even months. The caller could be a friend, a former colleague or the board chair, but the message is the same: We need you. Would you consider serving as university president on a short-term basis?
It’s a ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/regaining-the-helm/
Features
Ingenuity’s the key when you’re one of Canada’s smaller university presses.
James Daschuk recalls sneaking into Costco with an outdated membership card to see it with his own eyes: his book, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, stacked high on a table next to the latest David Baldacci thriller. The sight was al...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/standing-out-in-the-world-of-scholarly-publishing/
Features
Work-integrated learning grows in popularity at universities across the country.
The child of accountants, Vanessa Paulin-Savoie decided in high school that she didn’t want to follow in her parents’ footsteps. She loved reading and writing and did well in French, so she thought a translation degree at the Université de Moncton made sense.
Her parents weren’t so sure. T...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/push-bridge-school-work-gap/
Features
These programs offer international students, and their host families in Canada, the chance for a real cultural exchange.
When Kari and Scott Warner became homestay hosts, their daughter was an infant and they were expecting their second child, a son. After hearing about the Continue reading at Vancouver Island University from a neighbour on their street, they applied...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/university-homestay-programs-strive-to-offer-more-than-room-and-board/
Features
A vice-provost, student affairs, and an incoming first-year student sit down to talk about the student experience during a pandemic.
Sometimes, personal and professional lives overlap in interesting ways, such as what is unfolding in the Joseph household. Ivan Joseph is vice-provost, student affairs, at Dalhousie University. On October 1, he will begin a five-year posting as vice-president, student affairs, at Wilfrid Laurier Uni...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-student-experience-this-fall-a-tale-of-two-ivans/
Features
The rapid rise in international recruitment has sparked calls for rules and standards to govern third-party recruiters.
Bipin Kumar arrived in Canada in 2014 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at an East Coast university. With degrees already under his belt from universities in Germany and his native India, Mr. Kumar was well-travelled and ready to land on his feet in a ne...
https://universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-murky-world-of-unregulated-international-student-recruiters/
News
The company’s engineering director likes to recruit people with broad experience – and if you’re an alumnus of the University of Waterloo, that certainly won’t hurt.
News
Deaf graduate shares her research using innovative online tools.
Even though Ellen Hibbard’s thesis defence did not include much sound, her message is being heard. Dr. Hibbard, who recently graduated from Ryerson University’s communication and culture program, completed her PhD on the impact of online videos (or vlogs) on deaf culture, communication and iden...
https://universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/phd-thesis-opens-new-doors-for-deaf-scholars/
Career Advice
Having good mentors can make a huge impact on what happens in your academic career, particularly your progress through graduate school
What is mentorship?
At its most basic, mentorship is getting help from those with experience. From funding opportunities to reference letters to advice on programs, conferences and journals and even on whether to continue an academic career, mentors have been there, done that, and can give...
Career Advice
Time out for a baby.
With intense competition for academic jobs, many young scholars worry about how to best position themselves for success. And if the candidate is a newly minted PhD who took a break from publishing or a delay in completing the degree due to childbirth, and perhaps even some time out for full-time par...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/explaining-the-gap-in-your-resume/
Career Advice
When it comes to making a foray into social media, the first question novices should ask themselves is, “What do I want to achieve?” That’s the advice of British sociologist Mark Carrigan, who wrote the book Social Media for Academics. He writes that social media tools can enhance any a...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/social-media-tools-academics-may-find-useful/
From PhD to Life
Susan Marie Martin earned her PhD in applied social studies from University College Cork, National University of Ireland. She's currently an international educator at a private school in the Middle East, and an independent academic and researcher. Find her online at
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/transition-q-susan-marie-martin/
From PhD to Life
Helen Kang earned her PhD in sociology, with a focus on medical sociology and history, from Simon Fraser University. She is now a self-employed consultant who specializes in health-care communication. Find her online on Continue reading ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/transition-q-a-helen-kang-health-care-communication-consultant/
From PhD to Life
What has and hasn’t worked at institutions that support career development and professionalization.
Over the past several years, Jen and I have interviewed hundreds of PhDs about their career transitions. We consistently hear is that PhDs have what it takes in terms of education and skills to move into meaningful careers beyond the professoriate, but they often struggle to land their first positio...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/lessons-learned-from-departments-that-support-career-readiness-of-grad-students/
From PhD to Life
Her biggest piece of advice? You absolutely must take the lead for yourself.
Sunny Chan earned her PhD in English literary studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently a co-op program specialist at Ryerson University's Career and Co-op Centre, and also works as a creative writing instructor, artist, and freelance academic editor. You can contact her...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/transition-q-a-sunny-chan-co-op-program-specialist/
Careers Café
For reasons best known to the gods of coincidence, I’ve recently been in several formal networking situations. In those situations, some people have used pitches, and others have not.
Here is what I have noticed about pitches:
1) If the conversation is going to last more than 10 minutes,...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/careers-cafe/pitching-the-pitch/
Legally Speaking
If you want to kill an idea without being identified as the assassin, suggest that the legal department take a look at it. – Scott Adams, Dilbert Gives You the Business
During a second interview for a job that turned out to be my first as a university lawyer, the dean at a ...
https://universityaffairs.ca/opinion/legally-speaking/the-underappreciated-role-of-university-lawyer/
Graduate Matters
Concordia University’s Creative Reuse Centre demonstrates how one student used her degree to transform a passion into a major project with real-world impact.
In honour of April’s Earth Month, Grad Matters features a project that encourages sustainability, both in its content and in its potential to live on beyond the graduate degree program.
Some people go into graduate school with a loose vision of what they want to achieve with their degr...
https://universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/graduate-matters/bringing-your-graduate-work-to-life/
Ask Dr. Editor
Part 2: Strategies to extend your monograph’s reach.
Question:
What can I do to get more people to read my published work? (Anonymous, history)
Dr. Editor’s response:
In Continue reading of this two-part series, I discussed what the research suggests about how humanities researchers ...
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