As the fall term begins, everyone in the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs wishes you all the best for the upcoming academic year and hopes that you continue to remain safe and healthy. Although our classes are online this fall, we are still here to help you. For a complete overview of our support services, we encourage you to visit this web page. Please note that FGPA typically sends out newsletters every Thursday morning. If you have any questions, please email us at: fgpa_newsletter@carleton.ca.

Regular updates about how Carleton is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic are available by clicking here. For additional information, please visit the University’s FAQ page. For questions concerning current graduate students, click here. To view FAQs for prospective graduate students, click here. Also, if you are coming on campus, please be aware of Carleton’s Updated Mask Policy.

New students and TAs, if you have not already done so, please view the Orientation and supplementary videos in cuLearn. For more information, visit the orientation page.

Carleton Central is still open for fall/winter registration for new and returning graduate students. Be sure to visit Step 1 of Registration in Carleton Central to view your registration start time. You can view fall and winter Special Topics by clicking here.

The Graduate Students’ Association is still hosting several Welcome Weeks events. You can find out more by clicking here.

Also, the GSA offers low cost medical, dental, and accident insurance. All full-time students registered in the Fall term, including international students, are automatically covered by the plan for the entire September 1 to August 31 plan year. As things are quite complicated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the GSA has created a number of online forms to help ease the process of opting in and opting out.

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Our popular Grad Café virtual chats will start up again on September 11th. Each one-hour session covers various topics relating to graduate student and postdoc life, with a focus on thesis writing and professional development. Click here to register. You can find out about other initiatives for the upcoming academic year, including career exploration events, a multi-step career development program, and professional writing modules by going to FGPA’s Graduate Professional Development website.

The International Student Services Office (ISSO) offers all kinds of supports for international students.

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Health and Counselling Services (HCS) is offering virtual counselling services (by phone or video conference). They are in the process of hiring a grad-focused counsellor who will be available to assist graduate students. There is also virtual assistance through residence counselling and wellness services and the Centre of Indigenous Initiatives is providing virtual assistance for Indigenous students, such as First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Carleton has counsellors who are Indigenous and have specifically worked with different indigenous communities. The counselling services are free. You can book a counselling appointment by calling HCS at 613-520-6774.

Carleton University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working and living environment where sexual violence is not tolerated, and treated with the seriousness it deserves.

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You can find out about the process by which Research Assistants will be paid for 2020-21 by clicking here.

The ground level in MacOdrum Library, is now open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with limited staff. Several precautions are being taken.

Carleton will be waiving all parking fees for the fall term and will not be issuing parking permits to students, faculty or staff at this time.

Anyone coming onto campus must comply with our safe return to campus policies outlined here

The new cuLearn page for Teaching Assistants TA Central Hub: Training & Resources offers pre-recorded training videos, resource materials, up-to-date information, discussion forums, and space for TAs to share teaching resources with each other. TAs are invited to self-enroll by logging in to cuLearn – search for the name (TA Central Hub) and then enroll here. You can also access the TA Support website that is within the main EDC-TLS site. Check out the live virtual workshops that start next week.

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If you are eligible to receive a scholarship balance, you can request your balance through Carleton Central by clicking on “Refund or Scholarship Balance Request”.  Students will also be able to request a refund of the RA amount applied to their account in excess of their tuition fees. Depending on the amount of your scholarship balance, you will have up to four options: campus card transfer, e-transfer, cheque, or donate to Carleton. Although you can submit your request prior to the financial drop date, it will not be processed until after September 30, 2020. If you have any questions, please contact Student Accounts at: student_accounts@carleton.ca or phone 613-520-2600 ext. 3626.

This term, all students are eligible to opt out of the U-Pass service through Carleton Central. You can find out how to opt out by following the instructions found here: U-Pass Opt-Out Process. If you already activated your U-Pass for the fall 2020 semester then you have until September 14^th to return your card and opt out of the service. If you have not, and will not be activating your U-Pass for the upcoming academic year then you have until April 30^th, 2021 to submit your opt out through Carleton Central.

The Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) application for the 2021-22 academic year is now available through Carleton Central.  You can find the application under the Fall 2020 term in Carleton Central. Deadlines are November 15^th for students to submit their applications and December 1^st for Referees to submit their letters. Students who do not have access to Carleton Central can find a paper application on the OGS information page on the FGPA web page.

Check out details and deadlines for other awards by going to this website.

Carleton has re-opened the Athletics facilities! The fitness centre, swimming pool and fitness classes are back open. To ensure your safety, you are now required to book a time slot for your workout. For more info or to book a time slot, visit Athletics.carleton.ca.

The National Capital Commission (NCC) has announced that the opening of the Hog’s Back Swing Bridge (between Hog’s Back and Prince of Wales Dr.) is delayed until Oct. 1 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects on the construction industry. In addition, Parks Canada is continuing its work on the Hog’s Back fixed bridge, accessed from Riverside Drive, which remains closed to vehicle traffic. The fixed bridge is expected to reopen in December 2020 as planned.  For more information please click here.

All OC Transpo buses coming onto Carleton’s campus will resume the regular route around campus with stops on Campus Ave. (in front of Minto CASE) and University Dr. at the Athletics complex. In October, the bus route will be adjusted with the anticipated completion of the extension of Raven Road onto Bronson Ave. For more information about bus routes to Carleton, please see the OC Transpo website.

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a rapid shift to online learning – even for courses that were never intended for online delivery. That shift won’t be permanent, but Teaching and Learning Services has been working overtime to ensure the university makes the most of this unusual academic year.

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We added this FAQ Will there be a fall 2020 convocation ceremony? to our current graduate student list of FAQs.  Look under the “convocation” heading.