September 19

Current Grad Students Newsletter

Graduate Student News

The Graduate Studies (GS) distributes this newsletter to all graduate students on the first and third Thursday of every month (except during the summer). The next issue will be sent to you on Oct. 3. For up-to-the-minute news, follow us on Twitter @CUGradStudies or visit our website: gradstudents.carleton.ca. To comment, email us at: fgpa_newsletter@carleton.ca.

Did You Miss Grad Orientation?

If you missed our Orientation for graduate students on September 3, you can check out the general orientation session on our Youtube Channel. You will also want to read our Welcome/Welcome Back message.

Did You Miss the New TA Orientation on Sept. 3?

If you are a new TA and you missed the TA Orientation session on September 3, you can attend a special showing of the video of this session in Room 482 MacOdrum Library (Discovery Centre Multi-Media Lab) on Tuesday, September 24, from 10 to 11 a.m. Please register here if you would like to attend. By attending this session, you may claim one hour towards your paid pedagogical training hours.

Final Reminder About Your Scholarship Balance

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”. 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 Sept. 30. If you have any questions, please contact Student Accounts at: student_accounts@carleton.ca or phone 613-520-2600 ext. 3626.

Awards Information

The deadline for 2019 donor-funded awards for this academic year is Sept. 30. Note that the NSERC PhD award deadline for the 2020-21 academic year is Sept. 27 while the SSHRC and CIHR PhD deadlines are both Oct. 1. The Fulbright award application deadline is Nov. 15. The deadline to apply for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) is also Nov. 15. Please go to our website to find out how to apply as the process differs depending on your status. Deadlines for the Tri-Council and other awards are available on our awards website.

Important Information for TAs

This year, TA Training Day will take place Saturday, Sept. 28 and will feature a new workshop called Kickstart Your Writing followed by a writing retreat. For more information and the full workshop schedule, visit this web page. Also a reminder to create or update your TA profile. Finally, as per the Collective Agreement, TA assignment offers shall be accepted or declined within 10 working days of the date of your offer. Failure to accept your offer by this deadline without reasonable cause will constitute declining of your TAship for that term. Have questions? Visit our TA page.

Graduate Studies Has a New Dean

Meet Patrice Smith, the new Dean for the Graduate Studies. Find out about her priorities and research interests.

Opting Out of the Health Plan and/or the U-Pass

HEALTH PLAN: All full-time students registered in the fall term are automatically covered by the Graduate Students’ Association medical, dental and accident insurance plan. Part-time students and dependents can join the plan for a fee. Full-time students who are already covered under a similar or better insurance policy may leave the plan, with a refund, by October 5, 2019 – check information on the GSA’s website. U-PASS: If you want to opt out of the U-Pass, you must first check to see if you are eligible. The refunds are pro-rated depending on when you opt out. Details are available on our U-Pass web page.

Mandatory Safety Sessions for TAs, Contract Instructors and Lab Assistants

Carleton offers a number of health and safety courses. Some are mandatory for TAs, contract instructors and lab assistants. Visit the EHS training web page for further information and register here for upcoming in-class sessions.

Enhance Your Professional Development

It’s never too early to start thinking about where you want to be after graduation, and the skills and experience you’ll need to get there. We offer a range of workshops on professional development that are open to all graduate students. Students working as TAs can also claim many of these workshops for five of their paid pedagogical training hours.

Find Out More →

How to Talk to the Media

University Communications will be offering several media training sessions this fall. Training will be of particular interest to upper-year graduate students who are interested in learning how to discuss their research effectively in media interviews. The first workshop will be held on Sept. 23.

Find Out More →

Grad Students Needed to Sit on Senate Standing Committees

The Carleton University Senate is calling for nominations for graduate students to serve on a variety of Senate Standing Committees. The term of office is one year (to June 30, 2020) and will begin as soon as the positions are filled after the closing date in October 2019.

Thinking About a PhD?

If you are a master’s student thinking of pursuing a PhD, you might be interested in attending the Carleton University Graduate Recruitment Fair on Sept. 26.

Click Here for Details →

Grad Research: AI, Big Data and 5G Networks

PhD Student Rawan Alkurd is researching personalization in 5G wireless networks and beyond, using Artificial Intelligence and big data analytics.

Grad Research: Where the Wild Fish Go

Carleton students are playing a pivotal role in a three-year project about the Rideau River. Meet one PhD student who is helping with the research.

Important Dates and Deadlines

ACADEMIC DEADLINES

September 17: Last day of registration for fall term and fall/winter courses. Last day to change courses or sections (including auditing) for fall term and fall/winter courses.

September 17: Graduate students who have not electronically submitted their final thesis copy to the Graduate Studies will not be eligible to graduate in fall 2019 and must register for the fall 2019 term.

September 30: Last day to withdraw from fall term and fall/winter courses with a full fee adjustment (financial withdrawal). Withdrawals after this date will create no financial change to fall term fees and will result in a permanent notation of WDN appearing on your official transcript.

September 30: Last day to pay your fall term tuition fees or it may result in deregistration from all courses for the fall and winter terms. If you intend to withdraw from your courses, you must do so via Carleton Central within the published deadlines. Non-attendance or failure to pay any outstanding fees does not constitute withdrawal from courses.

October 11: December examination schedule (fall term final and fall/winter mid-terms) available online.

October 14: Statutory holiday. University closed.

October 21-25: Fall break. Classes are suspended.

November 8: Last day to request formal exam accommodations for December examinations to the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities. Note that it may not be possible to fulfill accommodation requests received after the specified deadline.

November 22: Last day for summative tests or examinations or formative tests or examinations totaling more than 15% of the final grade before the official examination period (see examinations regulations in the General Regulations of the Graduate Calendar

November 25: Winter Payment Deadline. Click here for important payment information. Late charges may be applied to the student account any time after this date.

December 1: Last day for receipt of applications from potential winter (February) graduates.

December 1: Last day for graduate students to submit their supervisor-approved thesis in examinable form to the department.

For a complete list of all official academic and financial dates and deadlines, please go to the Registrar’s website. For all financial matters, go to Student Accounts.

TRAINING & CAREER WORKSHOPS

More Grad Navigate workshops have been posted. Please note that online training modules or workshops advertised outside of Grad Navigate do not count towards paid training hours for TAs.

September 23: Media Training

September 26: Essentials of Productive Teams (Mitacs). To learn more and register for this course, please click here.

September 28: EDC’s TA Training Day

October 24-25: Foundations of Project Management I (Mitacs) To learn more and register for this course, please click here.

Mitacs also offers several funding opportunities for graduate students. You can apply any time, except there are two deadline dates each year for the Mitacs Elevate program. Check out:
(a) Mitacs Accelerate (Funding starts at $15,000 for research internships with industry or non-profit partners)
(b) Mitacs Elevate ($57,500 annual grant for two-year postdoctoral fellowships with industry or non-profit partners).
(c) Mitacs Globalink Research (Travel funding for research projects with international universities)
Note: For information about Carleton awards, go to our awards and funding website.

AWARDS & COMPETITION DEADLINES

September 27: Deadline to apply for an NSERC doctoral award

September 30: Deadline for the Donor-Funded Awards.

October 1: Deadline to apply for a SSHRC doctoral award

October 1: Deadline to apply for a CIHR doctoral award

November 15: Deadline to apply for a Fulbright scholarship

November 15: Deadline to apply for an OGS

December 1: Deadline for master’s students to apply for a Tri-Council award

EVENTS

Until September 22: Throwback

September 27: GSA’s Grad party

October 10: Psychology Mental Health Day

TA DEADLINES

The deadlines to apply for a Leave From Duties are: Dec. 31 (winter term), April 30 (summer term) and Aug. 31 (fall term). You can access form via Carleton Central.

Deadlines to apply to be an “out-of-priority” TA are as follows: December 15 (Winter term), April 15 (Spring/Summer term) and August 15 (Fall/Winter term),

“Pedagogical” training hours must be completed by Nov. 30 for a fall-only TAship and by March 30 for a full academic year TAship or a winter-only TAship.

TAs – Please note that it can take up to two weeks before your attendance at workshops is recorded. You are strongly encouraged to track your progress independently of the TA Management System in order to ensure its accuracy. In the event of a discrepancy, you are responsible for ensuring your training is captured in Carleton Central.