Monthly Archives: June 2020

CALLING ALL TECH LOVERS

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CALLING ALL TECH LOVERS

Questions on current issues and challenges facing International Students during COVID-19? Join the discussion to get real-time answers from our panel of experts. 

Register now for FREE to attend the expert panel (June 23 at 6-7:30pm). Make sure you secure your spots at our Expert Panel on the labour market, career development and immigration issues in the technology industry.

Attend to win a “virtual door prize” for a FREE 1-hour consult valued at $59. A career counsellor will help the winner assess their career readiness and provide some insight on next steps.

The GSA McMaster Club, SEPTA, strives to build supportive communities to share knowledge. Here’s a great opportunity to meet industry professionals and peers to discuss the current labour market and your career development. You can follow SEPTA on LinkedIn for events, updates, and news!

GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: GSA PRESIDENT

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GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: GSA PRESIDENT

Hey! I’m Shawn Hercules and I am your GSA President for this academic year. I work very closely along with the GSA’s strong executive and administrative team,  to continue advocating for your needs and providing you with resources to help make grad school a little more bearable! Specifically in my role, I chair our GSA Council and Board of Director meetings, and ensure that our executive and staff are working cohesively to bring us closer to our goals within our Strategic Plan. 

Outside of the GSA, I’m currently wrapping up a Ph.D. in Biology under the supervision of Dr. Juliet Daniel. My doctoral work is focused on investigating the potential impact of socioeconomics and genetics on why more Black women globally are diagnosed with a very aggressive and clinically hard to treat breast cancer subtype. In this study, we currently have patients enrolled from hospitals and health centres across Nigeria, Jamaica and my hometown Barbados. I moved here from Barbados to embark on this project in 2015 and I can’t believe that time flew by so quickly and it’s almost over! I’m leaning towards pursuing an academic career path and will likely work for a few years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow after my Ph.D.

Right now, my life is pretty much balancing my duties for both the GSA and my Ph.D. but I also try to make time to relax! Watching RuPaul’s Drag Race every Friday night along with a few friends on Zoom has pretty much been my route for escapism from everything COVID-19 related as well as the rest of the world’s recent realization of anti-Black racism. 

If you have any questions for me about how you can get involved with the GSA or even about my research, feel free to e-mail me at gsapres@mcmaster.ca (GSA related), hercules@mcmaster.ca (research related). You can also find me on Instagram/Twitter using @shawnhercules! 

MENTAL HEALTH WEBINAR CURATED 4 U!

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MENTAL HEALTH WEBINAR CREATED 4 U!

Graduate School is tough at the best of times, and COVID-19 is not making things any easier. Join us for a seminar on the specific issues we face in grad school, and ways to handle them. Sign up here for this session on June 29th 4:30-6:30 pm!

The facilitator of the session is Ita Tobis, a clinical social worker (MSW, RSW) that has many years of experience working with children, adults, couples and families to implement healthy, healing changes in their lives. In her role as the Campus Director at JACS running the Courage2Change University Outreach Program, she creates customized student workshops and professional development sessions for various universities across Ontario on topics related to wellness, addictions and mental health.

UPDATES FROM GSA 2020-06-19

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UPDATES FROM GSA

Graduate students at McMaster, we would like to highlight the recent annual report from the President’s Advisory Committee on Building an Inclusive Community. Other resources from PACBIC can be found here. There is always more that can be done at an individual level to be an anti-racist. We hope you have taken the time to reflect what changes you are making within each of the roles you hold at McMaster University. It is important to be aware of the events currently happening at McMaster University. You can consider joining the GSA Student Actions Committee by emailing macgsa@mcmaster.ca to indicate your interest.

We are putting out a call for Faculty Representatives to the GSA Council! This role connects the GSA and each of the faculties. We currently have vacancies for the three Faculties listed below. If you are interested, email Caroline, GSA VP-Internal about how to apply! 

Your GSA

JOIN A WEEKLY CALL with GSA President, Shawn Hercules, and Andrea Cole from the School of Graduate Studies! 

When?  Wednesdays between 1:00 PM until 2:00PM.
Where? Register for the Zoom link here.
What? Bring your coffee and come for a chat!
Questions? Andrea Cole coleand@mcmaster.ca

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

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WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

Congratulations to the four students that won prizes for GSA Short Video Competition! Here are the videos with links, and the top two are previewed below:

1. Grand Prize: Poodle playing with a small soccer ball by Chih Ting (https://youtu.be/K1xzGLZcYR0)
2. Second Place: Choose your graduate student quarantine edition by Lauren (https://youtu.be/Uo7jPqP1d-s)
3. Third Place: When you’re a clutz stuck at home and Yoshi’s life by Sergio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7B3uSXmLF8)
4. Fourth Place: Dog Egg Challenge by Monica (https://vm.tiktok.com/T53jGq/https://vm.tiktok.com/T53jGq/)

Thank you for participating and voting!

GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

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GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES:
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Hello Graduate Students! My name is Mona Mohamed, I have been with the GSA for over 5 years, I have a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Zoology from Alexandria University in Egypt. I love administration a lot, so, I am now taking a Diploma in Management, Business Administration to add to my administrative experience. I will be able to assist with general inquires related to funding, sponsorship, clubs and specifically inquires related to Health & Dental. 

If you have ever wondered where the GSA office is, look at this picture below… We are right beside the Phoneix and across from the General Science Building and near the GO Bus. Right now, you can find me on email at macgsa@mcmaster.ca.

Introduction to LaTeX

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Introduction to LaTeX: June 18 @ 2:00- 4:00PM EST

Workshop Materials

It is recommended that participants install MikTeX in advance (https://miktex.org/), or some other tool to compile the LaTeX source code, and potentially Ipe (http://ipe.otfried.org/)  should participants be interested in a drawing editor for figures.

Facilitator: Gerhard Trippen

Gerhard Trippen is an Associate Professor, Teaching in Stream in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), with a cross-appointment to the Operations Management and Statistics area at the Rotman School of Management.

Gerhard teaches mostly quantitative courses, such as Operations Management, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, and Statistics for a variety of different programs such as the Master of Management and Professional Accounting program (MMPA) at UTM, the Management Undergraduate program at UTM, the Rotman Commerce program, the MBA program at Rotman and the Master of Management Analytics program (MMA) at Rotman.

Gerhard had used LaTeX to write his Master’s and his PhD thesis as well as to design slides for some of his computer science courses that he has taught about seven years ago at UTM.

UPDATES FROM GSA

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UPDATES FROM GSA

Each year, in accordance with a contractual agreement the GSA has with the HSR, students obtain a highly-subsidized rate to access the busing system in Hamilton. 

At the GSA, we are currently in conversation with HSR given the announcement that the Fall semester will be administered online. We are negotiating a contract that will allow graduate students to maintain HSR passes to access our various offices, labs and other essential physical spaces on campus and around Hamilton. We will keep you updated on this process and please reach out and let us know your thoughts about what you’d want our HSR pass to look like throughout the next academic year, especially the Fall semester. We will keep you updated about this and all other matters pertaining to the Fall semester and how the GSA is working on your behalf through our social media and our mailers. Also, feel free to join our weekly drop-in every Wednesday! More information below.

Your GSA

JOIN A WEEKLY CALL with GSA President, Shawn Hercules, and Andrea Cole from the School of Graduate Studies! 

When?  Wednesdays between 1:00 PM until 2:00PM.
Where? Register for the Zoom link here.
What? Bring your coffee and come for a chat!
Questions? Andrea Cole coleand@mcmaster.ca

GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: DIRECTOR OF OPERATION

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GSA INTRODUCTION SERIES: DIRECTOR OF OPERATION

Hello Graduate Students! My name is Ashley Ravenscroft and I am passionate about higher education in post-secondary institutions and student governance. My passion for higher education was sparked over a decade ago, when I attended McMaster University as an Undergraduate student. And it has continued with me through to Graduate School.

When I’m not working on the mission, mandate and vision of the organization, you can usually find me at home. I have three children, two are school-aged, and the third I am married to. I think that might be a ‘mom-joke,’ but nevertheless, I have lived in Hamilton since obtaining my first degree and love all the city has to offer – the market, trails and, of course, waterfalls! 

During my tenure with the GSA of McMaster University, I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds are graduate students. We have also had many successes during this time, such as the reinstatement of the Student Wellness Centre operations, increasing the student benefits package at no additional cost to students. And, increasing mental health supports to our Graduate Students through 24/7 supports, and an increased health reimbursement threshold.

I have also had the opportunity to participate in multiple student initiatives and advocate on their behalf. One of such of these successes was the induction of a minimum funding package at McMaster, which is $13,500.00 + supp & tuition fee.

This year I am confident that we have a strong team and we are going to accomplish more of the strategic plans goal this year.

I hope to meet you virtually or in-person at a future GSA committee, event, or the graduate student owned and operated, Phoenix Craft House and Grill.

Warm wishes,
Ashley

RESOURCES FROM THE GSA AGAINST ANTI-BLACK RACISM

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RESOURCES FROM THE GSA AGAINST ANTI-BLACK RACISM

At the GSA, we believe that there is no place for anti-Black racism and violence in our community at McMaster University. The past few weeks have only made these issues more apparent, but anti-Black racism is something that many of us within our community have been facing and dealing with in all facets of our lives, even at McMaster University.  We have to realize our impact as graduate students at McMaster and support our Black community as best as we can.

We currently support a GSA club, the ACGSA (African Caribbean Graduate Students’ Association), that has made themselves available for students within this community that may have faced anti-Black racism and can be reached via email: acgsa.mac@gmail.com. Upon request, they will send further information about how to be added to their Facebook group. We will continue to stand beside them and support them as best as we can. We also echo the sentiments that were expressed by the African Caribbean Faculty Association at McMaster that can be found here.

The purpose of this section in the mailer is not to just “write a statement” but to offer resources to our community for support.

If you need further support, culturally relevant mental health and legal services can be found here:

For more resources on how to take action, visit Black Lives Matter and get involved at McMaster Equity and Inclusion Education.

You can also use the following resources to support Black-owned businesses in Hamilton.

Please collectively fight to support anti-racism because the weight of these deep-rooted issues must be burdened upon all of us. When your friend needs support, lend a hand as we evolve together. We all need to be better.

Sincerely,
Your GSA