- Paul Shipley, Associate Dean and Associate Professor, College of Graduate Studies (Lead Applicant)
- Margaret Reeves, Associate Dean, College of Graduate Studies
- Teaching Resources
About the Project
This project aims to design a training model for faculty members working with graduate students in order to foster and enhance excellence in graduate supervision at UBC Okanagan. The project will support an initial inquiry of our graduate student body in order to identify current strengths and weaknesses in all aspects of graduate supervisory practices and to discover potential opportunities that will enable us to re-envision graduate supervision on this campus.
Our ultimate goal is to produce a robust and effective training model that addresses the multi-faceted roles and responsibilities of graduate supervisors. Understanding graduate student experiences is a necessary first step towards re-envisioning graduate supervision at UBC Okanagan. We propose a student-centred approach that will show which supervisory practices are most beneficial to students as well as where improvements are needed. We will focus our resources on those aspects of graduate supervision that will most benefit from more intensive training and mentorship of faculty members. Our governing assumption is that excellence in graduate student learning is enabled by excellence in graduate supervision. We will hire two students to undertake community engagement by conducting focus groups and individual interviews with current graduate students on this campus. This research will identify which aspects of current practices can be targeted by the training model to enhance graduate supervision. This project has significant potential to strengthen the quality of graduate programs by providing supervisors with the tools they need to create an inclusive, equitable, and supportive learning environment for graduate students at UBC Okanagan.