Chemistry is excited to announce a new required graduate professional development course for all new graduate students. This was inspired by requests and consultations with our graduate students and as part of our response to the external UTQAP departmental review report in 2018.
All incoming graduate students, from Fall 2020, will enroll in CHM3000H: “Graduate Professional Development for Research and Teaching in Chemistry”, a modular course that includes a series of interactive workshops on topics including: oral and written communication, ethics in teaching, research and scholarship, interpersonal skills and conflict resolution, time management and strategies for supporting good mental health.
The course will culminate in each student crafting an Individual Development Plan to identify priorities for the future career objectives. The course will be a formal part of the M.Sc. and Ph.D. program requirements in Chemistry at U of T.
In addition, Ph.D. students will be required to participate in a minimum of 18 hours (24 hours for Direct Ph.D.) of additional professional development training over the course of their Ph.D., spread evenly among the categories of: Communication Skills; Personal Effectiveness; and Research/Teaching Skills.
Many existing workshops and opportunities already exist on campus (e.g., Graduate Centre for Academic Communication, Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation) and elsewhere (e.g., MITACS, CIC) and we will be developing additional relevant content within the department, in some cases with the help of our excellent student-led organizations.