Then run! UTMAGS is still accepting nominations for officer positions until tomorrow, April 19th.

To run, please fill out the form below and submit it to Sara DaSilva at src.dasilva@utoronto.ca, or drop it off to her in DV 3023C.

UTMAGS nomination form 2012-13

We are looking for people willing to run for:

• President
• Vice President (2)
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Social Director
• Assistant Social Director
• Communications Director
• Graduate Student Union Representatives (2)

We currently do not have any nominations for Graduate Student Union Representatives

How the Network Works, from University Affairs.

The International Centre will be holding Off-Campus Work Permit application workshops in order to assist international (study permit holding) students in applying for an Off-Campus Work Permit.

In order to be eligible to apply for the Off Campus Work Permit students MUST:

-         Have been studying full time for at least the last 6 out of 12 months

-         Hold a valid Study Permit

-         Have at least a 1.6 GPA

These workshops are “first come, first served” and will be held:

 -         Thursday March 22^nd at 3 pm in CCT 2160

-         Friday March 23^rd at 3 pm in CCT 2160

 Students must bring:

-         Their Study Permit

-         Their Passport

-         A credit card (VISA or MasterCard) for the $150.00 application fee.

For more information about the Off Campus Work Permit, please visit:

http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/international/international-students/citizenship-and-immigration-canada-documents/campus-work-permit

Results: 1797 Unit 1 members voted in the ratification vote with 1197 (67%) voting in favour of ratification.

We got a contract!

UTMAGS Newsletter: March 2, 2012

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~Graduate Student & Faculty Research Night: Submission Deadline March 2nd!

~Contract Ratification Vote for CUPE 3902

~Time to Degree Completion Survey

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Graduate Student & Faculty Research Night

The deadline for confirming interest in presenting a poster at the Graduate Student & Faculty Research Night is ***Today, March 2nd***. To be included, e-mail Anna Reale at anna.reale@utoronto.ca or call 905-569-4432. Please include a title and short (200 word) abstract. Free poster printing will be provided by the library.

The event will be held on Wednesday, March 28th from 5:00-8:00pm at the Blind Duck Pub. All research stream and professional stream graduate students are encouraged to attend.

Psst….there will be a free dinner!

Contract Ratification Vote for CUPE 3902

Just a gentle reminder that the polls will be open to vote on ratifying the University of Toronto TA contract on Monday, March 5th and Tuesday, March 6th from 10:00-2:00pm in the Meeting Place. Various poll locations are also set up at the St. George Campus, see http://cupe3902.org/ for more details.

A copy of the contract is available at http://cupe3902.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Memorandum-of-Settlement1.pdf

A summary of the contract is available at http://cupe3902.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Summary-of-Tentative-Agreement.pdf

The ratification of this contract (a yes vote) has been recommended by the CUPE 3902 Bargaining Team.

Time to Degree Completion Survey

Across our University, the average time to completion of PhDs is above 5 years. While there are many reasons for this, some essentially intractable, the University administration has said that all students should be able to finish their degree within that time period if they wish to. A similar situation exists in some graduate masters degrees. To affect change, the University administration (including President Naylor) has asked members of the Graduate Student Union Executive to work with students to identify programs and Departments where time to completion might be improved and to work in concert to make those improvements.

Please contact jasonatlarge@utgsu.ca if you believe that time to completions could be improved in your Department or fill out the following survey (especially the comment section):  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C8P78TL

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Cheers!

UTMAGS

Fun fact: Today (March 2nd) is Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)’s birthday! Over his lifetime he published 46 children’s books, including Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who!,  and The Lorax, of which a movie adaptation hits theatres today.

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple”. -Dr. Seuss

From Troy, CUPE 3902′s UTM Rep:
Dear All,

Sorry for the delay on this information. I still need to clarify a couple things about the info session.

First, the information session will be held in Davis (South) Building, Rm 2074 at 12pm.

Second, some members have expressed concerns that this meeting is to brainwash them into voting for a strike. This concern is no doubt due to the campaign that has been undertaken to mobilize a vote against ratification. This is not the purpose of this meeting, and the union does not endorse, officially or unofficially, this vote NO campaign.

Basically, this is where we stand. The bargaining team, with the support of the majority of the Cupe3902 executive, endorses the tentative agreement presented last Friday and encourages members to vote in favour of it. Sean Hayes, a member of this bargaining team, will speak to members about the agreement and the team’s reasons for asking members to ratify it. Members are encouraged to respectfully debate, challenge, agree, disagree, question, etc. Sean regarding the team’s position on ratification. Members are also encouraged to debate each other about the agreement and the consequences of voting for or against it. We hope for a lively discussion that will leave members more informed. We also hope that members who have already made up their mind about the agreement will show up to express their concerns to their colleagues.

Amy will be there to discuss strategy that may have to be implemented in the event of a strike, which still is possible pending the strike vote and is still being mobilized for by the strike committee. As steward, my role I will be there to moderate and facilitate the discussion. Since there seems to be general confusion regarding what exactly the outcome of a yes or no vote will be, I will also speak to that.

I hope this clears any misunderstanding, and I hope to see you all out tomorrow.

Best,

Troy

Via Amy, UTM’s CUPE rep extrodinaire:

This email is to let you know of how you can help to mobilize UTM in this upcoming week. This week is very important because it is our LAST week before reading week! Our last week to interact with undergrads! The email is quite directive, which is not normally my style, so apologies! I sense, though, that people are looking for ways to plug in to what needs to be done, so I thought I’d outline some of the things I think it would be great to make happen. I’d like to do lots of “on the ground stuff” (ie stuff at UTM) and with a bit of support, I think we can really make an impact.

There are three groups of people we need to target: undergrad students, members, and faculty. Below are a list of things I would ask that you help with in the upcoming week.

1) Tabling from 11-1pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If you are free during this time and can come help ask undergrads to sign a letter to the admin, that would be great. Sign up on this spreadsheet.

2) Discuss the strike with your students in your tutorial. We have buttons and flyers that you can give out to your students. If you want to grab some, please let me know and I’ll arrange a time for you to pick up some materials from me (ex: I’ll be around Mon, Wed and Thurs from 11-1pm in the cafeteria if you want to come by). We are also making T-shirts that will probably be ready on Wed that you could wear to your tutorial. Here are the things to bring up in your tutorial/class:
-if we go on strike it would start the week after reading week
-the two main things we are striking for are 1) better funding for grad students and 2) smaller labs and tutorial sizes
-we are having a rally on Thurs, Feb 16th at 3:30 at Simcoe Hall (St George) to tell the Admin that we are serious about our proposals and to ask them to bargain with us in good faith. If students want to come, we are arranging travel to St George from UTM

3) Deliver letters to faculty inboxes. We have written a letter informing faculty of their rights and expectations. We need to get this into faculty inboxes, so if you could grab some from me (again, get in contact with me to give you the letters) and put them in your department faculty inboxes, that would be AMAZING. Please email me afterwards to tell me which departments you’ve put the letters in.

4) Door knocking. I’m going to spend some time walking around to departments and seeing if grad students are around. I’m going to do this from 9:30-11am on Monday, and 9:30-11am on Wednesday. If you are free at this time, please let me know!

5) If you have any other ideas about how to get people at UTM informed (undergrads, grads, faculty), please let me know! We are ALWAYS looking for ideas. If you don’t like this plan, let me know of suggestions you have. If you any thoughts like “why doesn’t the union just to _____” just tell me and we can make it happen.

To summarize, the things to be done are:
-tabling 11-1 on Mon, Wed, Thurs
-tell you students about the strike in tutorials
-put letters in faculty inboxes
-walk around UTM by yourself or with me talking to grad students

If you are interested in doing any of these things please let me know!

-Amy

“My grief lies all within” — PhD students, depression & attrition

PhD education and mental health: A follow-up

Note: UTMAGS is in the process of scheduling a safeTALK workshop through the UTM Health and Counselling Centre. We are interested in what time works for everyone. To let us know, either leave a comment here or on our Facebook page, or email us at utmags@utoronto.ca. Thanks! 

safeTALK: Suicide Alertness for Everyone

safeTALK is a 4-hour training that prepares participants to identify people with thoughts of suicide and to connect them with suicide first aid resources in our community.  safeTALK is available to anyone at UTM.

Most people with thoughts of suicide invite help to stay safe.  safeTALK-trained alert helpers know how to use these opportunities to support that desire for safety.  Through examples, discussion and practice, you will learn practical steps to help activate a suicide alert that connects people having thoughts of suicide with more specialized intervention care. All participants will receive a safeTALK certification upon completion.

For more information about safeTALK please visit www.livingworks.net

CUPE3902 Response to PDAD&C memo of Feb 1st, 2012

University of Toronto Faculty Association Letter to Provost Misak