Creating and fostering a sense of community for McMaster Latin America Graduate Students.

This project aims to create a sense of belonging and community amongst Latin American Graduate Students at McMaster University, this includes both domestic students (graduate students part of the Latin American diaspora in Canada) and international students (Latin American students who have come to McMaster for studies). In addition, this project will aim to build ties and relationship with undergraduate, faculty and staff who are also Latin American.

Project lead: Rodrigo Narro Perez, PhD/SGES/Science, narrora@mcmaster.ca

The Storyteller Series offers writing workshops for Indigenous students and community members to facilitate creative, social, and intellectual work by Indigenous folks on campus and beyond.

The Indigenous Writing Workshop aims to create opportunities for Indigenous folks, both students and community members, to gather, discuss, and practice writing as intellectual, creative, artistic, and political work.

Project lead: Johannah Bird, PhD/English/English and Cultural Studies/ Humanities, birdj1@mcmaster.ca

A place that will connect students with each other who are interested in improving entrepreneur by attending competitions, and students with experts in the fields.

Universities hold a lot of competitions for students to attend and apply their knowledge. Students want to attend these competitions however most of the competitions are group based. Some of the competitions will help students form a group randomly, but do students like that? Some students have brilliant ideas but cannot achieve the idea by their own, do they have to give up the idea? Some students are experts in his field but lack of suitable projects to work with. Some students have a mature project but lack of a mentor?

University Enterprise Club provides a platform for students to network with students with passion, expertise and innovative ideas. Also, students can network with professors from different faculties and even experts from various field.  Finding a mentor won’t be an issue anymore.

Project lead: Yue Shang, Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation, W Booth/Engineering, shangy11@mcmaster.ca

Helping students effectively communicate scientific information and research findings.

This project’s goal is to teach students about the theory and best practices underlying strong scientific communication. By participating in our workshop series, students will improve their ability to communicate scientific information more effectively to a broad audience. We believe that by learning these skills, students will be better equipped to communicate complicated concepts within and beyond academia.

Project lead: Kaushal Baid, PhD/Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences,  baidk@mcmaster.ca

An interactive resource on stream stewardship for eco-minded students. 

Using established stream-monitoring protocols and biotic indicators of stream quality, we are going to create a student-friendly, illustrated e-textbook. The textbook will aim to teach students about the ecology of their local neighbourhoods and provide them with the tools they need to investigate and infer stream quality on their own.

Project lead: Alana Tedeschi, Phd/Department of Biology/Science, tedescac@mcmaster.ca

A podcast for informal conversations about the weird, quirky, and important parts of the long eighteenth century.  

This project tackles the problem of student engagement, specifically within the context of the eighteenth century. Typically dismissed as a boring, tedious period of literary history, this project aims to bolster interest in the period by making it more legible/accessible to a general audience. It is actually an interesting (and important!) time for literature, this project will bring these elements to a wider audience.           

Project leads: Yue Chen Hou, Humanities/English & Cultural Studies/English Literature/PhD

Kalin Smith, Humanities/English & Cultural Studies/English Literature/PhD

A monthly working group for students of colour to discuss race and racism in the classroom and develop strategies and resources to improve conditions.

The BIPOC Working Group is designed to provide an opportunity for students of colour to share their experiences, access peer support, and develop strategies to improve conditions in the classroom through education and training.

Project liaison: Theresa Kenney, Phd/English and Cultural Studies/Humanities, kennet1@mcmaster.ca

A simple and meaningful program that will connect students with each other for highly relevant peer mentorship and support, and students with faculty to foster development and growth.

Graduate school can be a challenging experience, but it does not need to be a challenge that students face in isolation. Our goal is to provide graduate students with easy access to structured, individualized, and high-quality peer-mentorship, as well as content in the form of presentations and newsletters that focus directly on graduate student topics related to personal and professional development, mental health and wellness, and graduate program progression. Graduate students can be an invaluable resource for each other, and this initiative intends to bring our student body closer together.

Project lead: Eric Desjardins, Phd/Medical Sciences/Health Sciences, desjarem@mcmaster.ca