Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Year in Review

Message from Dr. Carl Kumaradas, Vice-Provost and Dean, YSGPS

This year, YSGPS continued to evolve and collaborate with the TMU community to realize our shared goal of supporting success for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Following our recent restructuring and renewed focus on postdocs, we offered another successful round of the Academic Job Search interactive workshop series, which provided essential skills and competencies for both grad students and postdocs. YSGPS also hosted a workshop series for graduate supervisors that was well attended and engaging. In addition to our annual grad contest, we launched our inaugural Postdoc Challenge, which received an overwhelming response and showcased the diverse talents of our postdocs. We look forward to more such engaging initiatives in the future.

During my first six months as vice-provost and dean, I have reflected on and refined my vision for our graduate students and postdocs (while occasionally indulging in my two hobbies: golfing and coding in Julia). I have discovered that it is grounded in inclusivity and accessibility. I am committed to creating an environment where they can thrive academically and intellectually at TMU and excel in their professional endeavours. To achieve this, we are focused on improving funding, providing access to better and more affordable housing, enhancing our academic, professional, and well-being offerings, and facilitating impactful scholarly, research, and creative activities. This commitment to inclusivity is at the heart of our mission, and we value every community member.

I am excited about the future of YSGPS and the opportunities that lie ahead. I plan to collaborate closely with key stakeholders within and outside the university to achieve this vision. We are improving our admissions processes to make them more effective and inclusive, strategically managing graduate enrollment and funding, and growing academic offerings, international student enrollment and transnational offerings. Launching the new and innovative Master of Cybersecurity this fall is just the beginning, with several other exciting programs in development. I am committed to advocating for increased investment in graduate and postdoctoral studies, both internally and externally, to ensure a bright future for our students.

I look forward to sharing more details in the forthcoming YSGPS 2025-30 Strategic Plan, which will align with the university’s new Academic Plan and illustrate the upward trajectory of our ongoing co-evolution.