This resource page is intended to provide resources and suggestions to help you engage incoming and returning students in your department.
Engaging incoming Students
Graduate students tend to most strongly identify with their departments at McGill and, as such, departments have traditionally taken a significant role in ensuring student engagement in a variety of ways, including by providing department specific events, orientation and onboarding for incoming students, as well as support for peer to peer networks.
Resources and Recommendations
Promoting student engagement is a community-wide effort at McGill. GPS actively engages with incoming students by sharing information and tips on how to prepare for their arrival on campus. Students are directed to GradHub for a comprehensive list of resources. Campus Life & Engagement (CL&E) offers a range of pre-arrival webinars and graduate orientation events.
Departments can leverage and complement the work being done by university-wide units by ensuring that your students are aware of these options and by creating department specific activities or resources that take advantage of existing content and offerings.
Events & Orientation
- Many departments have a long tradition of organizing special events and a department specific orientation session. This year it will be more important than ever to provide students with a way to connect with your department virtually. Hosting department specific events is an excellent way to help your students connect with one another as well as get to know the staff and faculty in your department.
- Event Ideas
- Coffee hour with Faculty members: Roundtable introductions to the professors and their research in your department. If your department is very large, this could even be a series.
- Mini talks and/or overview of research areas in your department or invited guest speakers.
- Information on degree expectations (milestones and coursework)
- Invite a guest speaker from one of the many support services available to graduate students (see below for examples) to provide a tailored workshop or seminar for your students.
- Partner with your department PGSA (click here to view a list of graduate associations) to offer social events (a great way to help your incoming students get connected with their peers) and/or peer led sessions on topics such as advice for first years, student life at McGill, or discussion groups. See below for additional information on supporting Peer Networks.
- Pre-Arrival & Orientation
- Every year CL&E organizes a series of pre-arrival webinars to familiarize students who are not yet on campus with McGill services and the PGSS. Incoming students are informed of these webinars through pre-arrival emails they receive via Slate (log in required to access).
- Encourage students to join the official Facebook Group for New Graduate Students (CL&E monitors, moderates and add students to group. Only verified grad students can join.) and the graduate Discord group. Find out if there is a student run Facebook page for your department and encourage your students to join.
- ISS also hosts an excellent series of webinars for new international students.
Student Support and Wellbeing
- Wellness Hub
- Did you know that there is a mental health clinician dedicated to supporting Graduate Students and the larger graduate community here at McGill? Local Wellness Advisors (LWAs) are trained clinicians embedded within faculties and services to orient and connect students with the appropriate support resource - on-campus or off-campus - for their unique situation.
- devon.simpson [at] mcgill.ca (Devon Simpson), MSW (McGill, 2014) is your local wellness advisor embedded within the graduate community.
- Did you know that there is a mental health clinician dedicated to supporting Graduate Students and the larger graduate community here at McGill? Local Wellness Advisors (LWAs) are trained clinicians embedded within faculties and services to orient and connect students with the appropriate support resource - on-campus or off-campus - for their unique situation.
- Peer Networks
- Peer to peer connections are an essential source of engagement and support for all students. Departments play a critical role in fostering these networks, by acting as a conduit for communications and helping students to identify and access the resources they need to form new networks. Here are some ways you can help:
- Contact your departmental PGSA (see also the PGSS list of PGSA contacts) to find out what initiatives they are working on.
- Help to promote their initiatives (especially with incoming students, as student groups don't have their contact information) and/or connect them with the resources and support they need to be successful.
- Let students know about opportunities open to all departments
- Peer Mentoring for graduate students
- PGSS Events -a variety of events such as yoga sessions, art workshops, and Hangout hours.
- Toolkit for students who want to start a peer program
- Contact your departmental PGSA (see also the PGSS list of PGSA contacts) to find out what initiatives they are working on.
- Peer to peer connections are an essential source of engagement and support for all students. Departments play a critical role in fostering these networks, by acting as a conduit for communications and helping students to identify and access the resources they need to form new networks. Here are some ways you can help:
Highlighting Resources & Answering Questions
- Communicating regularly with both incoming and returning students is an essential way to help maintain a sense of community in your department.
- Make sure your students are aware of the many resources and services available to them:
- In addition to letting your students know about department specific offerings, you can remind them about central services that might be especially valuable and highlight them in your communications. The CL&E to Success video series (selected videos are listed individually below) features mini interviews with representatives from units across campus.
- Encourage students to watch the GradLife Orientation (GLO) videos available on myCourses.
- Peer Support Centre (CL&E to Success Interview)
- Student Housing (CL&E to Success Interview)
- International Student Services (ISS) (CL&E to Success Interview)
- Find your Liaison Librarian (CL&E to Success Interview)
- Student Accessibility and Achievement (SAA) (CL&E to Success Interview)
- Graduate Funding website | Scholarships and Student Aid Office (SSAO) website
- Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS) (CL&E to Success Interview)
- SKILLSETS (CL&E to Success Interview)
- myPath (Video)
- myProgress (Video)
- McGill Writing Centre & Graphos (CL&E to Success Interview)
- Student Wellness Hub
- Career Planning Service (CaPS) (CL&E to Success Interview)
- The Office of the Dean of Students
- Helping Students in Difficulty Folder was created by the Office of the Dean of Students and is the departments' guide for what to do and who to contact in emergencies, crises, and worrisome or difficult situations.
- In addition to letting your students know about department specific offerings, you can remind them about central services that might be especially valuable and highlight them in your communications. The CL&E to Success video series (selected videos are listed individually below) features mini interviews with representatives from units across campus.
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