Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA)

The strategic, academic leadership within Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) is provided by the Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs in partnership with two Assistant Vice-Presidents, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs. The implementation of these strategic directives and other functions is led by a Director, Graduate Services and several functional teams that correspond to the student lifecycle. These include:

  • A team that supports the development and implementation of marketing and recruiting materials for academic programming in partnership with Faculties;  
  • A team that receives applications, ensures the validity of materials submitted, coordinates with departments and programs to have the applications reviewed, receives decision recommendations from the programs, and processes the admissions of incoming students including issuing the formal Offer of Admission. The admissions team also helps support international agreements between the University and strategic partners;
  • A team that manages scholarships and bursaries that support graduate students. The Awards team also oversees and supports students’ and Postdoctoral scholars’ applications for competitive, Tri-Agency funding. The team is responsible for processing all student payments through the University’s Student Information System; 
  • A team that serves a registrarial function, acting as the official record keeper for all graduate students’ data (e.g., applications, admission, grades, awards, recruitment, registration, theses, convocation, and course scheduling). The systems team designs, develops and implements with campus partners those systems and processes that facilitate graduate studies administration across the University;
  • A team that supports the development and implementation of student experience initiatives, professional development training and support, communications with campus partners on matters of interest to graduate students, the development and maintenance of web materials including administrative forms and the Graduate Studies Academic Calendar;
  • GSPA staff also coordinate with campus partners to generate and analyze strategic data and submit data to various government and external agencies.

GSPA, as the name implies, also supports the recruitment, onboarding and experiences for our postdoctoral scholars.

To get in touch with members of our team, visit the contact us web page.