GRADventure partners

GRADventure wouldn't have been possible without the expertise and programming of our key partners. Explore some of the many ways GRADventure partner units offer guidance, new experiences, and resources to University of Waterloo graduate students:

Centre for Career Action (CCA)

Each year, several hundred graduate students book a career advising appointment with a graduate career advisor at the Centre for Career Action. Graduate student testimonials rate Waterloo’s career advisors very highly, often pointing to the advisors’ in-depth knowledge of the graduate school experience, and to the advisors’ expertise in job application processes, work search strategies, and career exploration methods.

In addition to its individual career advising services (which are available via Skype and telephone, too), the CCA offers workshops, special events and other resources related to career readiness. Whether you've just started your graduate degree, or you're wrapping up your PhD thesis, the CCA's team of career advisors are there to help guide your post-academic career development. The CCA’s areas of expertise include academic career advisement as well as non-academic or alternative-academic career advisement.

Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE)

Graduate students who have taken full advantage of the Centre for Teaching Excellence’s professional development opportunities have reported more confidence in their role as Teaching Assistants (TAs) and instructors and a greater level of preparedness for university teaching.

The CTE offers workshops, small-group practice teaching sessions, and classroom observations to help prepare you for your current teaching roles and future careers. The CTE allows you to attend individual workshops that interest you, or to enrol in one of their certificate programs, such as Fundamentals of University Teaching, Certificate in University Teaching or the Certificate in University Language Teaching.

Graduate Student Association (GSA-UW)

The Graduate Student Association (GSA-UW) is a student-run, not-for-profit organization whose membership consists of graduate students of the University of Waterloo. As the main organization who actively promotes and represents graduate student interests to the university administration and governments, the GSA is a key GRADventure partner. The GSA also provides a number of services for graduate students, such as legal aid, income tax aid, supplementary health and dental plans, GRT bus pass, and student advocacy. The GSA hosts events that are held on campus and off-campus, and family-friendly events.

Library

University of Waterloo Library supports graduate students' professional development with a variety of workshops related to information management, authors’ rights, copyright, research skills, and altmetrics. You can also meet with your Subject Librarian for consultations related to your research.

Mitacs

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that works with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments to build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada and which bridge the gap between academia and industry. University of Waterloo students like you can benefit from several Mitacs programs including: Mitacs Training (free, professional skills training workshops on campus); Mitacs Accelerate (funded internships for graduate students working with a company partner); and Mitacs Globalink (travel funding for two-way mobility opportunities between Canada and Mitacs partner countries for both undergraduate and graduate students).

Office of Research

The Office of Research provides a comprehensive set of services to Waterloo faculty, staff, and students throughout the stages of research: consultations about research ethics or responsible conduct of research; commercialization of your intellectual property; negotiating license agreements; and support for Mitacs programs and applications.

Student Success Office

The mandate of the Student Success Office (SSO) is to provide and facilitate strategic student support for academic and personal success. Graduate students have access to the wide range of excellent SSO programming that is designed for all (undergraduate and graduate) students. This includes their leadership certificate program, their International Student Experience programming, peer mentorship training, as well as programming that is offered via Velocity. 

Writing and Communication Centre (WCC)

You can work with the Writing and Communication Centre to develop your scholarly voice and to build strategies for tackling your research paper, article, presentation, thesis or dissertation. Through the WCC, you can:

• Book a writing appointment, where you can work through any part of your writing project or presentation with a writing specialist in 50 minutes.
• Check out WCC workshops on a range of writing and communications topics.
• Find a space to write: The Grad Writing Café and #WaterlooWrites groups help you improve your productivity and avoid the isolation common in large projects.
• Stop stalling and start writing your dissertation at their intensive Dissertation Boot Camp.
• Develop your presentation skills: WCC’s Speak like a Scholar program offers hands-on practice talking about your research.
• Access online writing resources