Graduate Student Relations Committee

This Committee is a forum for communication between representatives of graduate student and senior University officers with responsibility for student relations and student life.

They inform campus-wide efforts to implement goals related to student engagement and review and recommend to the Vice-President, Academic and Provost new incidental fees and changes to existing incidental fees assessed to graduate students except for fees determined by the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and except for fees prescribed by contractual agreements between the University and the GSA.  The Committee also prepares recommendations to the Vice-President, Academic and Provost on changes to the Teaching Assistant rates, the Research Assistant rates and PhD funding. 

The Committee receives for information and comment proposed changes in tuition and co-op fees and is consulted on policies (Class Z) that are developed, or amended that affect graduate students.

There are two alternating Chairs of the Graduate Student Relations Committees – the Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and President of the Graduate Student Association.

This Committee meets monthly and minutes of these meetings are confidential to the Committee.

The Secretary to the Committee is Tim Weber-Kraljevski.

University administration  

Name Position
Justin Wan [Co-Chair] Interim Co-Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs
Christine McWebb Associate Vice-President, Faculty Planning and Policy
Chris Read Associate Provost, Students

Graduate Students

Name  Position
Neela Hassan [Co-Chair] President, Graduate Student Association
Meray Sadek Vice-President, Administration
Thabie Lechesa Vice-President, Advocacy
Abhishesh Homagain Council Speaker
Dean Eaton Director of the Board

Special members*

Name Position
Lili Liu Dean, Faculty of Health
Anna Esselment Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Arts
Martin Ross Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Science

Resource

Name Position
Jana Carson Assistant Director, Institutional Analysis and Planning
Marianne Simm Director, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs

Special Resource

Name Position 
Allan Starr Associate Provost, Institutional Data Analysis & Planning

*Note: Special Members and Special Resources attend meetings and participate in discussions related to changes to the TA rate, the recommended RA rate, and required minimum PhD funding only


Chairs: Alternating between the Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and the President, Graduate Student Association, University of Waterloo

2024-2025 Meeting Dates

Date  Time Location
September 10, 2024 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308
October 8, 2024 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308
November 5, 2024 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308
December 3, 2024 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
December 17, 2024 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308
January 14, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
January 31, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
February 11, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
March 11, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
April 8, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
May 6, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318
June 3, 2025 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Needles Hall 3308 & 3318