On a Wednesday afternoon in mid-October, Lori Bradford  is teaching survival skills to five new graduate students in the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism. She is halfway through a Master’s program in Environmental Studies at Lakehead, and she is teaching her junior classmates how to navigate life as a graduate student.

Bradford’s PowerPoint presentation is loaded with tips on how to choose a thesis topic, when to source funding for conferences, what to expect as a Teaching Assistant, and where to find help on everything from bursaries to ethics boards.

“Get to know Lynn Gollat, the Graduate Studies Officer,” she tells the group. “Her help is invaluable.”

Gollat is one of six staff who work in the Office of Graduate and International Studies. She is responsible for administering graduate scholarships and grants, liaising with funding agencies such as NSERC and SSHRC, counselling students, and working with graduate coordinators to track the progress of graduate students as they complete their programs.

Along with the Dean of Graduate and International Studies, Dr. Gary Boire, she liaises with the regulating body that governs graduate studies in Ontario, the Ontario Council for Graduate Studies (OCGS).

“Graduate and international studies are essential if Lakehead University is to flourish in the 21st century,” says Boire. “Graduate studies is where the action is; it is the cutting edge of research. It is where innovation happens. Without graduate work, we wouldn’t have insulin, or biotechnology, or new theories of culture, history, or languages.”

“Our office is responsible for two Senate Committees: the Senate Graduate Studies Committee and the Senate Graduate Scholarships and Bursaries Committee,” says Gollat. “We prepare the agenda, keep the minutes and the historic records, and make recommendations. As well, we look after all of the academic regulations, and provide financial aid services – the type of service the Financial Aid Office does for undergraduate students.

Tracy Al-idrissi, Admissions Officer, prescreens all applications to Graduate Studies, and she makes the admissions decisions for International undergraduate students.

Olufemi (Femi) Oduekun is one of 198 International students at Lakehead this year. He has a BSc in Management from the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and he chose Lakehead for graduate work because of its Master of Science in Management program and the generous financial assistance Lakehead was able to offer. (He received over $7,000.)

International and Exchange students like Oduekun are assisted by Wendy Bons and Susan Burton. Bons is the International Recruitment Officer and Burton is the International Student Coordinator.

Bons’ job involves International student recruitment and liaising with international agents charged with recruiting students to Lakehead. As well, she oversees all of the exchange agreements with partner institutions in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, and Sweden. Exchange agreements, like the recently signed trilateral initiative linking Canada, Mexico, and the United States (featured in the October 2004 issue of the Agora) are drafted by Bons.

Burton is the one who counsels the International students on academic and non-academic matters, plans social and academic activities, greets the students when they arrive in Thunder Bay, and generally helps them to adjust to life in Canada. 

Cindy Campanotto, Administrative Assistant, performs many different roles including reception. Together, Gary, Lynn, Tracy, Wendy, Susan, and Cindy make a formidable team.

***

Dr. Gary Boire is excited about what lies ahead for the Office of Graduate and International Studies. He is hoping to strengthen the graduate culture at Lakehead and expand graduate programs judiciously.  “We can’t recruit top-notch faculty without a strong graduate studies program, we can’t retain faculty without a strong grad program, and we certainly can’t attract good grad students without one.”

As for International Studies, Boire says, “Everyone today is a global citizen. International students enrich our community, and exchange programs allow Canadian students to experience other cultures. We enrich them, and they enrich us.”

The challenge, he says, will be to expand graduate and international programs without diluting the undergraduate programs. “My job as Dean is to work behind the scenes to facilitate new structures that will allow people to teach.”

"Lakehead is unique in what it has to offer. I would urge people to wake up and look around them – not at what they have been told is here – but what is actually here."

The team at Office of Graduate and International Studies: (l to r) Cindy Campanotto, Wendy Bons, Dr. Gary Boire, Susan Burton, Tracy Al-idrissi, Lynn Gollat

For more information on Graduate and International Studies, visit the website: http://ogis.lakeheadu.ca/