Graduate

Committees and Mandates      

Admissions and Studies Committee

Shall consist of

• A total of eight members;
• A member of the SGS Council to serve as Chair;
• Four faculty (SGS Members);
• Registrarial representative – ex-officio;
• Student representative; and,
• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies – ex-officio.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Recommend recruitment mechanisms;
• Recommend procedures, practices and standards for admissions into graduate programs, including academic and non-academic qualifications, ESL, standards, etc.;
• Recommend registration practices (course selection and approval);
• Recommend standards for maintenance of good standing (grades, continuous registration, etc.);
• Recommend residency / post - residency requirements;
• Recommend  full-time and part-time  status requirements and procedures;
• Recommend procedures and practices for graduate examinations, in particular, comprehensive examinations, thesis requirements and thesis examinations practices;
• Recommend time limits for completion of graduate programs;
• Recommend the definition of instructional offence and offences of conduct;
• Recommend student appeal and petition mechanisms; and,
• Recommend graduation requirements and practices and convocation practices.

Members of the Admissions and Studies Committee shall serve for a term of three years.

Appeals Committee

Shall consist of:

• A pool of nineteen members;
• One of the faculty as Chair, elected by the committee;
• Director of Ryerson Student Services or a designate;
• Ten faculty (SGS Members), with no more than two from a given program;
• Six graduate student representatives, with no more than two from a given program; and,
• Two faculty alternates (SGS Members), chosen from past members of the SGS Appeals Committee (starting in 2002-2003), who will only be asked to attend a hearing in the event that a quorum cannot be obtained from the membership.

A minimum of four members will be empanelled, including the Chair, two faculty, and one student, with no more than 25% student representation.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Assess requests for academic consideration submitted by graduate students that fall under one or more of the following:

1. academic consideration of a grade or performance designation decision by an Instructor, Supervisor or Supervisor’s designate, based on medical or compassionate grounds, course management, prejudice (see SGS Appeals Policy), or misapplication of an academic regulation; and/or,
2. academic consideration of an academic standing decision by a Faculty Advisor, Program Director or Director’s designate who has denied consideration.

For more information on appeals, please refer to the SGS Appeals Policy.

Members of the Appeals Committee shall serve a term of three years.

Membership Committee

Shall consist of:

• A total of two members;
• Vice Chair of SGS Council to serve as Chair and be an ex-officio member; and,
• One faculty (SGS member) as approved by SGS Council.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Review faculty applications for membership in the School of Graduate Studies and to make recommendations to the Dean of Graduate Studies; and,
• Review committee membership and make recommendations to Council.

Members of the Membership Committee shall serve a term of two years.

Programs and Planning Committee

Shall consist of:

• A total of thirteen members;
• Dean of Graduate Studies as Chair;
• Two representatives from each Faculty who must be SGS members;
• Chief Librarian as ex-officio member; and,
• One Graduate Student.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Review proposals according to the Approval of New Programs and Program Modifications policy, and,
• Recommend the administrative structure for the School of Graduate Studies.

Members of the Program and Planning Committee shall serve a term of three years, renewable for one additional term.

Scholarships and Awards Committee

Shall consist of:

• A total of eight members;
• One of the eight members as Chair;
• Dean of Graduate Studies;
• Four Faculty (SGS Members);
• Financial Awards representative – ex-officio;
• Student representative; and,
• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies – ex-officio.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Recommend policies and practices for graduate student funding, e.g. minimum levels, length of commitment, both full-time and part-time;
• Recommend sources for graduate student funding, e.g. internal scholarships, A.A.’s and R.A.’s; and,
• Recommend selection procedures.

Members of the Scholarships and Awards Committee shall serve a term of three years.

Sub-Committees and Ad Hoc Committees of the Scholarship and Awards Committee (4):

Bursary Committee

Shall consist of:                               

• Chair of the Scholarship and Awards Committee;
• A Ryerson Student Services representative (Financial Awards Office);
• One Faculty (SGS Member), who might also serve on the SGS Student Services Committee; and
• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies – ex-officio.

Shall have a mandate to: 

• As a sub-committee of the Scholarship and Awards Committee, review applications for funding based on need;

• Bear responsibility for allocating funds to assist qualified students so that they can complete their program of study; and,

• Develop criteria for assessing the needs of students and determining allocation of funds.

NSERC PGS/USRA Sub-Committee

Shall consist of:                      

• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, as ex-officio;

• Dean of Graduate Studies  or designate as ex-officio;

• Five Faculty (SGS Members), four of which are to be from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and one of which are to be from the Faculties of Arts, Business, Applied Arts, or Community Services.

Members of the NSERC PGS/USRA Committee shall serve a term of 3 years.  **(based on the NSERC PGS and discussions with the Associate Registrar, Graduate Studies)

Shall have a mandate to:

• Review and rank proposed applications/nominations from Ryerson faculty supervisors to support students through the NSERC Post-Graduate Scholarship Program and Undergraduate Scholarship Awards Program (NSERC PGS/USRA);

• Hold meetings at least two times a year to:
  1. review and rank applications/nominations for NSERC PGS-Awards from Ryerson students; and,
  2. review and rank applications/nominations for NSERC USRA awards from Ryerson students.

The committee may meet on other occasions to discuss policy and procedural issues.

Social Sciences and Humanities Scholarships Sub-Committee

Shall consist of:

• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, as ex-officio;

• Dean of Graduate Studies or designate as ex-officio;

• Five Faculty (SGS Members), one of which are to from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and four of which are to be from the Faculties of Arts, Business, Applied Arts, or Community Services; and,

• One committee member who will be a member of the Scholarship and Awards Committee.

Members of the Social Science and Humanities Scholarships Sub-Committee shall serve a term of 3 years.

Shall have a mandate to:                                  

• Identify scholarship opportunities for graduate students in the social sciences and humanities as a primary responsibility, including access to outside funding bodies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC);

• Provide recommendations concerning access to scholarship funds in the social sciences and humanities;

• Advise the Scholarship and Awards Committee on the nature and extent of any differentiation between the lower level of funding available for social science and humanities as compared to funding available for sciences and engineering, and possibly ways to address the disparity; and,

• Advise the Scholarship and Awards Committee on the nature of the differentiation between the historic disparity between social sciences and humanities, wherein humanities receives less funding, and possibly ways to address this disparity.

 CIHR Sub-Committee

Shall consist of:

• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, ex-officio;
• Dean of Graduated studies, or designate, ex-officio;
• Five faculty members (SGS members), one of which is from the
• Faculties of Arts, one from the Faculty of Community Services, one from the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science, and two additional members from any Faculty, including those mentioned.

Members of the CIHR Committee shall serve a term of three years.

Shall have a mandate to:              

• Hold meeting(s) to review and rank applications/nominations from undergraduate and graduate students for the annual CIHR competition.
• The committee may meet on other occasions to discuss policy and procedural issues.

Members of the CIHR Sub-Committee shall serve a term of 3 years.

Student Services Committee

Shall consist of:

• A total of nine members;
• One of the nine members as Chair;
• Five Faculty (SGS Members);
• A Ryerson Student Services representative;
• Library representative;
• Student representative; and,
• Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies.

Shall have a mandate to:

Determine the services that full-time, part-time, and international students will require and the capacity of Ryerson University to provide such services.  Such services include, but are not limited to:

• library access;
• computing;
• office and laboratory space;
• residences and housing;
• health services;
• graduate common rooms; and,
• graduate student government.

Members of the Student Services Committee shall serve a term of three years.

Graduate Research Ethics Advisory Committee (GREAC)

Shall consist of:

• A total of six members;
• Four faculty (SGS Members), with one as Chair;
• Two graduate student representatives.

Shall have a mandate to:

• Develop School of Graduate Studies policies related and relevant to the ethics review process, subject to Ryerson University Policy 51 (Policy on Research Involving Human Subjects), Policy 52 (Ethics Review of Research Involving Animals), the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS), Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guidelines and any other relevant legislation;
• Serve a consultation role to graduate students, supervisors, and faculty researchers, to assist in the development of research protocols for submission for ethical review; and,
• Serve an advisory role to the Ryerson Research Ethics Board.

Members of the Graduate Research Ethics Advisory Committee (GREAC) shall serve a term of three years.