The move from office to faculty provides the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) with a foundation to improve the graduate student experience, from recruitment through to convocation.
As a faculty, this group will have a stronger focus on providing enhanced support for both students and academic supervisors by bringing supervisory faculty members - who work closest with graduate students - under the FGS umbrella. The faculty will also create opportunities for workshops and discussions around best practices in graduate student supervision and have the ability to offer graduate interdisciplinary courses and programs.
A graduate student's academic record will also be centralized, from the start of their studies until the completion of their degree.
"Becoming a Faculty of Graduate Studies aligns SFU with the way most universities operate and organize the functions of graduate programming in Canada," says Mary O'Brien, vice-provost and dean of FGS. "That said, we haven't made this move simply to be like everyone else. The establishment of a faculty enables more inclusive collegial governance and greater transparency around the work being done to collaboratively support graduate studies across SFU."
Board of Governors approval came after more than a year of thorough consultation with the SFU community, including: senior leadership, deans, SFU Faculty Association, members of Indigenous communities and equity groups, graduate program chairs and administrators, the Graduate Student Society, and graduate supervisors.
The culmination of this broad consultation came at the December 2024 Senate meeting, where the proposal received unanimous support.
SFU president Joy Johnson says she's excited for the opportunity to strengthen the SFU graduate student community.
"Establishing a Faculty of Graduate Studies is an important step forward in how we support graduate students at SFU," says Johnson. "Graduate students are critical members of our community, and I can't wait to see how the FGS will transform the graduate student experience and empower students to carry out incredible learning, research, teaching and work."
The move also ensures that the FGS undergoes regular reviews, to report how the faculty functions, what it needs to continue and where it needs to improve.
"As representatives of graduate students, we recognize their unique experiences and challenges," says Abhishek Nanjundappa, executive director of the SFU Graduate Student Society (GSS). "We believe that the faculty can provide the necessary capacity and focus to ensure quality, consistency, and progression across programs, ultimately benefiting our current and future student members."
FGS will now have its own collegial governance and decision-making body, a Faculty of Graduate Studies Assembly (FGSA).
The FGSA will meet regularly with its members, which includes graduate program chairs, graduate student representatives, and graduate program assistant representatives, together with FGS staff to discuss issues, opportunities and to make decisions together.
One of the first priorities for the newly-minted FGS is to host its first FGSA in May. This meeting will lay the groundwork for how the FGSA will run when its work begins in September.
"Having an FGSA means that we are better positioned to serve the entire SFU graduate studies community. Our decision making will include the voices of graduate programs and graduate students who have the experience and the expertise necessary to make the best decisions," says O'Brien.
To learn more about the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the changes, please visit FGS's Establishing a Faculty of Graduate Studies information page.
