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Graduate Student Network Spotlight
49 Plays3 months ago
This episode our on-air host PJ Broderick is joined by Erin Anderson, Jacquline Beaulieu, Rebecca Shaw, Nicole Crozier, and Dinuka Gunaratne as we explore the ins and outs of the Graduate Student Network. We hope that you enjoy and choose to follow along as we release a number of episodes geared towards celebrating our past, present, and future as an organization.
The CACUSS50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organizations 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by: Sean Fast, Adam Kuhn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Muehlethaler, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon, and Becca Gray. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler-colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. For more information on the territories you may reside on, visit: https://native-land.ca/
Music: Expanding the Limits | Performed by Audiorezout & Written by Oleksii Striapchyi | Stock Media provided by Audiorezout / Pond5
Podcast Cover Art by: Ravi Gabble (UTM)
Twitter: @cacusstweets
Instagram: @cacussphotos
Website: https://cacuss.ca/
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Transcript
Introduction to the Oral History Project
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Caucus 50th Anniversary Oral History Project, where we're collecting stories about our profession, our field, and our organization.
Guest Introductions and Backgrounds
00:00:27
Speaker
My name is Paula Jean, or PJ Broderick, and I use she-they pronouns. I currently work at Kwantlen Polytechnic University on the west coast of what is now known as Canada. I'm thrilled to be joined by some phenomenal colleagues today for a conversation about Caucus's graduate student network. So welcome, everyone.
00:00:46
Speaker
To introduce um and to start this episode, I thought we would start with some introductions. If each of you could share your names, your pronouns, either where you work or where you went to school or what you're studying and what your research interests are and how you got involved in this network, that'd be great. Let's start with Erin. Thanks, Paula. My name is Erin Anderson. I use she her pronouns. And currently I am a second year PhD student.
00:01:14
Speaker
in the Higher Education Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies and Education at the University of Toronto. And I am one of the ah caucus graduate student network co-chairs for this network since summer of 2022. So thank you for having me. Amazing. Let's go to Jackie next.
00:01:37
Speaker
Hi, everyone. So great to be here today. My name is Jacqueline Boulia. I am currently a PhD candidate close to graduation studying higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, like Erin. And um I am currently undertaking research pertaining to ancillary fees of all things.
00:01:55
Speaker
ah Here in Ontario, we have an arrangement where students co-determine those fees and with their respective universities. And so I take a look at the outcome of that type of arrangement for shared governance and for student services. And in regards to the graduate student network, I've just been around since its inception and I'm really glad to be here to chat with you about it today and ah we'll go from there. Fantastic. Over to you, Nicole.
Research and Roles in the Network
00:02:25
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. My name is Nicole Crozier. My pronouns are she and her. I currently work as the communications officer for the faculty of science at the University of Victoria. But prior to this role, spent about 10 years working in orientation programming. um I did my master's of education in educational technology here at the University of Victoria from 2019 to 2021. And I was looking at how to design effective online orientation programs for first year students.
00:02:56
Speaker
Welcome, Nicole. Over to you, Rebecca. Thank you. My name is Rebecca Shaw, um and I am also a PhD student in higher education at OIZ. Currently, my research is around late-diagnosed autistic students, particularly people who identify as women, and their experience in the academic accommodation system um in graduate school as they transition from students to scholars.
00:03:26
Speaker
I also work at Mohawk College in Hamilton, where I support the Student Life Student Staff with training in professional development. And I have been a co-chair of the Graduate Student Network since the fall of 2023. And my pronouns are sheer. Welcome, Rebecca. And over to you, Deduka.
00:03:50
Speaker
Thank you very much, Paula. Hello, everyone. My name is Danuka Gunaratna. My pronouns are he and him. I'm joining you today from Vancouver, British Columbia. I am ah the Director of Career Development and Experiential Learning at Northeastern University in Vancouver.
00:04:06
Speaker
um And my kind of connection to the Graduate Student Network really comes from I am the Caucus Board Representative to the Caucus Community of Practice Assembly and actually been around long enough that in the COP world to see this wonderful community come to life under Nicole and Jacqueline's leadership.
00:04:27
Speaker
um So my work has spent like the last decade or so working with graduate students and supporting their growth and development, particularly in the space of career. um So that's me. thank you for all of Thank you to all of you for introducing yourself. and We've all mentioned the Graduate Student Network, but the next question is, what is it?
Purpose and Inclusivity of the Graduate Student Network
00:04:50
Speaker
Who is it for? What does it do? Who should get involved? And what does it look like?
00:04:56
Speaker
Anybody want to start? And we're going to go over to Jacqueline. My thoughts on this one are that the graduate student network is for anyone quite really who is studying perhaps in a master's or doctoral program where there's some connection or focus to student affairs and services, higher education or other related themes. ah I speak about that loosely intentionally. I think that perhaps some our more open interdisciplinary approach that we have ah in Canada in terms of our field, you know, it allows us to bring in people from
00:05:31
Speaker
all kinds of adjacent fields into this particular field, be it social work, health, equity related, athletics, um business, who you know, so on and so forth. i And the reality is that you can study all of these things through a variety of programs. They don't just have to be titled higher education or student affairs, although there certainly are the benefits to the programs that we do have with that as their stated focus. So yeah, I think it part time student, full time student at any point in your academic or professional career,
00:06:02
Speaker
Our aim is for you to feel like you can belong here. And I'll pass it off to whoever liked to expand on that. I can definitely jump in and add to what ah some of Jackie's already explained. um Definitely our aim is to support graduate students at all levels, um even those, you know, if you're just taking a continu edge continuing education course, or just trying to sort of do some upscaling in the field,
00:06:29
Speaker
um So we aim to provide a supportive community for student affairs professionals who are either enrolled as graduate students or who are considering graduate ah education to further their knowledge. um So we discuss everything from kind of work-life balance, ah transitioning into the field after graduation, and doing research as a scholar practitioner or as a as a graduate student.
00:06:57
Speaker
um you you know, mentorship opportunities, networking opportunities, um and trying to promote and knowledge sharing among them amongst our members as well. um Perhaps um maybe Nicole can even chime in um on sort of what the the goals were um with the inception of the network. Paula, do you want me to take us on a history lesson?
Network's Origin and Goals
00:07:21
Speaker
Yes, please. That would be fantastic. All right. um So I didn't say this in my introduction, but I was
00:07:28
Speaker
one of the initial co-chairs of the Graduate Students Network. um But it all started when, um in the summer of 2019, caucus sent out an email, somebody had come to them with the idea of doing something for grad students.
00:07:44
Speaker
um And so they were looking for essentially people who might be interested in having a conversation about what that could be. um So this was largely led by Joshua Grandin, who at that point, I believe was a grad student at the University of Toronto. um But a group of us came together and discussed what paying a grad student was like, how we could support others, what we wanted to do. And that's where sort of the birth of the network um came from.
00:08:09
Speaker
ah You needed two people to sign the paperwork to get caucus's approval. um So I mistakenly did that and then somehow was a co-chair, which was fine. It was a delight. When I was involved with the network, so I was the co-chair from that beginning in 2019 until ah the spring of 2021. For me, it was really three things. um One, we knew there were a lot of people across the country who were working in student affairs or wanted to be working in student affairs.
00:08:39
Speaker
who were also grad students, like Jackie was saying, in some capacity. um And we were scattered all over the place. um Like OZ might have a community, but for folks at other institutions didn't really have that community of people to talk about student affairs or how to apply what they were learning to their professional practice. um For example, I was in a cohort of 24 people. I was the only one in higher ed. Everybody else was a K to 12 teacher. um So having sort of that community to come to ah to talk about your work and your learning was ah one of our goals. um Another was promoting the opportunity, promoting grad school to folks who might be thinking about it or maybe not thinking about it. um It was before I started grad school, it was a bit of a mystery of what programs might I be interested in? What do I want? Where is it going to take me? um I always ask, how do you work and go to grad school at the same time? um So trying to pull back the curtain was another one of our goals.
00:09:37
Speaker
um And then the third thing was at that point, it felt like we talked about being scholar practitioners and we're bringing in research. um And I knew there was a ton of research happening across the country at that grad student level, but it didn't feel like it was making it out of their theses and projects and classroom work to actually make an impact on the field. um And so we wanted to provide sort of that opportunity in that platform to help grad students make that connection. um So from the beginning,
00:10:07
Speaker
um Those are sort of the three goals that we brought to the network um and planned all of our activities, our discussions, our events, our programming around. Amazing. Danuka, do you want to touch on how it kind of fits into the caucus um broader goals?
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah, thank you very much, Paula.
Involvement and Benefits of the Network
00:10:26
Speaker
So as ah we are almost about to kind of present ah the caucus's new strategic plan, ah the board had spent a lot of time discussing the importance of scholarship in student affairs, particularly around scholarship in Canadian student affairs um and how we bring it together. And so the Graduate Student Network absolutely has a key role to play in in bringing those scholars as well as knowledge translation um and dissemination. So it is really exciting to to know that this network is flourishing. um If you look across Canada, there are many fantastic institutions that offer graduate programs, both at the master's level and the PhD level that will allow you to study higher education as a disciplinary subject area.
00:11:18
Speaker
all the way from Memorial to Royal Roads and everywhere in between. ah And then OISE, of course, being in Toronto, one of the best in the world. ah However, but as Nicole was saying, the communities are not always connected unless they're connected through specific research threads or topics. So caucus as a whole has a really great opportunity here with this network to bring those scholars together.
00:11:41
Speaker
ah in a very strategic and thoughtful way to to kind of translate ah that research into practice. so ah So that's kind of what we're hoping to do. We're hoping to create some avenues and you know looking forward to this network thriving and and people who are already in grad school or if people are thinking about going to grad school that they could join in and share their experiences with each other.
00:12:06
Speaker
Thanks, Danuka. So all of you have mentioned that you were graduate students or are graduate students currently. And so I'm wondering, how did you get involved in the Graduate Student Network? And what would be some advice you'd give to somebody who's looking um at either getting involved in the Graduate Student Network or exploring graduate studies, whether it be at the master's level or the doctoral level? um I think we're gonna go to Rebecca for this one.
00:12:34
Speaker
All right, well, um I can share my perspective of why I got involved in the graduate student network as a co-chair. So as kind of like a baby PhD student, um as I started to kind of understand that there's so much else to being a graduate student than just taking your courses and writing your dissertation, you also need to get involved outside of um outside of like those basic expectations, including going to conferences, getting involved in different associations, publishing, of course. um But I had some pretty big imposter syndrome. And so I looked to the Graduate Student Network as an opportunity to get involved outside of
00:13:20
Speaker
my program in kind of a safe way to start to get experience more experience kind of connecting and networking with other people and then also sharing kind of advice about imposter syndrome and burnout and also how to um balance working and being a graduate student and also doing all of these other things that make you a successful graduate student.
00:13:43
Speaker
And so I've really been appreciative of the opportunity um to kind of dip my foot into some of this through POCUS and the COP network.
00:13:55
Speaker
Thanks, Rebecca. Erin, do you want to ah talk about how people can reach out to the Graduate Student Network? Yeah, I think this would be a great time. Just do a little plug.
00:14:07
Speaker
um So um folks who want to um get involved or know about some of our upcoming events can definitely reach out to us directly at gradstudentsatcaucus.ca. ah We also have a Twitter page. and We might be a little late to the game on that or X, I guess, as it's called today, um but it's at caucus underscore GSN.
00:14:32
Speaker
um So just a little plug there. um We'd love to have folks come out to so a meeting or event. um So yeah, definitely feel free to get in touch or directly through caucus also as well works if you're already connected with them. I was just going to add, if you are not a ex-Twitter fan, um both Erin and I, if you want to reach out to us on LinkedIn, we do post about um the GSN there and our upcoming ah activities, and we are planning something every month this term. So we do look forward to having new folks join us. Thanks, Rebecca and Erin. So the third question on my list today is what are some key themes and trends for the graduate student network these days? Rebecca, you mentioned that um you're doing something every month, so there must be some really interesting ding things happening. um Who would like to take this one on?
00:15:31
Speaker
There, go for it. Yeah, thanks again. um Yeah, we definitely have had some interesting events in the last year um and conversations that are still ongoing. So one of those ah was around just kind of like getting off on the right foot. We did that in September. um Some ones that we held earlier in the spring were around applying to grad school. So we partnered with a couple of faculty members, ah one from Memorial and one from Wilfrid Laurier here in Ontario.
00:16:02
Speaker
And they shared sort of the um sort of insider tips on, you know, like, should I do an EdD or a PhD? Or, um you know, what does a grad application look like? What do I need to prepare that kind of thing? So that was really, really valuable for our members. ah This term, ah we have an exciting session on publishing as a grad student.
00:16:27
Speaker
um And then we also have our annual ah grad student research showcase, which has been um Nicole, you can correct me if I'm wrong. um But this has been sort of one of the flagship initiatives of the grad student network um where we allow people to come together virtually and grad students can share um all of the research and interesting work that they've been doing in their grad programs respectively. So that's something I really look forward to and it's actually how I got involved with the COP from the beginning as I participated in one of those during my master's.
00:17:02
Speaker
And um yeah, I think um when Nicole left and the position was open, I, um you know, got on board just because of that. So um it's definitely an exciting opportunity. um So stay tuned if you are a grad student and would like to participate in that. And if folks really want the answer to what are some of the trends in Student Affairs, the Graduate Student Research Week and their research is often the way to find out or to see because people are researching the things that are the most prominent conversations. that's It's always been one of my favorite events. I love that you ah mentioned that, Nicole. i I love hearing about everyone's research and their interests and how they came to those spaces um during that week.
00:17:50
Speaker
um Is there anything that you're curious about or any things that like you're working towards within the GSN or what, maybe some things that we you had in early on conversations, Jacqueline and um Nicole, that you're seeing now?
Financial Accessibility and Diversity
00:18:08
Speaker
I'm not sure if this is the right place to put it, but I think that one of the things that we've been chatting about has been ah how do we try to encourage students to participate as fully as they can throughout caucus. And there's been some really wonderful things that have happened in recent years, for example, just to try and make it more financially doable for students who, especially full-time students who may not have ah many resources to draw upon so ah caucus has moved to having a free membership for graduate students who are full-time students and there's also the reduced conference rate as well um that full-time graduate students do have access to and that actually extends to undergraduate students you'll see undergraduate students at the conference as well too
00:18:53
Speaker
So I do think that that's one of the things that we've been chatting about as a group is, you know, how do we ah both encourage people to get involved, but also create the parameters to help people have as much success as possible as they, you know, get involved however you can, wherever you can, but we need to make that really doable, especially for ah graduate students who may be a little bit more having to think about their finances and might be more at the margins.
00:19:19
Speaker
And actually, I think that's something that I think is always interesting to think about in an organization like this, which was originally designed to cater to working professionals. And you know while simultaneously working with a group of people um whose finances are all over the map, ah so and and that goes for working professionals too, right? you know How do we make this organization as welcoming and i I guess possible in a lot of ways for people no matter where what their situation may be?
00:19:49
Speaker
So I think that that's been one thing that's been really wonderful to see there still are some some challenges with that. One of the things we've been talking about is ah how what caucus offers maps on to what institutions offer in terms of the support they can provide students to participate. ah So for example, caucus is considered a professional conference.
00:20:08
Speaker
um and a professional organization and so for someone like myself ah to come to this conference and present my research that I've worked really hard on and want to share with all you all, um you know it's a great dissemination opportunity but that comes with the cost because um you know unless I'm working with a faculty member and we're going to present at the conference and we're able to piggyback off a fund that they might have access to ah because the conference is considered a professional one it often doesn't map on to a lot of if not most of the or all of the funding available, the available funding that might be present at an institution for graduate student travel. ah So that's something that we've been chatting a lot about and that's not a that's not an issue of a specific institution or of caucus is just how these things all map on to each other and you know what would be the step forward because I mean we are all about you know supporting students and their success and all of these things and so how do we
00:21:04
Speaker
you know, while recognizing things have costs, you know, it costs a lot of money to run an organization and a conference and all of these things. And, you know, I study higher education finance, so I'm certainly very aware of that. But, you know, how do we go about this in a way that we can bring students in in a way that just recognize that that may be more at the margins um and recognize that they might be paying out of pocket for certain things. So that's something we've chatted about a fair bit. I don't know what the answer is, but I just thought I'd mention it as one.
00:21:33
Speaker
Those are excellent points, Jacqueline. um I think I want to kind of circle back to what you were mentioning about like, accessing the Graduate Student Network. So we have lots of students ah graduate students who are working professionals and are in a scholar practitioner role. um And it obviously is a caucus run ah community of practice. So for somebody like myself, I am a practitioner in Canada, but I am a graduate student elsewhere. I am an international student somewhere else. Would somebody like myself be able to access and how do I go about accessing the network?
00:22:10
Speaker
I can take that. um Certainly, ah we would accept anybody who is a graduate student, especially balancing the scholar practitioner transition. um So I would really encourage anybody who is either in their master's or PhD, whether it's research based or not to reach out to us um and join us at some of our um events. They, we do have sometimes just networking events about like, we are going to have one about how do you define what a scholar practitioner is and that won't necessarily be in only the Canadian context, it's going to be a bit more general. So um yeah, we really, really do encourage folks to reach out to us at if you can't find us on the caucus site to email gradstudents at caucus dot.ca. We can hook you up.
00:23:04
Speaker
Thanks, Rebecca. um So moving on to, we've kind of talked a little bit about the past.
Future Directions and Support for Non-Traditional Careers
00:23:10
Speaker
We've talked a little bit about the present. And so looking forward, what's the future of the network look? What does the future of the network look like? What's on the horizon? How can folks get involved? Things like that. Erin, let's go over to you.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yeah, so just thinking about the you know increasing and professionalization of the field of student affairs in Canada, you know we're seeing and more students, or sorry, more professionals um undertaking graduate work to help them um you know develop their understanding of the students that they're working with and supporting. And so I think there's you know more need for this group than ever before.
00:23:53
Speaker
um And especially, you know, coming out of, you know, multiple a multiple year pandemic, um you know, that ability to connect, and you know, we're all used to being online. And when you're trying to, um you know, engage people who are, you know, across a very large um geographical area, it can be really tricky. So, you know, we have lots of, of great tools to be able to connect with folks and just kind of support them and you know, even if it's just saying, you know, this is really hard or, um you know, there's a lot of sacrifices that might be involved. Even in a professional program, you might be giving up your evenings to go to class. um You might be, you know, missing out on certain things or just feeling isolated from your coworkers who don't understand because they haven't been through it before. So I think, you know, it's a great opportunity and that we have this network for folks to come together. And I think,
00:24:51
Speaker
and As the the field continues to grow, it's just going to become even more important to have that um space where people can come together. So and we're happy to to kind of be there to fill that fill that need and hope that the network can continue to grow and evolve um with its members and its and their needs. Thanks, Erin. Rebecca, do you want to add anything?
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I think also an area that ah the graduate student network is becoming more aware of is that grad students aren't necessarily going the traditional academic path.
00:25:28
Speaker
um And a lot of us are looking towards alternative academic careers, perhaps doing graduate school to ah to really bolster their student affairs work, or looking at other avenues of scholarship beyond what perhaps when you're in grad school, a lot of your instructors and professors are driving you towards, which is to become professors yourself.
00:25:52
Speaker
um And so I think this is really ah a trend that is coming up in higher ed and student affairs, um grad school practice is that our goal sometimes um can be very very, very varied. And so um joining the Graduate Student Network is a really great opportunity to learn about the pathways that other grad students are taking um and what they're doing to share their knowledge and um what their plans are to to use their learning in the future.
00:26:24
Speaker
Thanks, Rebecca. So um just to kind of end our conversation, so really interesting things happening with the Graduate Student Network. So exciting things on the horizon and I'm excited to continue to get involved with GSN. Does anyone have any final thoughts? I'll just say as like almost a personal plug, I am no longer a grad student. I am no longer involved in the network, although I love seeing what they're still doing.
00:26:50
Speaker
um But for me, the opportunity, the time I spent with the network, the relationships that I was able to build with other grad students during that time, like those people were people who during that time I relied on to like get me through it and to be sort of that motivational coach. Many of them are still people I talk to and are friends today. um So it really, there's a lot of good things in terms of the research promotion, in terms of helping people. But for me, this network allowed me to build relationships with other people that has continued to be meaningful long beyond my grad student experience.
00:27:22
Speaker
Yeah, no, I will add, ah you know, listening to folks talk about, you know, the past, present and the future, I have spent all my time, I have a Pinocchio, apparently a swell going down
Community Support and Completion of Graduate Programs
00:27:33
Speaker
there. But I, you know, I've spent a lot of time working with graduate students over the last decade. and And I'm actually not a graduate student myself, but I actually hope to be one very, very soon.
00:27:46
Speaker
um So this network listening in over the years, going to some of the symposia, um it was really inspiring to see all the research taking place, all the really neat programs, different schools. um And so I think as a community, ah It is, yes, mainly geared towards other practitioners who are in grad school completing graduate education or full-time, but it's also a space for people who want to maybe learn about graduate education and understand what it's like to be a scholar practitioner, what it's like to be um you know in grad school at the same time as working, what is the value of their graduate education in the work they do, and so on.
00:28:30
Speaker
Eren and I actually happened to be at a conference in November. At the same time, we sat around you know a meal and talked a lot about ah what it means to also be in community, especially if you're a graduate student with any accessibility needs and and support that you need, that extra lift, ah what it's like to you know kind of balance ah being, you know, all the different roles you carry, parents, as a spouse, as ah as a professional. um and i And I find through my work with graduate students, as Nicole mentioned, that community of support is the most important aspect of getting you through the finish line. And I'm pretty sure many of us in this room who are currently doing grad school probably have felt the, oh my God, like, when is this coming to an end?
00:29:21
Speaker
you know and like needing that morale boost or navigating through that you know you know space of trying to just get those you know papers out or you know finish the chapter and that you know opportunity to call somebody up and just know that that person will understand what you're going through will add a huge boost of morale to get you through the finish line. So as someone who is totally an imposter, literally, yeah Having not gone to grad school but has worked with grad students for a lifetime and having seen this network come to life, it brings me a great joy that, you know, how GSN will will add to caucus's next iteration in the strategic plan around bringing professionalization but also scholar practitioner work and collaboration across several other associations in in the country and and really bringing student affairs in Canada to the ah global forefront.
00:30:16
Speaker
um A lot of people like to to compare American Student Affairs as the same thing as Canadian Student Affairs. It's not. We have a unique culture, unique aspects, unique drivers. So what the students and the professionals do in this network is crucial.
Conclusion and Acknowledgments
00:30:34
Speaker
So I would say is that it's a network, yes, primarily for grad students or folks who are in grad school, but I think it's a space for people who are not in grad school. Like myself, I'm always looking from the outside trying to like see what it's like in the inside um and then a space to share and celebrate success in community. So that's kind of my thoughts as we wrap things up.
00:30:58
Speaker
And I would add, when we think about our future of the Grad Student Network, you sort of look to your past and then think about your present and your future. And when the Grad Student Network came to be, you know, I pre-exist the Grad Student Network in August. And, you know, at that point in time, just when you asked people and I don't want to say when you ask people in caucus, but just my sort of sentiment as I navigated the organization was that ah professional title was really what people would lean on and share about when introducing themselves and things like that. And I've noticed that over time, you hear more and more people talk about what education they're doing at the same time when they introduce themselves.
00:31:41
Speaker
And it to me so or that suggests a bit of an identity shift, both perhaps individually but also as an organization. And I do think perhaps the presence of the graduate student network has helped and supported that and just, you know, it's that that's that little messaging that kind of goes out implicitly as you're talking about this type of thing to, you know,
00:32:02
Speaker
Your grad student identity, in addition to your professional identity or it's and then it's all part of your, your identity and people do talk about it more. I find and so I think that one of the things moving or moving forward for the graduate student network is I think it's going to continue to have that type of role.
00:32:18
Speaker
to encourage and bring out our scholarly backgrounds and to bring out scholarly conversation and debate. ah So I do think that the Graduate Student Network is going to play a role in that. it's It's a much bigger phenomenon that I'm describing, but I do think that the network has a role in that, a positive role.
00:32:36
Speaker
Another thing that I think it's going to do is I think it's going to help build out not a scholarly arm, but like the scholarly aspects of caucus. I think that this is a place where people can grow and meet people and build relationships with people who have ah both perhaps, you know, ah a scholarly interest in the field, a practitioner interest in the field, and or both.
00:32:58
Speaker
and build relationships and collaborate on research together or whatnot. And that, you know, those people then go on to do all kinds of really amazing things post-grad school. And so it's it's an incubator for scholarship in a lot of ways that, you know, that those relationships will proliferate and go on to create all kinds of great things for scholarship in our field.
00:33:22
Speaker
So in terms of where this network can go, it can keep doing what it does, but I think what it contributes is much more than what you see in terms of the events and all of these types of things. It's the relationships and what those relationships result in that I think you're going to see ah the scholarly nature of caucus will continue to evolve in part thanks to the Graduate Student Network.
00:33:44
Speaker
What a lovely way to end, Jackie, like look capturing what we've done for, well, not 50 years with the Graduate Student Network, but the last past five or six years and moving forward to where we're going next.
00:34:00
Speaker
So at this point, I want to thank all of our listeners for listening to this episode of the Caucus 50 Oral History Project. Before I go, I want to thank each of our guests, Erin, Rebecca, Nicole, Jacqueline, and Danuka for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share, subscribe, rate, and give it a review. And thank you for joining us. Until next time.
00:34:41
Speaker
The Caucus 50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organization's 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by Sean Fast, Adam Kuehn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Mulettoller, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret De Leon,
00:35:11
Speaker
and Becca Gray. Intro and outro music is courtesy of Alexei Striapji. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. Miigwetch.