VIU graduate student Taylor Alexander is getting paid to do research related to his thesis work thanks to the addition of nine research and teaching assistant positions through the Master of Community Planning program.
January 13, 2016 - 1:00pm
According to a group of Vancouver Island University (VIU) students hired as research and teaching assistants - being paid to do work directly related to the graduate degree they’re working on is just, well, the best.
Thanks to VIU administration and union support, VIU’s new Master of Community Planning program has funded nine positions. Each graduate student receives $2,000 per term for 100 hours of work and they are helping out in a number of different departments such as Criminology, Geography and Sociology.
Taylor Alexander is a research assistant working under the direction of Dr. Maria Inês Paes Ferreira – who is a Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) Post-Doctorate Fellow from Brazil. Together they are looking at poverty reduction strategies designed specifically to improve and protect watersheds.
Other graduate students are working on everything from coastal shellfish degradation and remote sensing geography projects to planning the Couch Stone Symposium - an annual event held by an international professional organization of scholars called the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction that focusses on a wide range of social issues.
For Alexander, the opportunity to be paid to work on projects that directly influence his thesis work is a dream come true.
“It’s great because a lot of what I’m doing applies to my master’s thesis,” said Alexander.
He says the decision to do his graduate degree at VIU began what, to him, feels like a “snowball effect”.
“Right when I started at VIU it led me to more and more opportunities and the pace just kept picking up. Thanks to the support of my department’s professors it doesn’t feel overwhelming - it just feels like I’m exactly where I need to be,” said Alexander.
Darren Lucas was hired as a teaching assistant to work with VIU Geography Chair, Dr. Hannah Wilson. Wilson’s research focuses on areas such as weather, climate and landscape ecology. She also teaches lab-based classes which makes for a very busy schedule. Lucas was brought in to help.
“I applied for the teaching assistant position because I knew I would enjoy instructing at a university level after I earned some experience in the field. I wanted to work with Dr. Wilson because I have a special interest in developing my knowledge of Geographical Information Systems and Spatial Analysis; but also because I was a student in her class so I know first-hand what an amazing professor she is,” said Lucas.
Lucas graduated from VIU in 2012 with a BA in Geography. After finding a job in the mine exploration sector and working his way up to geological assistant, he left to become a research assistant at the University of Victoria. It was then that he began exploring options to apply to a graduate school.
“During my employment I often found myself fascinated by the impacts that industry and climate had on our communities,” said Lucas.
“In 2015 my interests in municipalities grew so I decided to find a community planning graduate school. VIU, my old alma mater, was a natural fit.”
Lucas says as a teaching assistant he’s learning what it takes to be a university professor, which is a role he’d like to pursue in the future. He says preparing and conducting a lecture; supervising and marking exams; assisting students with lab assignments and helping to prepare course material is all part of the job.
“The subject matter I deal with as a teaching assistant is extremely useful to the planning field and the immediate effect of having an income helps me with cost of living expenses and commuting while I attend school,” said Lucas.
According to Master of Community Planning Director, Dr. Pam Shaw, funding the positions is important as it helps students build their resumes, gives them teaching experience and allows them to assist on major research projects while completing their master’s degree.
“As VIU grows we can create new opportunities for our students and also help our faculty achieve their goals in teaching, research and community engagement. This has been a great experience, one I hope we can expand in the future,” said Shaw.
Photo Caption: VIU graduate student Taylor Alexander is doing research related to his thesis work thanks to the addition of nine research and teaching assistant positions through the Master of Community Planning program.
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Media Contact: Dane Gibson, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
P: 250.740.6288 E: Communications@viu.ca
Tags: Research
