Fall break clarification

Sorry about not giving you many details on the Fall break concept. This year we do not have a Fall break other than the Monday of Thanksgiving. The proposal for next year is to have a full week break in the middle of the Fall semester sometime (there are a couple of proposals, one of which is the rest of the week off after Thanksgiving).

Fall break for next year + other

We are finally getting the funding sorted out for everyone. One of the important things to note is that everyone will be offered a TA/GAship in ITM. This will count as part of the funding package. I am very pleased that ITM has stepped up so graciously.


We had our first program director's meeting in grad studies this week and it was really good to meet the new dean. I think that we should invite her to an MMSc event so she can meet everyone.

One of the things that I think is worth some words is the Fall Break proposal for next year. Ryerson is changing to a 12 week term for Fall 2012. Graduate course are already a 12 week term but we begin our term one week after the undergrad courses begin. The proposal is for grad school to begin in the same week as undergrad next year so that everyone can have a Fall break. This means that all grad students would start the day after Labour Day instead of a week later. Your thoughts on this would be most useful.

week 1

As our first week came to a close, we have added a new student to our group, Shima Tehrani who is working under the supervision of Farid Shirazi from ITM - welcome Shima. I am still working on the funding for the stipends and I hope to get that sorted out in the next few days.

Also, I did ask Cathy Faye about changing from full-time to part-time and she indicated that it was not permitted for financial reasons. She did say, however, that if people finished by the 50% drop date, they will get a 50% refund on her full-time fees. I am not sure how much this helps.

Finally, Ozgur Turetken from ITM is the new Associate Director there and he will be helping us get this MMSc on it feet. One of the important things I have to do in the next little while is recruitment (I have worked on the fees thing and need to keep on that as well).

Welcome to the new semester

Hi everyone,
I hope that everyone is getting going with their new semester. We had a wonderful orientation session where we learned more about the research directions of a number of research faculty in TRSM as well as from current students. I certainly learned a lot and I am now better able to advise incoming students regarding specific researcher interests.

For me, this semester will continue with the transition process to the management of the program belonging to ITM. I am also working with the MBA directors and Murtaza to streamline the governance of all of our grad. programs. We also need to plan a social event with everyone (I think Jen volunteered).

I look forward to seeing everyone around the halls. Please feel free to see me or email me anytime.

MMSc orientation

The F2011 MMSc orientation will be held today on Thursday Sept 8, 2011 at 7 pm after the general MBA orientation at 6 pm. The room number is 2-021. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Welcome to our new students

We have five new students beginning with us in September and we will also have some joining us in January. On Thursday September 8, we will have an orientation session that begins at 6:00 pm with Gloria introducing the rules and regulations followed by research presentations by faculty and students from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Everyone is welcome. The research presentations will be in TRSM2-021.

Senate has approved changes

I am very pleased to report that the senate has approved the changes to the curriculum for MMSc program. This means that the course requirements are now 6 courses instead of 8. Of those 6 courses, 3 will be required (2 research methods and the innovation theory course) and 3 will be electives courses. Also, a mandatory seminar has been added but will only be a pass/fail component.

The next piece that I am working on is the timeline and financing.

Updates on progress through sgs

I haven't had a chance to update this blog for a few weeks and I apologise for that. So far, two SGS committees have approved most of the revisions for the MMSc proposal. The revisions that have gone through are: reduction from 8 to 6 courses, and making three of those course required and three electives. The timeline part of the proposal is not something that Grad Studies considers or votes on but they have offered to help us move this part forward to the appropriate body at the university, namely the Provost. They did give me some new wording for the website for the timeline once we have permission from the Provost. The wording will be something to the effect "the minimum time to complete an MMSc is 12 months, however, the MMSc would normally take between 18 and 24 months to complete." My goal is to meet with the Provost in mid-May regarding this part (after the senate hearing).

Have a nice long weekend.

Everything has been submitted to grad studies

The Dean has signed off on our proposal and he appreciated the comments that everyone made on this blog, so thank you very much to all who contributed. The whole MMSc package has been submitted to grad. studies and I must attend the program and planning committee meeting on Thursday to answer questions from that committee. If our proposal passes through this committee, the next step is senate, which is an important committee at the university level. Will keep everyone appraised.

The next things we need to work on are all of the great suggestions that everyone has made. I would like to propose a meeting with everyone once exams and end of term business is out of the way (so sometime in May) to get started on this. I think perhaps we should have this meeting at the pub or a restaurant so we are less formal.


Good luck everyone with finishing up the semester.

More progress on MMSc proposal

We are just putting the finishing touches on the MMSc proposal meaning that there are a bunch of forms to complete and signatures to be chased. Any comments you could provide on the proposal would be most helpful to this process and I would very much appreciate it. Everything is due on April 1, 2011.

MMSc application

I am now moving to the full application process and plan to submit our changes to the MMSc program in the next few weeks. Last chance to get your voice heard for this round. Please either let me know by email or in this blog.

MMSc proposed changes for Fall 2011

There are three main proposed changes for the MMSc program at Ryerson:
1) Reduce the course requirements from 8 to 6 courses and one mandatory seminar course.
2) Within those six courses, three will be core/mandatory and three will be electives. The mandatory courses will be Research Methods I and II, and Theories of Tech and Org.
3) Change the timeline from the current 12 month program to a 24 month program with the appropriate change in fee structure.

Our proposal must be submitted to grad studies by April 1 so any comments or suggestions should be made before that time.


I will keep this blog updated on a weekly basis.