TST Graduate Students' Association (TGSA)

Twice each term TGSA sponsors an award competition for members presenting at conferences. We are pleased to announce we had two winners for our Fall 2017 competition.

Shaun Brown of Wycliffe College. Shaun presented his paper entitled “George Lindbeck’s Early Israelology: A ‘Catholic Protestant’ Perspective on the Reformation” at this year’s AAR in the Ecclesiological Investigations Unit section “Church Perspectives on the Legacy of the Reformation” on Sunday November 19.

Jun Sato of Wycliffe College.  Jun presented his paper entitled “Grammaticalization of Qatil Verbs in Biblical Hebrew,” at this year’s SBL in the “Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew” Program Unit.

TGSA extends its congratulations to Shaun and Jun on their successful presentations. Members – keep your eyes open for our next Conference Travel Grant competition in 2018.

Thinking of going to AAR/SBL this year? TGSA wants to organize transportation to and from Boston. We can get a group flight discount if 10 or more people fly on the same itinerary, and we can cut down on costs by carpooling. Interested? Please fill out this online form to let us know by noon on November 1st 2017. 

We have scheduled our Fall 2017 meeting dates as follows:

• Wednesday October 11th, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
• Monday November 13th, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
• Thursday December 7th, 9:00am – 11:00am

All general board meetings are open to all TGSA members. If you would like to be added on to the agenda to be able to speak to the board at a meeting, please contact an executive member of the board at least 2 days beforehand.

Proposed Agendas

December 7th

November 13th

October 11th

Each year, the TGSA Board sets aside five grants of up to $100 in support of student groups wishing to host discipline- or area-of-concentration-specific seminars. These grants are intended for hospitality expenses to at such events, which are further opportunities for students to share and learn from each other. In the past, such seminars have included the Bible Seminar and a Worship/Liturgy seminar, among others. TGSA believes that such efforts are worthy of support and wants to continue to encourage seminar groups by offering these small grants.

In order to qualify for a grant, two student co-ordinators representing a proposed seminar must submit an application. Applications are to be sent to the TGSA Board Attn: Treasurer by November 8, 2017 and should include a short précis (max 250 words) explaining the purpose of the seminar, a signed promise to follow the TGSA parameters (detailed below), contact information for the two co-ordinators, and a tentative schedule of events. The TGSA board will review applications, awarding grants to the strongest proposals. A strong proposal should be able to explain the relevance of the seminar to its particular field, demonstrate academic rigour, and detail its appeal to TST students.
After a successful proposal, seminars must be announced to the TGSA community, be open to all TGSA students, and be held at an accessible space on or near the TST campus. The seminar groups must report on their activity in advance of the TGSA AGM in April 2018. Last year TGSA funded only one of these seminars – we hope we can see all of the allotted funds dispersed this year, so please submit your proposals. 

The TGSA Board works behind the scenes at TST to support students during their graduate studies. We do this through advocacy, liaising with TST and U of T administration, planning professional development seminars, funding travel grants for conferences, and building scholarly community through social and academic events. The Board is looking towards the upcoming 2017-2018 academic year and is looking for some new members to assist us in fulfilling our mandate and serving the graduate student community at TST.

Board membership involves attending monthly meetings and assisting with events put on by TGSA. Depending on the role, it may also involve attending external meetings within specific colleges or departments. There will be a Board orientation sometime over the spring/summer as well. Appointments are for a two-year term. Specific details and job descriptions can be found in TGSA’s Constitution and in our Policies and Procedures. Being a Board member is a great way to contribute to the TST community and to develop your skills in academic service and administration.

Open seats on the TGSA Board include:

College Representatives

• Trinity
• Wycliffe
• St Mike’s
• Emmanuel

Program Representatives

• Pastoral
• Theology
• Contextual
• Master of Arts
• Master of Theology
• Doctor of Ministry

Non-Voting Members

• Secretary
• Returning Officer

The nomination period will run from March 17th to April 3rd. Students interested in serving on the Board should find two peers within the TST graduate student community to nominate them for one of the vacant seats. Nominations are to be submitted to Carla Marcoccia, TGSA’s CRO, via email at carla.marcoccia[at]mail.utoronto.ca by April 3rd at 11:59pm. Nominations (and the results of any elections, if necessary) will be ratified at the TGSA Annual General Meeting on Thursday April 20th.

If you have any questions about serving on the Board or about the nomination process, please reach out either to our CRO or to tgsa[at]utoronto.ca

We are excited to have Adrianne Sequeiria join us for a presentation on mental health, faith, academic life, and navigating the challenges these can bring. Join us for lunch and discussion on this important topic.