A group of students.

New Graduate Students

Welcome to the Department of Biological Sciences!

Graduate Teaching Assistant Workshop

As a graduate student, you are required to complete the GTA workshop before you can receive any teaching assistantships, so please register and make arrangements to be on campus to attend.

This orientation is only offered at select times during the semester.

Faculty of Graduate Studies Orientation (GradO)

As a newly admitted graduate student, you are invited to Graduate Student Orientation (GradO) to assist you with your transition to graduate studies at the University of Calgary.

This orientation is only offered at select times during the semester.

Desire2Learn/Brightspace

We have placed lots of orientation-related material on the D2L site called “Biological Sciences Graduate Student Survival Guide”, which you can find at https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/home. Please contact your friendly Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA) for access to this site at biogsa@ucalgary.ca

Program/intellectual property awareness

Designed to promote early awareness of intellectual property issues thereby minimizing problems that may arise later.

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International Graduate Essentials

International Student Services (ISS) offers an orientation for international students for living in Calgary. This session provides information on ID cards, bank accounts, immigration and work, social insurance numbers, taxes, health care and more.

This orientation is only offered at select times during the semester.

Environmental Health and Safety training

Prior to working in a chemical, biological or radiation laboratory or in a workshop, you will be required to complete the following three courses. Visit the Environment, Health and Safety website for more information.

WHMIS 2015

Online training course required to be completed in advance of attending the in-class Laboratory Safety Course Required for all University employees, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows working with or near hazardous products as defined by WHMIS 2015 (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) legislation WHMIS training from organizations other than the University of Calgary is NOT recognized

Laboratory Safety Training

Prerequisite: WHMIS 2015 University required training for all employees, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows working in laboratories

Spill Response Training

Online training course Required training for all employees, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows working in laboratories

Teaching assistants

If your intent is to become a TA with the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, or to work in a Faculty of Science Research Laboratory, you will also be required to complete the following three mandated online training courses provided by Environmental Health and Safety within your first week, these include:

  • Occupational Health and Safety Orientation
  • Hazard Assessment Training
  • Incident Reporting and Investigation