New Student Orientation

 

Housing in Kingston

There are several online services that are helpful when you are looking for housing in Kingston.  The Queen’s Town-Gown Relations website offers a very comprehensive list of resources including a useful map which should give you an idea of how far the places that you find are from campus.  Most of the graduate students in our department live in zones 2 or 3 on the map.  The Kingston Whig-Standard’s classified ads are also a good source for listings.

Other options include the Society of Graduate and Professional Students Housing Listing Service, and the Alma Mater Society’s Marketplace site.  Both of these list requests for roommates as well.

In Ontario, tenants are required to give 60 days notice before they move out, so most September vacancies will not be advertised until the beginning of July.  The Queen’s International Centre has some useful information on what to keep in mind while you’re looking for a place to live in Kingston.  For information on your rights and obligations as a renter in Ontario, please visit the Landlord and Tenant Board's website.

The Student Affairs website includes a section on student safety and community living. Included is information, resources, and tips on how to keep safe while on and off campus. 

 

Registration

You should receive information on how to register for the program from the School ofGraduate Studies, but this and other related information is also available on the School of Graduate Studies’ website.  The minimum registration payment is due in August; late payment will incur a penalty.  Please note that you have the option of either paying the full Fall term fee on this date, or using a pre-authorised monthly payment plan (called ‘Debit Memo’ by the university) that breaks the payments down into more manageable sums.  In the case of the second option, the first payment would be deducted from your account at the end of October. 

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Courses

A list of courses is available from the Graduate Assistant.

 

Professional Development Day for Teaching Assistants

All incoming graduate students who will be teaching are required to attend the university’s Professional Development Day for Teaching Assistants.  For more information about the workshop, please visit the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s website.

 

Representation

All graduate students in our department are represented by the Political Studies Graduate Student Association (PSGSA) at the department and university level, and by the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) at the university and community level.  Teaching and Research Assistants at Queen’s are not unionised.  For more information on the activities of the PSGSA and who to contact about issues within its mandate, please browse the options on the side menu.  For more information about the SGPS, please visit its website.

 

Orientation Week

The first week of September is Orientation Week.  The PSGSA and the SGPS are organising several welcome events for incoming students, which will be announced toward the end of August.  A formal reception will be held by the Department in mid-September.

 

Contact information

All administrative questions about the Department’s graduate program should be directed to the Department’s Graduate Assistant.

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