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The Graduate Workshop is a student-focused bi-weekly workshop that is defined for and by graduate students along with the faculty facilitator. It is twinned with the departmental visiting speakers’ series on alternate weeks, so that each week (Tuesdays at 3:30) there is a collective forum for intellectual discussion outside of specific course-work.

The Department began this Workshop in 2003/4 at the request of graduate student themselves, many of whom felt it was important to have a forum for intellectual and practical discussion for incoming students, and a way to develop social relationships. It has three foci:

• Professional training such as proposal-writing (research and grant), preparing for conference presentations, submitting articles to journals, and job applications.
  
• Intellectual debates and discussions on topics defined by the students and faculty facilitator, with a view to promoting dialogue among the subdisciplines of anthropology.
  
• Student research presentations.

The graduate workshop is mandatory in year 1 and until December of year two for all entering graduate students.  The workshop is assessed in terms of pass/fail. The facilitator for 2008/09 is Dr. Ellen Badone.

Examples of a few discussions and events previously held:

• Grant-writing workshops for OGS and SSHRC.
• A fieldwork workshop.
• Discussions on the integration of sub-fields in anthropology and the future of the discipline.
• Discussions on how notions of “risk”, “fear” and “danger” are prevalent in society, how they function, and how we might study them.
• Presentations from students on their current and past research.
• Visits from faculty members to discuss their research.
• “Practice” presentations for conferences.
• General discussions about the trials, tribulations and joys of being a graduate student.

• “an invaluable experience”
• “an integral part our graduate training at McMaster”
• “indispensable to the graduate program”
• “highly successful”
• “There aren't enough positive comments that I can give for the graduate workshop.”
• “a safe forum, in which students may share (without the fear of reprimand, ridicule or criticism) their own ideas, aspirations, fears and concerns with their colleagues.
• “it provided the only institutional yet independent forum for input by students, into what we needed to learn at a practical level”
• “the workshop adds dimension to the program as a whole by giving us a chance to convene as colleagues”
• “a resource for both professional development and the fostering of relationships both academic and social, which I found very welcome in the context of such a busy and sometimes lonely schedule.”
• “an indispensable opportunity for students to ask questions throughout the year, gather moral support, and learn to use resources that are available to us.
• “nice and relaxing and informal, which was very pleasant”
• “The informal environment created by the workshop was especially appreciated, as it gave individuals the chance to contribute freely and honestly to discussions.”
• “…a welcoming and safe environment where students can speak openly and honestly about their concerns, fears, ideas and aspirations.”
• “it gave us a chance to help each other”
• “I liked the fact that the assessment for the course was pass/fail…being 'evaluated' often leads to a less open environment.”
• “The workshop should definitely be a mandatory part of the program, but remain a forum for students’ needs and development through discussion and discovery, rather than evaluation.”
• “The workshop this term helped us to think "outside our own boxes" and to consider the broader issues that anthropologists deal with on a daily basis and the ways in which our training and "way of thinking" can contribute to current debates and contemporary issues in the public sphere.”