The SGS Data Dashboards Projects Team is the recipient of the Collaborative Team of the Year Award for its extraordinary contributions in graduate data transparency at the University. The Team, consisting of members from the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) and Planning & Budget (P&B), include Brian Desrosiers-Tam (Assistant Dean and Team Lead, SGS), Grace Zhu (Data Analyst, SGS), Ellen MacPherson (Special Projects Officer, SGS), Corinne Pask-Aubé (Senior Planning & Budget Officer, P&B), Helen Chang (Senior Research Analyst, P&B), and Kristen Reichold (former Special Projects Officer, SGS, and now at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing). 

The Team’s efforts in developing SGS’s data projects, building data dashboards, and modeling interdivisional collaboration has been remarkable. For several years, SGS has collected data on the full doctoral student lifecycle – encompassing admissions, enrolment, funding, completion, and degree outcomes – to enable prospective applicants, graduate students, and graduate units to make informed individual and institutional decisions. Students use this data to choose and help navigate their programs, and leaders use it to improve the quality of graduate research and education in their respective units. Thanks to the SGS Data Dashboards Projects Team, SGS now has six publicly available, user-friendly, data dashboards and more on the way. 

While data collection is common practice in several divisions, SGS was the first to publish this level of data in a public, accessible format that allows users to employ filters and make year-over-year comparisons. This is an initiative with wide-ranging impact. At the divisional level, the Team has received excellent feedback from graduate units who are grateful to have this resource to guide their decision-making. And at the national level, U of T leads other Canadian institutions with regard to transparency in doctoral funding, career outcomes, and student satisfaction data.

The Team’s contributions to graduate studies and the uses of data more broadly at the University have been transformative. Moreover, data transparency plays a pivotal role in strengthening the bonds of trust with the University’s extensive community of over 21,000 graduate students, who have entrusted U of T with the responsibility of shaping their career journeys.