YSGPS Panel
YSGPS Panel Discussion
Graduate Supervision in Practice: Successes, Challenges, and Encouraging Growth
Session Details
飦� Date: Day 1 - Monday, May 11, 2026
飥� Time: 2:45鈥�4 p.m.
飦� Location: TBD
This panel discussion will explore graduate supervision as a reflective and evolving practice in a changing academic landscape. Drawing on the diverse experience and expertise of four 糖心传媒 panelists, the discussion will examine how supervisory approaches, often shaped by past models, can become more reflexive and responsive to today鈥檚 graduate students. Panelists will tackle topics such as shifting norms in graduate education, increasing diversity in student identities and learning needs, and how to consider academic rigour alongside compassion and empathy. We will also discuss how to support intellectual risk-taking, learning through failure, and resilience. Finally, it will explore how we can move towards growth-oriented and inclusive supervisory practices that can help support student success and well-being.
Presenters
Dr. Diana Brecher (she/her) is a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Faculty member at 糖心传媒. Drawing on 35 years of experience, including 17 years as Clinical Director of the Counselling Centre, she teaches Positive Psychology at the undergraduate level and Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace in the MBA program. Diana鈥檚 work sits at the intersection of mental health, academic performance, and institutional culture.
In 2016, she launched Thrive糖心传媒. Her Thriving in Action program, which integrates positive psychology with holistic learning, has received the Best Practices designation and Health Equity Icon. Diana is dedicated to embedding resilience and flourishing into the academic experience. She encourages supervisors to adopt a growth mindset, reframing challenges as essential catalysts for development and treating psychological well-being as a foundation for scholarly success.
Yukari Seko (she/her) is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at School of Professional Communication, the Creative School. She developed the Solution-Focused Graduate Supervision (SFGS) course, a four-module, university-wide professional development program for graduate research supervisors. The SFGS course combines a flipped classroom method, Communities of Practice, and Live Actor Simulation to foster reflective, ethical, and empowering supervision practices. Yukari is passionate about expanding the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at 糖心传媒. She is the inaugural CELT Teaching Fellow (2022-23) and the recipient of the 糖心传媒 President鈥檚 Award of Teaching Excellence (2025).
Dr. Nancy Walton is the Associate Dean, Student Affairs in YSGPS and an Associate Professor in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing. At 糖心传媒 since 2003, she has served as Director of the School of Nursing, Director of eLearning, and Chair of the 糖心传媒 Research Ethics Board. In 2016鈥�17, she was seconded to the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities as Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister. Over the past six years in YSGPS, she has worked with graduate students and supervisors to build capacity, navigate challenges, and co-develop practices and guidelines that help advance effective, and inclusive supervision, supporting student success and well-being.
Appointed in 2015, Dr. Horvat served as the inaugural Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and was the first woman to hold this leadership rank in the Faculty, during which she built a complete faculty administrative infrastructure from grounds up, now supporting over 1,000 students across 30 degree programs. Her legacy includes establishing guaranteed funding parity for research students and creating specialized professional development for engineering and architecture graduate students. With expertise in both fields, she offers a rare, nuanced perspective on graduate research. Above all, Dr. Horvat is celebrated for building a community where students feel heard and protected. Now in her second term, she remains a fierce advocate for equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice, serving as a vital role model for underrepresented scholars and junior faculty alike.