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» Go to news mainDean's Message to the FASS community ‑ Spring 2024
Greetings from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at Dalhousie University!
There has been much to celebrate in FASS throughout this past 2023-2024 year. FASS continues to prove itself to be a thriving and vital community that houses innovative and pioneering programs and initiatives, including the Black and African Diaspora Studies (BAFD) Majors and Honours program which launched this past fall and the continuation of the Introduction to Humanities and Introduction to Social Sciences classes, which introduce first-year FASS students to the options and opportunities across these disciplines in innovative and thoughtful ways.
Dr. Jennifer Andrews, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Dalhousie University (photo: Danny Abriel).
This past academic year has been a busy one for faculty, staff, and students. FASS had a dynamic presence at the second in-person Dalhousie Open House since 2019. We hosted several incredible lecture events, among them the 2023 Stanfield Conversation on how democracies can meet the challenges of climate change, the 2023 MacKay Lecture Series which focused on Art-Making in the 21st Century, the annual MacKay History Lecture which focused on Ukraine’s history as a nuclear colony, and the annual Shaar Shalom Lecture at Dalhousie, which featured journalist and broadcaster Anna Maria Tremonti, on the subject of intimate partner violence. We’re already looking forward to and in the planning phases for the 2024-25 academic year’s lectures, including the next MacKay History Lecture which is scheduled for October 24th and will feature dann j. Broyld, Associate Professor of African American History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. And planning has begun for the 2024 installment of the Stanfield Conversations: Talking Democracy series – keep an eye on your inbox in early fall for details about this year’s event!
Pictured left to right: Dr. Kim Brooks, President of Dalhousie University; Anna Maria Tremonti, featured speaker at the 2023-24 Shaar Shalom Lecture; Dr. Seth Bloom, representative from the Shaar Shalom Congregation; and Dr. Jennifer Andrews, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (photo: Nick Pearce).
Pictured left to right at the conclusion of the 2023 Stanfield Conversation: Dalhousie Provost and Vice-President Academic Dr. Frank Harvey; featured panelists Megan Leslie and Naheed Nenshi; advisory council co-chairs the Rt. Honorable Joe Clark and the Hon. Anne MacLellan; featured panelist Dr. Marc Jaccard; guest moderator, CBC Radio Host Jeff Douglas, and FASS Dean Dr. Jennifer Andrews (photo: Nick Pearce).
The Fountain School of Performing Arts held a rich and extraordinary slate of on-campus events at the beautiful venues in the Dal Arts Centre, including its new performance space, the Joseph Strug Concert Hall as well as at several off-campus venues in the local community. These performances – including operas, plays, and concerts – demonstrate the depth and breadth of FSPA’s talented students, faculty, and staff.
Fountain School of Performing Arts faculty member Dr. Nicole Jordan performs on stage in the Joseph Strug Concert Hall with music students at the annual jazz concert (photo: Kate Hayter).
We also continued to see our students excel in their academic research and projects. This year, we received a large number of very high-quality submissions across the three parts of the FASS Essay Competition and we were thrilled to award the first-place winners of each of the three parts a prize amount of $6000. You can learn more about these annual prizes, read this year’s winning essays, and watch the video recordings of the winners’ presentations on the FASS Essay Competition’s website. I strongly encourage you to watch the video presentations to get an idea of the amazing research that students are doing in FASS, and to hear, as told by Dr. George Mencher, the story behind the Irving and Jeanne Glovin Award – an annual research award established by the Oskar Schindler Humanities Foundation. You can find the links to the video recordings of the presentations here:
· First presentation - Halifax Overseas Club Essay Prize winner: Jillian Moggy
· Second presentation - Mushkat Memorial Essay Prize winner: Evan Curley
More than 300 FASS students received their degrees as part of the 2024 Dalhousie Spring convocation activities. Several of these new Dal graduates were featured in the Dal News Spring Convocation Storytelling and among them were:
· Krista Collier-Jarvis (PhD in English)
· Michelle Wang (BA Combined Honours in SOSA and IDS)
· Daniel Nwobi (BA Honours in Theatre)
· Louisa Steigenberger (BA Honours in Theatre and Law, Justice and Society)
· Dalhousie’s Elder in Residence, Ann LaBillois (BA in Philosophy)
Elder Ann LaBillois (BA'24) is celebrated on stage (photo: Nick Pearce).
We were ecstatic to learn that one of our current Fountain School of Performing Arts students in Costume Studies, Julia Sommerville, was recommended to the university president Dr. Kim Brooks to design and create a new Dal presidential robe design this year as part of her honour's project. She did a marvelous job which earned her praise and applause from the president and all who were in attendance at the FASS convocation ceremony. Learn more about the research and work Julia put into this creation, the meaning behind the designs, and the intricate details she crafted in this feature story in Dal News and an interview featuring Julia on Global News.
The complete recording of FASS’s spring convocation ceremony can be found here – I encourage you to watch this video to share in the experience of our newest alumni joyfully celebrating and being celebrated.
Read about some highlights and see some photos from the FASS convocation and reception here.
Reflecting on this past year and looking forward to the next one, I’m proud of our ongoing work to continue to support our students with new and valuable opportunities; including working to expand our experiential learning offerings for current and future FASS students; to welcoming the first cohort of FASS students participating in the Truro Start Program this fall; and to increasing our funding resources and financial support for both undergraduate and graduate FASS students and researchers.
To our supporters - We are so very grateful for your help and appreciate you for thinking of us when considering your choices of where to donate your time, energy, resources, and financial contributions. We cannot thank you enough for your support and understanding of the importance of education in the Arts and Social Sciences.
To our friends, community members and organizations who support our faculty and students (including prospective, current and past) – Thank you for continuing to show up for us (both in-person and virtually); for reading and telling our stories; for supporting our research; and for attending our performances, lectures and panel events. Thank you for employing our students and alumni and for fostering learning and work experiences. Thank you for valuing our people and our work.
To our alumni - We hope to hear about where your path post-Dalhousie has taken you. If you have a career or professional update, an exciting personal milestone, or details about any of your travels, we’d love for you to share this with us by submitting a Class note or by sharing your updates and any interest in engaging further with the Dal FASS community by emailing fassalum@dal.ca. You could be the next alum featured in our Alumni News and Spotlights alongside folks like Anna Quon (BA’89) who was recently named Halifax’s ninth poet laureate, and Doug Ruck (BA’72, LLB’77), a prominent lawyer and human rights activist who received a 2024 Dalhousie Aurum Award.
We hope you’ll take some time to read through the content we’ve pulled together for our first FASS Annual Newsletter which features several of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. If you have any feedback or ideas for stories to be featured in future newsletters, please email fassnews@dal.ca .
All the best and have a wonderful summer.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Andrews
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Dalhousie University