Message from Dr. Roberta Barker, Acting Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Dear FASS Students,

I hope that as you read this you are having a restful and happy summer, despite all the challenges of this time. As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues in many places, I hope that wherever you find yourself you are seeing hope on the horizon and, above all, that you are staying well and safe. You have all been absolutely incredible in your resilience, perseverance, and hard work during a very tough time. Thank you for everything you have given to our Faculty this year! Whatever you are undertaking this summer, I hope that you will enjoy some well-earned downtime.

The spring term is now underway at Dalhousie, and I want to welcome everyone who is taking a course in FASS this spring and/or summer. I wish you all an excellent learning experience. If the Dean’s Office staff can be of any support, please do not hesitate to let us know.

As convocation approaches for our graduates, I also want to take this chance to say CONGRATULATIONS to all FASS students who will be receiving their degrees from Dalhousie and King’s in the weeks to come. Completing an academic degree is a huge achievement, and never more so than in this year when you’ve surmounted extraordinary challenges in order to get there! Everyone in FASS is wishing you the very, very best for your next adventures and achievements.

On June 30, my time as Acting Dean of FASS will be coming to an end, and I will be returning to my regular role as a professor of theatre in the Fountain School of Performing Arts. I would like deeply to thank all FASS students, staff, and faculty once more for your amazing work this year – it has been truly inspirational. Thank you for the opportunity to meet and talk with so many of you, and for everything you have done. It has been a privilege and an honour to work with you all.

Have a wonderful summer, everyone! Take care, and hope to see you in 2021-22!

Very best wishes,

Roberta

Announcements from the Dean's Office

Faculty Member Retirees:

FASS wishes to congratulate Shao-Pin Luo (Chinese Studies program), John Kirk (department of Spanish & Latin American Studies) and Judith Thompson (department of English) on their retirements that will start this summer!

We thank these wonderful faculty members for everything they have given to FASS and its students, and wish them well on their next adventures and projects!

Faculty Award Winners

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching honours a faculty member who has made an outstanding contribution to teaching, mentoring, and serving the students of the Faculty, and is intended above all to underline the fundamental importance of effective and/or innovative pedagogy.
This year's award recipient is Kathy Cawsey (department of English). Congratulations!

The Award for Service Excellence honours a faculty member who has made an outstanding contribution to collegial governance in the Faculty as reflected in service on departmental, Faculty, and University committees, commitment to collegial processes, and broader service that encourages excellence in scholarship and higher education.
This year's award recipient is Afua Cooper (departments of History and Sociology and Social Anthropology, with cross-appointments to Gender and Women's Studies and the Faculty of Graduate Studies). Congratulations!

2021 FASS Essay Competition Winners:

Congratulations to Rachel Banks (MA student in Philosophy), winner of this year's Irving and Jeanne Glovin Award, established by The Oskar Schindler Humanities Foundation to foster research into the meaning and underlying principles for “good human conduct.”

Congratulations to Kristen Becker (MA student in History), winner of this year's Mushkat Memorial Essay Prize for "scholarly research into the meaning and principles that define “tolerance.”

Visit dal.ca/fass/essaycompetition to learn more about the FASS Essay Competition, to read the winning essays, and to watch videos of the competition winners presenting excerpts from their essays.

Classics department

The Classics department wishes to announce the following award winners:

Governor General’s Gold Medal 2020/2021
For the most outstanding Master’s graduate in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Cristalle Watson

Nicole Knox Memorial Prize
Outstanding achievement in ancient languages at the advanced level
Angus Wilson

Atherton Book Prize
Highest standard of achievement in Introductory Latin. This prize is named after a long-time Latinist and former faculty member in the Department of Classics
Brendan Kay

Pius Aeneas
For exceptional and exemplary services faithfully rendered to fellow students of Classics
Zainab Syed

Hambrick Book Prize
Awarded to the best first year student in Ancient Greek
Emily MacPherson

Zainab Syed is also the winner of the Faculty Leadership Award for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as part of the 2021 Dalhousie Impact Awards.

English department

The English department wishes to annouce the following award winners (learn more about each of their departmental awards HERE):

Avie Bennett Prize
Sam Sumner

Bennett Chittick Prize
Emma K. Williams

Paul McIsaac Memorial Prize
Keanan Byggdin

Samantha Li Memorial Award
Tarini Fernando

Malcolm Ross Thesis Prize
Kaarina Mikalson

University Medal in English
Jarod Payne

University Medal in Creative Writing
Tarini Fernando

James W. Tupper Graduate Fellowship
Beatrice Glickman and Tarini Fernando

Margaret Nicoll Pond Memorial Prize
Beatrice Glickman

Archibald MacMechan Scholarship
Sarah Carruthers

Graham Creighton Prize
Keanan Byggdin and Hannah Whaley

Allan & Lura Bevan Scholarship
Loren Kruisselbrink

Fooshee Winners 2021:

Poetry
“Dear Red Dress” by Wynne Clark-Squire
“What Remains” by Kerenza Verburg
“Prairie Poem for Purim” by Maya Schwartz

Short Story
“With Deepest Sympathies” by Keanan Byggdin
“The Vending Machine Ring” by Maya Schwartz
“Quitting My First Job” by Ainsley Jackson

Fountain School of Performing Arts

The Fountain School of Performing Arts wishes to announce the following award winners (learn more about each of their awards HERE):

University Medal in Music
Emma Hans

University Medal in Theatre
Kirsten Claussner

University Medal in Cinema and Media Studies
Rebecca Liptay

Dalhousie Alumni Association (Women's Division) Medal in Music
Emma Hans

Dalhousie Alumni Association (Women's Division) Medal in Costume Studies
Zoe Leroux-Blain

Christine Zinck Book Prize in Theatre Studies
Molly Somers

Cinema and Media Studies Award
Victoria Dunlop

Dalhousie Alumni Association (Women's Division) Prize in Music
Shane Scott

James & Abbie Campbell Prize in Music
Priscilla Lee

James & Abbie Campbell Prize in Music
Emmanuel Solomon

Videos: Year-End Projects and Performances:

Costume Studies Historical Dress Projects 2021
Instead of the usual end of year presentation of historical dress projects, the Costume Studies students prepared a short movie featuring their work!

Concerto Night 2021
The Fountain School of Performing Arts is proud to present the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra in our Concerto Night concert, featuring our talented music students performing solo works with orchestra!

The Dalhousie Jazz Ensemble Virtual Recital 2021
For its year-end recital this spring, the Dalhousie Jazz Ensemble tapped into the spirit of the times to produce an online video performance instead of a live event.
See also "Changing rhythms: Dal Jazz Ensemble's year-end recital anything but a standard" in Dal News.

Composition Students Final Pieces 2021
This year, Dalhousie's composition students worked with Latitude 49 Music to compose, workshop, and record original pieces for piano and percussion, which you will hear in this video.

French Department

The French department would like to announce the following award winners (learn more about each of their departmental awards HERE):

The French Department Scholarship
Ana-Maria Garniceanu

The Ruth Murray Scholarship for French Studies
Juliana Murphy

Prof. and Mrs. Robert Lloyd McIntosh Prize in French
Brooklin Craig

Marcelle Cendres Sandhu Memorial Prize
Robyn Easton

Sabah Metlej French Scholarship
Gabrielle Mourad

Prix de l’Ambassadeur de Suisse au Canada
Jade Poirier

Italian Studies Program

The Italian Studies program wishes to announce the folllowing award winners:

Fall 2020-Winter 2021
Italian for Beginners (ITAL 1000-ITAL 1001) Award Recipients (for sections 03, 02 and 01)
Caitie Ahern
Joshua Benoit
Sam Cooper
Martine Ferrara
Patrick Lyons
Makayla Morgan
Taylor Nicholls
Kale Power
Thérèse Wilson

German Department

The German department would like to announce the winner of the University Medal in German: Lydia Hanson.

History Department

The History department would like to extend congratulations to the following:

Congratulations to Catherine Charlton for winning this year’s University Medal in History and the Susan Buggey Atlantic World History Scholarship, September 2020. Catherine will be returning to the History Department in September to work on her MA.

Congratulations to Danny Englehutt and Claire McCarroll for winning the Edith and Rose Goodman Prizes for highest grades in Canadian history courses.

Several of our graduating students have won prestigious SSHRC scholarships to begin graduate studies. Our congratulations to all!

We offer our congratulations to Professor Afua Cooper for receiving funding from Heritage Canada for a major new project to produce A Black People's History of Canada.

Inspired by the English Department's Pandemic Edition Holiday Cookbook, our Undergrad Society did one up for year's end - check it out here. Stay tuned for the year's end issue of Pangaea, the undergraduate History journal.

International Development Studies Department

The International Development Studies department would like to extend congratulations to graduating students Fatima Beydoun and Selam Abdella, who are two of this year's Dalhousie University Board of Governor's Award winners.

Fatima is also one of 20 young Canadians to be selected to be a part of the inaugural cohort of the McCall McBain Scholars.

The IDS department would also like to congratulate this year's Honours Thesis award winner Beata Elliot for her thesis, "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Canada’s Refugee Determination."

Additionally, the IDS department would like to remind everyone that the Safe Space for White Questions monthly drop-in sessions, co-hosted by IDS and History faculty member Ajay Parasram, will continue throughtout the summer months on the last Wednesday of every month (May 26, June 30, July 28, August 25) from 12:30pm - 1:30pm (Atlantic time) on the Fernwood Publishing YouTube channel.

Law, Justice & Society Program

Francesca Sivilotti (Law, Justice & Society and Economics) is the winner of the Student Wellness Award as part of the 2021 Dalhousie Impact Awards.

Philosophy Department

The Philosophy department would like to congratulate the following students who have won awards for the 2020-2021 academic year:

Kate Sutherland-Hartling is the recipient of the following awards:
*The University Medal in Philosophy
*The F. Hilton Page Memorial Prize
*The Roland Puccetti Undergraduate Award for her essay: Blame’s Role in Political Polarization: How it Prevents the Aims and Values of Blame from Being Realized and a Potential Solution" originally submitted for PHIL 4115 Topics in Ethics, taught by Greg Scherkoske in Fall 2020

Rachel Banks is the recipient of the Kim Rilda LeBlanc Memorial Award awarded annually to recognize outstanding interdisciplinary initiatives between the arts and the health sciences.

Political Science Department

The Political Science department’s award winners will be announced in their upcoming newsletter scheduled to be released in June. Check out their newsletter webpage next month to find the 2021 edition!

Russian Studies Department

The department of Russian Studies is proud to announce and congratulate the recipients of the 2020-2021 Glazov Memorial Award:
Tia Bonvie
Sophie Girouard
Hasana Tombs
Maya Schluter-MacLean
Alec Rembowski!

Chinese Studies Program

The Chinese Studies Program gratefully acknowledges The Chinese Education Promotion Association of Nova Scotia for providing the annual scholarship awards for students taking a minor in Chinese Studies who have achieved high academic standing and demonstrated an interest in Chinese culture.

The 2021 Award Recipients:
Aaron Brimacombe
Megan Deering
Ella Kim
Olivia Kirkegaard
Nada Thummapimuk

Sociology and Social Anthropology Department

The department of Sociology and Social Anthropology would like to announce the following departmental award winners:

University Medal in Social Anthropology
Lydia Hanson

University Medal in Sociology
Mary Berger

Social Anthropology Prize
Lydia Hanson

Rev. S. H. Prince Prize in Sociology
Sydney Patterson

The department also congratulates:

Hannah Shaw, recipient of The Canadian Sociological Association Award (CSA) Outstanding graduating Sociology student award

Lizzie James, recipient of the Canadian Anthropology Society Award (CSACA) Outstanding graduating Anthropology student award

Spanish & Latin American Studies Department

The Spanish and Latin American Studies department would like to announce the following student award winners:

Amanda Dominey
Winner of the University Medal in Spanish and the Rev. Dr. J.B. Hibbitts Memorial Prize

Marcus Taylor
Winner of the Spanish Citizenship Award

FASS Social Media

facebook.com/FASSDal/
twitter.com/DAL_FASS
instagram.com/dal_fass/

FASS in Dal News

FASS launch showcases impressive range of research and creative work

Researchers and creators in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are used to addressing vital social issues in their work, but their perspectives have proven more valuable than ever over the past year — as showcased in this year's FASS Publication and Creative Activities Launch.

One year later: FASS acting dean on surviving and thriving during a difficult year

Roberta Barker, acting dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, reflects on leading one of Dal's largest faculties through the COVID-19 pandemic and the sparks of ingenuity and inspiration that have emerged.

Experiential learning through practicum placements . . . from a distance

Experiential learning is in high demand these days as students look for ways to complement their academic learning with more hands-on lived experiences. Learn how students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences have benefitted from practicum placements during the pandemic.

"A Black People’s History of Canada" set to produce a seismic shift in education about Canadian history

The Government of Canada is investing more than $1 million in knowledge mobilization project led by Dalhousie professor Afua Cooper, one that will help young Canadians learn about the remarkable achievements and struggles of Black people in Canada throughout history.

Ask an expert: Ajay Parasram on Asian Heritage Month and battling anti‑Asian racism

Tackling rising anti-Asian racism is at the heart of this year’s theme for Asian Heritage Month in Canada: Recognition, Resilience, and Resolve. We spoke to Ajay Parasram, an assistant professor in the departments of International Development Studies and History, about the history of anti-Asian racism in Canada and ways people can help help combat it now.

English professor succeeds online by embracing flexibility

Kathy Cawsey, who was teaching online classes long before the pandemic hit, believes more deeply than ever that students fare better when given options to learn and manage their workloads in different ways.

How creative video lectures helped reshape one Dal instructor’s approach to teaching

Andrew Bergel, an instructor in the College of Sustainability, says video lectures have proven beneficial for students and led to better class experiences for all — results so eye-opening he plans to incorporate such videos in the future even when in-person learning returns.

Parking lot practice turns into impromptu concert for graduating Fountain School cellist

Priscilla Lee was practicing for her big year-end cello performance in a Dartmouth parking lot last week to pass the time while waiting for a store to open when she looked up and noticed she had an audience.

Passion and purpose in student life: Meet Dal's 2021 Board of Governors' Award winners

Getting engaged in student life is about so much more than a student's own experience. It's also about building community, supporting others and striving for change — qualities this year's Dalhousie Board of Governors' Award winners illustrate so well.

Among Canada’s best: Dal student and recent grad selected for inaugural McCall MacBain Scholars cohort

Current student Fatima Beydoun and recent graduate Caroline Merner — both from Dal's Environment, Sustainability and Society and International Development Studies programs — have been selected from more than 730 applicants to receive Canada’s first comprehensive leadership-based scholarship for master’s and professional studies.

Changing rhythms: Dal Jazz Ensemble’s year‑end recital anything but a standard

For its year-end recital this spring, the Dalhousie Jazz Ensemble tapped into the spirit of the times to produce an online video performance instead of a live event — a project that helped students hold on to a sense of community with one another when they needed it most.

Impact that lasts: Celebrating students and student societies making a difference

Dozens of students and student groups were recognized over the past week as part of the 2021 IMPACT awards, lauded via video for their leadership on and off campus and their contributions to academic life, student life, residence life, and community service.

Feds back Dallaire Institute study examining the mental‑health impacts of exposure to child soldiers

Dalhousie's Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security has been approved for a grant to conduct a five-year long national research study, the first of its kind to explore the connections between morally injurious events and the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.