Achievements

David Huebert is a Ph.D. student at Western University and a writer of poetry, fiction, and critical prose.

Governor General taps trio for top PhD honours

By Adela TalbotWestern News, October 27, 2016

yuYanxiang Wu, PhD Comparative Literature, is one of three Western students to recieve the Governor General’s Academic Medal, an award that recognizes the outstanding scholastic achievements of students in Canada. Read more


Vanier scholar eyes work, motherhood and disability

By Adela TalbotWestern News, October 13, 2016

Melanie Stone, a PhD candidate in the Department of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research, is among 166 recipients of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Read the full article


Weijer, Phu named to Royal Society of Canada

By Jason WindersWestern News, September 01, 2016

Charles Weijer, Philosophy was named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Thy Phu, English & Writing Studies, was named to the RSC College of New Scholars, Artists & Scientists. Read more


Schuster Awarded with Inaugural Book Prize

schusterJoshua Schuster, English and Writing Studies, has been awarded the inagural Alanna Bondar Memorial Book Prize by The Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC)for his recent book The Ecology of Modernism: American Environments and Avant-Garde Poetics (University of Alabama Press, 2015). ALECC is Canada's association for academics and artists involved in the environmental humanities. The book prize was awarded in June at ALECC's biennial conference. Read more


Borchert named Teaching Fellow

borchertAngela Borchert, Modern Languages and Literatures, has been named teaching fellow through the Western Teaching Support Centre. Borchert will develop an e-portfolio-based curriculum in intercultural communication in the context of a community of practice in Modern Languages and Literatures. With e-portfolio templates, Arts & Humanities students will create individual learning plans, demonstrate learning outcomes and showcase creative critical thinking. The goal of the Teaching Fellows Program is to enhance teaching innovation and teaching quality at Western by bringing together a cohort of faculty members who will provide educational leadership, conduct research on teaching, and disseminate the knowledge they acquire to the larger university community and beyond. Learn more


Canadian Association of Commonwealth Languages and Literatures Prize 

sunderCongratulations to Jason Sunder, PhD student in English, won the CACLALS (Canadian Association of Commonwealth Languages and Literatures) Prize at the 2016 Congress. The title of his paper is: "Narratology and Interspecies Conflict in Tania James' The Tusk that did the Damage".


Italian Studies receives Faculty Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Award

mosco piraniMaria Laura Mosco and Pietro Pirani, Italian Studies, have received the 2016/17 Faculty Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Award to support the development of a new groundbreaking first year course combined with community engaged learning. Starting Fall 2016, ITA 1033 - Italian for Beginners and Your Italian-Canadian Stories will allow first year students of Italian to learn the language and culture with a communicative approach, and contribute to the building of a digital archive of stories collected through interviews with the local Italian-Canadian community or their own families.


Solga recognized for Theatre Studies research

solga Congratulations to Kim Solga, English and Theatre Studies, on receiving the 2016 Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s award for Excellence in Editing. The ATHE is an international scholarly organization whose mandate is to promote and support Theatre Arts pedagogy and research in higher education across the world. This award honours two publications Kim edited, Performance and the Global City and Performance and the City and she will be honoured at their annual meeting in Chicago in August, 2016.


2016 Arts & Humanities Teaching Excellence Awards

Congratulations to this year's A&H Teaching Excellence Award recipients Chantal Dawar (French) and Ryan Robb (Philosophy).

dawar Since joining Western’s French Department in 1997, Chantal Dawar has been integral to the revamping and reorientation of our programs in French language, playing a central part in establishing Western as a destination for Business and Professional French. Students repeatedly comment on her clear, structured, effective teaching and her qualities as an organized, understanding, fair and, above all, dedicated instructor, whose mentoring goes well beyond the level of individual courses to embrace practical aspects of their entry into the working world or into professional programs. Her planning of every minute of classroom time is meticulous, her enthusiasm unfeigned, her expectations realistic but challenging, and her methods of assessment closely correlated with the course objectives. These are the qualities that are consistently praised by her many satisfied students.

Ryan Robb received his PhD from the Department of Philosophy at Western in 2008 with a dissertation entitled: “Rights, Interests, Choice and Autonomy”. He has taught for the Department of Philosophy since 2001 with an absolute stellar record. Over these years he has taught 71 courses and a mind blowing 3700 students in philosophy. The Department is very lucky to have him. As part of his teaching for the Department he also developed the course Ethics in Action. It is a community service-learning course (CSL), the first one developed in the Department, and it is highly innovative. It places students in groups and associate them with community organizations where they can act as ‘ethical consultants’. It is an excellent way of putting theory taught in the course into practical use in real cases. Students love the course. He also regularly teaches courses at Fanshawe College and King’s University College.


jazvacKelly Jazvac was named to the Sobey Award Longlist for the second year in a row.The Sobey Art Award is the pre-eminent prize for Canadian artists 40 and under. Presented annually, the award celebrates some of our country’s most exciting young artists and provides significant financial recognition. Kelly Jazvac’s work probes the permanence of disposability, bringing alternate aesthetic bearings to the environmental and economic impacts of desire and consumption. Some recent exhibitions include Organic Situation at Koenig and Clinton in New York; Site Words, Spoilers and Shoplifters at Diaz Contemporary in Toronto; and Rocks, Stones and Dust at Art Museum, University of Toronto. Her work has been reviewed in HyperallergicThe Huffington PostArt ForumThe New Yorker, Border Crossings, Canadian Art, Magenta and The Brooklyn Rail. Represented by Diaz Contemporary in Toronto and Louis B. James Gallery in New York, she is based in London, Ontario.


2016 Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholars

plugrobin The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year's Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholars, Jan Plug (English and Writing Studies), and Alena Robin (Modern Languages and Literatures). This Faculty-based award recognizes Plug and Robin's prominent contributions as internationally-recognized researchers in their field. Appointments to the Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship are for a one-year period and will provide faculty members with one half-course teaching relief, allowing them to focus on research.


Leonard named Distinguished University Professor

John Leonard, English and Writing Studies, is the recipient of 2016 Distinguished University Professorships (DUP) award. The Distinguished University Professorship Award acknowledges sustained excellence in scholarship over a substantial career at Western. The award includes a citation, the right to use the title, an opportunity for a public lecture and a $10,000 prize to be used for scholarly activity at any time.


2016 Western Faculty Scholars

mcleodbaruah Carolyn McLeod, Philosophy, and Bipasha Baruah, Women's Studies, were named 2016 Western Faculty Scholarsfor their significant achievements in teaching or research. The recipients are considered all-around scholars and will hold the title of Faculty Scholar for two years and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities.


Pearson receives award for teaching excellence

Wendy Pearson, Women's Studies and Feminist Research, is this year's recipient of the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching. For more than 30 years, Wendy Pearson has been building communities of teaching and learning that are transformative for her students, colleagues and the world. Her teaching and research engage a range of fields, including film studies, feminist theory, cultural studies, queer theory, science fiction and Indigenous Studies. Read more


Saska named Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada

saska Congratulations to Sarah Saska, PhD candidate in Women's Studies, on being named Top 100 of Canada’s Most Powerful Women by Women's Executive Network.Saska leads a social enterprise that supports businesses to see the impact a gender lens has on their organization and products. Read more


Tennant to receive Ordre des Palmes Académiques

On November 30, French Studies professor Jeff Tennant will be presented the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms), recognizing his work in French phonetics and sociolinguistics, alongside his dedication to fostering shared learning and intercultural relations with France. Read the full article


Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar

lefurgeyMayme Lefurgey, Women's Studies, was named among four Western PhD candidates to receive the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her work Reimagining Transnational Women’s Advocacy on Issues of Violence Against Women. Mayme Lefurgey explores the intersecting complexities of transnational advocacy and problematizes ‘solidarity across borders’ through a discussion of tensions observed within global advocacy projects to end violence against women. Read more


Governor General Academic Gold Medal

Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada, PhD’15 (French Studies) was awarded the Governor General Academic Gold Medal. Rosés Labrada was a Vanier Scholar in 2012, a Banting Fellow in 2015 and was recently short-listed for the prestigious SSHRC Talent Award. Labrada is well-positioned to continue his vital contributions to the area of endangered languages. He is currently a Banting Fellow at the University of British Columbia. Read more


wolffbrushTrio of scholars named to Royal Society of Canada

Three Western scholars, including Kathryn Brush and John Leonard from the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, have been named among the 87 new Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).


Scholars named among emerging generation of leaders

Bipasha Baruah, Women's Studies, was recently named to The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists which is part of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). Bipasha Baruah is Canada Research Chair in Global Women's Issues and her research identifies the social, economic, legal, cultural, political and institutional factors that influence women's ability to own property; and develops theories, methodologies and analytical frameworks for conducting interdisciplinary research on gender and property ownership.


Toswell wins best book prize

toswell janeThe Anglo-Saxon Psalter by Jane Toswell, English & Writing Studies, was recently awarded Best Book on an Anglo Saxon Topic by International Society of Anglo-Saxonists


Grad student shortlisted for 2015 Impact Awards

Jorge Emilio Roses Labrada(French/Linguistics) was named one of the top three finalists for the 2015 SSHRC Impact Awards in the Talent, Insight, Connection and Partnership categories. The annual Impact Awards recognize the highest achievements from outstanding researchers, students and research partners in social sciences and humanities research, research training, knowledge mobilization and scholarship funded partially or completely by SSHRC. The winners in each category—as well as the Gold Medal recipient—will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Ottawa on Monday, November 16, 2015. 

suarez Prof. Juan Luis Suárez received the Faculty of Science Distinguished Interdisciplinary Research Professorship 2015-2016 for his work in Digital Humanities.


borchert Prof. Angela Borchert was named Teaching Fellow for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for the years 2015-16, 2017-19 with the project titled: “E-Porfolio Practices: Connecting Creative Critical Thinking, Curriculum and Community”. Award funded by the Teaching Support Center.


wolffborchertProf. Angela Borchert and Prof. Victoria Wolff received an award from the Student Success Centre for developing a Community Engaged Learning component for “Bridging Classroom and Community: Languages and Cultures in Action”


Arntfield named Fulbright Chair at Vanderbilt University

arntfieldWith his new book Murder City available now, Western University's Michael Arntfield has been named the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in crime and literature at Vanderbilt University for 2016. Fulbright Visiting Research Chairs are an opportunity for exceptional Canadian scholars and/or experienced professionals to conduct research and lecture in leading American universities. Read more


2015 Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowships.

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year's Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholars, Corey Dyck (Philosophy), and Pauline Wakeham (English). This Faculty-based award recognizes Dyck and Wakeham's prominent contributions as internationally-recognized researchers in their field. Appointments to the Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship are for a one-year period and will provide faculty members with one half-course teaching relief, allowing them to focus on research.

dyck Corey Dyck, Philosophy, specializes in the history of German philosophy, with an emphasis on the eighteenth century. Dyck's recent research has focused on issues in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind in the period from Leibniz to Kant. He recently published Kant and Rational Psychology (Oxford UP, 2014) and is working on a monograph entitled The First Fifty Years of German Philosophy. Read more. 

pauline wakeham Pauline Wakeham, English and Writing Studies, specializes in Indigenous and Canadian literary and cultural studies. Within these fields, she has published on a variety of topics, including ethnographic photography and film, repatriation, museological representations of Indigenous peoples, Indigenous land reclaimations, and cultures of redress and reconciliation. Wakeham recently co-edited a book entitled "Reconciling Canada: Critical Perspectives on the Culture of Redress" by University of Toronto Press in 2013. Read more.


2015 Arts & Humanities Teaching Excellence Award 

Congratulations to this year's A&H Teaching Excellence Award recipients Anthony Skelton, Philosophy (Full-Time), Anna Madelska, Visual Arts (Part-Time), and Laura Mosco, Modern Languages (Part-Time).

skeltonAnthony Skelton is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy. He regularly develops and teaches courses in normative ethics, the history of ethics, and applied ethics. Most recently, he developed (with Gillian Barker) the community engaged learning course entitled The Ethics of Science/The Science of Ethics. He has appeared on the USC Teaching Honour Roll on four separate occasions. He has supervised numerous MA and PhD candidates, producing graduates who have achieved success in academia and in the private sector. He is the co-editor of the textbook Bioethics in Canada (OUP 2013). It is used in courses across Canada. In 2016, he will be lecturing on Henry Sidgwick's ethics in Lille, France as part of a summer school on utilitarianism hosted by the International Society of Utilitarian Studies. 

moscoMaria Laura Mosco’s contributions to our Italian program are invaluable, she goes well beyond the call of duty. She not only coordinates first year Italian and teaches language at several levels, she also organizes extracurricular events that not only enrich her students but also the department. She is always on the Teaching Honour Role and her students are not only are well prepared, they enjoy the experience immensely. Among her activities, every year she organizes the Serata Italiana, an evening of music, poetry and comedy, which is attended by students, faculty, and members of the community. She co-organized with her colleague Dr Cristina Caracchini a meeting between students and members of the community who had immigrated to Canada, giving the students the opportunity to ask questions about the experiences of newcomers. The result brought tears to many people’s eyes. She has actively participated in the International Week and the International Learning Fairs. She visited schools in Toronto with the aim of attracting students to our programs, and helped organize a visit by a group of students to Western. With colleagues she has participated in cooking lessons for students, and in a student visit to the AGO with funding from the Student Donation Fund. In short, Maria Laura has become irreplaceable, while at the same time being a fantastic colleague.

madelska Anna Madelska is the recipient of the 2015 Arts & Humanities Teaching Excellence Award. Awarded annually to faculty members who demonstrates a level of excellence in the areas of classroom and seminar teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, course design, curriculum development, thesis supervision and educational outreach. Anna teaches in the studio program in Visual Arts and teaches such courses as Drawing Explorations and Foundations of Visual Art.


Bentley receives 2015 Killam Prize

bentleyWestern University's David Bentley – a nationally acclaimed teacher from the Department of English & Writing Studies and a leading scholar of Canadian poetry – is a 2015 Killam Prize winner. Read more


Conway named 2015 Faculty Scholar

alison conwayAlison Conway, English, has been named one of 12 Western Faculty Scholars this year. The recipients are considered all-around scholars and will hold the title of Faculty Scholar for two years and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities. Read more


Greene receives Western Teaching Award

greene Elizabeth Greene, Classical Studies, is the recipient of the 2015 Marilyn Robinson Award for Excellence in Teaching. Read more


Mahon named to Mayor's Honour List

mahon Visual Arts professor Patrick Mahon topped the list of honorees when London Mayor Matt Brown released the annual Mayor of London Honours List on Jan. 1. Mahon was honored for his work in the arts. Read more


Leonard's Faithful Labourers honoured

leonardProfessor John Leonard's Faithful Labourers has won the Milton Society of America's James Holly Hanford Award for most distinguished monograph published on Milton in 2013. Leonard will receive the plaque along with the Honored Scholar Award at the Milton Society dinner in Vancouver in January.


2014 Governor General’s Gold Medal

millerCongratulations to Dr. Peter Miller, winner of  the 2014 Governor General's Gold Medal. Peter completed his Ph.D., supervised by Professor Christopher Brown, in Western’s Department of Classical Studies in the spring of 2014. His dissertation, Athletes in Song and Stone: Victory and Identity in Epinician and Epigram,” analyzes ethnicity, gender, and class in the literature of the ancient Olympics. Peter is currently the Crake Doctoral Fellow in Classics at Mount Allison University (2013-2014).


Kidnie amongst Ontario's oustanding university teachers

kidnieProfessor M.J. Kidnie, Dept. of English and Writing Studies, has been named one of Ontario’s most outstanding university teachers by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). Read more


Emberley and Davey named to Royal Society of Canada

emberley Julia Emberley and Frank Davey, Department of English and Writing Studies, have been named among 90 newly elected fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. Election to the academies of the Royal Society of Canada is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences. Read more


2014 Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research

weijerCongratulations to Charles Weijer (professor in the departments of Philosophy and Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics) on receiving the 2014 Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research. This honour recognizes faculty members with outstanding international reputations for their contributions in research – one of the defining hallmarks of a university. Two prizes are offered annually, one in the area broadly defined as the natural sciences and engineering, one in the social sciences and humanities. Read more


bruhmCongratulations to Dr. Steven Bruhm, who has been named this year's recipient of the F.E.L. Priestley Prize for the best article in English Studies in Canada in 2013 at ACCUTE's Celebration of Research Reception. The award is for his essay "The Counterfeit Child," which is published in a special double issue titled "Childhood and Its Discontents," edited by Nat Hurley. This essay began life as an ACCUTE Plenary Address in Fredericton in 2011 and was also presented at the London Public Library in October 2012. Also of note: this essay is part of an issue that has now been downloaded more times than any other issue in the journal's history. The full article citation is "The Counterfeit Child," English Studies in Canada 38.3-4 (2013): 25-44. Watch Steven’s London Public Library talk on “The Counterfeit Child,” as part of the Faculty Lecture Series, here: http://tinyurl.com/kq7ywk8


randall Marilyn Randall, French Studies, has made the shortlist for the 2013 Gabrielle Roy Prize (French Section) for her recent work Les femmes dans l’espace rebelle (Nota Bene, collection « Convergences »), which each year honours the best work of Canadian or Quebecois literary criticism published in French. The winner will be announced publicly on May 24th, 2014. 


2014 Sobey Art Award List Announced

jazvacWestern Visual Arts studio faculty member Kelly Jazvac & alumnus Jean-Paul Kelly (BFA 2001) have both made the 2014 Sobey Art Award Longlist.


2014 Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowships.

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year's Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholars, David Wilson (Classical Studies) and Ileana Paul (Linguistics). This Faculty-based award recognizes Wilson and Paul's prominent contributions as internationally-recognized researchers in their field. Appointments to the Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship are for a one-year period and will provide faculty members with one half-course teaching relief, allowing them to focus on research.

wilsonDavid Wilson is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies. His research interests lie in archaeology of the Prehistoric Aegean, with special focus on the Early Bronze Age Cyclades and Crete and the use of pottery as evidence for social function and organization.


paulIleana Paul is Associate Professor in the Department of French Studies, and teaches within the Program in Linguistics. She works on the structure of Malagasy, the language spoken in Madagascar.


2014 Arts and Humanities Teaching Excellence Awards

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year’s recipients of the Arts and Humanities Teaching Excellence Awards, handed out annually to a full-time and part-time faculty member who demonstrates a level of excellence in the areas of classroom and seminar teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, course design, curriculum development, thesis supervision and educational outreach. Each will receive a grant to be used to enhance research and/or educational development.

pearsonWendy Pearson (Women's Studies and Feminist Research)

Marielle Aylen (Visual Arts/Writing Studies) 


Philosophy's Harper honoured for recent publication

harperCongratulations to William L. Harper, 2014 recipient of the Patrick Suppes Prize in Philosophy of Science in recognition of his book "Isaac Newton’s Scientific Method: Turning Data into Evidence about Gravity and Cosmology" published in 2012 by Oxford University Press. Read more


Grad students take second place in provincial competition

Congratulations goes out to two of our Hispanic Studies PhD Students, David Brown and Javier de la Rosa.  They teamed up and entered the Communitech Data.Base Challenge.  Out of a few hundred teams that applied, David and Javier's project was selected to be one of the five finalists to come to Waterloo last weekend and present their project to a panel of judges.  Their project  DATA.CARE: Data for a Healthier Ontario, won second place.


Western names Excellence in Teaching winners

garberCongratulations to Larry Garber, English and Writing Studies, on receiving the 2014 Angela Armitt Award for Excellence in Teaching by Part-Time Faculty. Larry Garber has been teaching creative writing with tremendous success for years – as the publishing record of his students reflects. Garber applies to his courses the same recipe required to write creatively: discipline, dedication and a critical mind unafraid to adapt. You need all this to find the best material possible for each course – reading dozens of portfolios in order to find the 12 pupils who will create an ideal environment for writing. Each course then becomes a creation in itself, tailored and designed to the needs of each new cohort, where the carefully selected pupils will learn to live as writers, learning discipline and dedication, and developing their critical-yet-supporting minds, and who will not be afraid to challenge themselves and adapt.

When Garber’s life as a full-time professor came to an end because of mandatory retirement, he returned as a part-time faculty to continue his lifelong mission of teaching creative writing – creatively.


Congratulations to our 2014 Faculty Scholars

Western recently selected 13 Faculty Scholars to recognize their significant achievements in teaching or research. The recipients are considered all-around scholars and will hold the title of Faculty Scholar for two years and receive $7,000 each year for scholarly activities. This year’s Faculty Scholars include John Nassichuk, French Studies; Chris Roulston, French Studies and Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. Congratulations!

nassichukJohn Nassichuk's research is in the area of French and Neo-Latin literature of the Renaissance period, with particular attention to the multiple relationships between Italian Quattrocento humanism – especially that of Naples -- and Northern Renaissance culture. He also maintains an interest in Biblical paraphrases and adaptations, both in Latin and the vernacular languages. 

roulstonChris Roulston teaches on the history of sexuality, intersectionality, and on current trends in queer theory. Her current research looks at how legal discourse in the nineteenth century dealt with the notion of deviant female sexuality when, in fact, women were not technically subject to 'sodomy' laws.


Leonard honoured for lifetime of Milton work

leonardby Adlea Talbot, Western News, March 13, 2014

It’s all in a life’s – not a day’s – work for John Leonard.

The Western English professor and renowned scholar in studies of poet John Milton has been named the 2014 Honoured Scholar of the Milton Society of America. The honour, established in 1948, represents a lifetime achievement award. Leonard is the sixth Canadian – and third Western professor – to receive this honour. Read more


Goldschläger recieves award from French Ambassador

goldschlagarOn February 11, French Studies professor Alain Goldschläger received France’s ordre des Palmes Académiques (order of Academic Palms) from Philippe Zeller, the Ambassador of France to Canada. Originally a decoration founded by Emperor Napoléon, the award recognizes major contributions to French national education and culture. Goldschläger, who established Western’s Holocaust Literary Research Institute, was honoured for his work with the International Task Force for Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. 


2012-2013 Achievements

2013 Governor General's Gold Medal

Congratulations to Andy Patton, PhD, winner of the 2013 Governor General's Gold Medal. This award recognizes academic excellence and acknowledges Andy's outstanding contribution to the field of Art and Visual Culture. Andy wishes to thank his committee, Patrick Mahon (supervisor), David Merritt, and James Flath, for their support and criticism throughout his PhD.


2012-13 Western Faculty Scholar Award

Joel Faflak Department of English and Writing Studies, School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities

faflakCongratulations to Dr. Joel Faflak on being named Western Faculty Scholar for 2012-13. Dr. Faflak is Associate Professor in the Department of English and the inagural Director of the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities.

2012-13 Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching

brushKathryn Brush Department of Visual Arts

In her 26 years at Western, Visual Arts professor Kathryn Brush has distinguished herself as both teacher and researcher, as her research has always nourished her teaching. Her area of expertise, Medieval Art and Architecture, is not one that immediately appeals to students, but she has a remarkable ability to shift expectations and generate enthusiasm. Working with her students, she has also reached out into the larger community with her exhibitions at Museum London. She has worked with her graduate students to publish a collection of essays developed from a graduate course and exhibition, Mapping Medievalism at the Canadian Frontier (2010). In fall 2012, she organized a teaching exhibition on Arts of Pilgrimage: Experiencing the Medieval Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, that emerged from her current undergraduate course on Romanesque and Gothic Art, and which included collaboration with local pilgrims who had made the medieval-inspired pilgrimage. This initiative is typical of Brush’s teaching, which forges connections with lived experience and the life of the wider community. She manages not only to bridge historical periods, medieval to modern, but to bridge geographically as well. Perhaps the most remarkable quality of this remarkable teacher is the selfless way in which she showcases her students rather than herself. The two websites that have come out of her seminars and exhibitions put the students front and centre. Her courses knit together the best classroom experience with extramural activities that are not embellishments, but are absolutely central to the curriculum.


2012-13 Marilyn Robinson Award for Excellence in Teaching
& Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies

knabeSusan Knabe, Women's Studies and Feminist Research

Susan Knabe is a brilliant and popular teacher jointly appointed in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) and the Department of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research. Her students and colleagues praise her as a generous and tireless mentor, the kind of professor who “changes lives,” “turns people around” and “turns even the toughest situation into an occasion for learning.” Knabe is a prolific course designer and curriculum developer. She has played a key role in developing a Major in Sexuality Studies, the Teaching Support Centre’s Master Class Program as well as a dozen innovative and wildly successful courses in both Women’s Studies and FIMS. Students “talk about these courses with joy,” her colleagues report, and “buzz with excitement” about their assignments, many of which spill out of the classroom and into the public sphere. Knabe’s students engage in “culture jamming” activities, create wikis and e-zines, and plaster campus with awareness-raising banners, posters and art. Knabe is also the creator and driving force behind Flaunting It, the interdisciplinary undergraduate conference on gender and sexuality, now in its eighth year. Service-learning options take Knabe’s students into the community. Those in Knabe’s Feminist Theory and Practice course, for example, really do both theory and practice, connecting classroom discussions to placements in organizations like Big Sisters, the London Abused Women’s Centre and the Sexual Assault Centre of London. Knabe is deeply committed to the teaching mission of the university in its broadest sense, making a difference in her students’ lives and empowering them to make a difference in the world around them.


2012-13 Scotiabank/University Students' Council Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

This award is handed out annually to a full-time and part-time faculty member who demonstrates a level of excellence in the areas of classroom and seminar teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, course design, curriculum development, thesis supervision and educational outreach.

kidnieM.J. Kidnie, Department of English and Writing Studies

M.J. Kidnie specializes in early modern drama and textual studies; much of her work focuses on Shakespeare and drama and the challenges of adaptation. Kidnie teaches a popular, interactive course on Shakespeare and Drama where her boundless energy inspires students to bring the texts to life. Kidnie has been instrumental in building a strong relationship between Western's English Department and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Kidnie is regularly invovled in educational outreach, engaging theatre patrons through workshops, articles and lectures. M.J. Kidnie has also lectured at Shakespeare's Globe in London and acted as textual and academic adviser for the Royal National Theatre in London. Kidnie's creativity and passion for teaching is evident in her classroom, where she regularly transforms a basic room into a place where students are engaged and enlightened as the texts are brought to life.

Mitsume Fukui, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Mitsume Fukui has taught Japanese at Western since 2004 and is consistently one of the most popular instructors in the department. Fukui not only teaches the fundamentals of Japanese language, but she takes great pride in her role as a cultural ambassador. Students are immersed in lessons about Japanese culture, inter-ethnic communication and tolerance, as well as cultural sensitivities. Many of her students have gone on to win annual Japanese speech contests, but more importantly, they learn valuable life lessons along the way and forever have an appreciation and understanding of new cultures.


2012-13 Arts & Humanities Teaching Excellence Award

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year’s recipients of the Arts and Humanities Teaching Excellence Awards, handed out annually to a full-time and part-time faculty member who demonstrates a level of excellence in the areas of classroom and seminar teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, course design, curriculum development, thesis supervision and educational outreach. Each will receive a grant to be used to enhance research and/or educational development.

hartleyMichelle Hartley (P/T) Department of English

Michelle Hartley has an outstanding record of teaching excellence in a variety of fields, and has made longstanding contributions to the Faculty. Hartley has worked with programs on main campus, as well as at the affiliated university colleges: Brescia, Huron and King's. From curriculum development to course delivery, Michelle utilizes technology in ways that inspire and excite her students. She finds unique ways to connect with her students, both in the classroom and through distance studies. It is clear through peers and student evaluations, that Michelle is a highly respected instructor and who is committed to both her classroom and her community, and is very deserving of the 2013 Teaching Excellence Award.

peroAllan Pero (F/T) Department of English

Allan Pero is very popular in the classrooom as his unique teaching style transforms lectures into theatrical, engaging performances, and he is able to consistently elicit participation from all students. He is always "attentive to students' needs, and able to explain complicated ideas and texts in a cogent and engaging fashion." He values creativity and flexibility in the classroom, while still maintaining exceptionally high standards, and it is through this teaching philosophy that he allows students of all background and abilities to succeed under his guidance. Through his outstanding teaching evaluations, it is also clear that Pero is equally inspired by and rewarded by his students, and this reciprocal relationship in the classroom is ultimately what the study of arts and humanities is about.


2013 Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowships

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is proud to announce this year's Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholars, M.J. Kidnie (English) and Jean LeClerc (French Studies). This Faculty-based award recognizes Kidnie's and LeClerc's prominent contributions as internationally-recognized researchers in their field. Appointments to the Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Fellowship are for a one-year period and will provide faculty members with one half-course teaching relief, allowing them to focus on research.

kidnieM.J. Kidnie, Department of English

M.J. Kidnie specializes in early modern drama and textual studies, much of her work focuses on Shakespeare and drama and the challenges of adaptation. Kidnie teaches a popular, interactive course on Shakespeare and Drama where her boundless energy inspires students to bring the texts to life. Kidnie has been instrumental in building a strong relationship between Western's English Department and the Stratford Festival. Kidnie is regularly involved in educational outreach, engaging theatre patrons through workshops, articles and lectures. M.J. Kidnie has also lectured at Shakespeare's Globe in London and acted as textual and academic adviser for the Royal National Theatre in London. Kidnie's creativity and passion for teaching is evident in her classroom, where she regularly transforms a basic room into a place where students are engaged and enlightened as the texts are brought to life.

leclercJean Leclerc, Department of French Studies

Jean Leclerc is one of the most prolific young scholars in the Department of French Studies. Specializing in French seventeenth-centure literature, he is internationally recognized for his work on the burlesque. Leclerc has produced two major books on the burlesque genre, and is currently on sabbatical in France where he is conducting research for three major critical edition projects. Beyond his active pace of publication, Leclerc is highly involved in the life of the Faculty and French department, and he is highly respected and admired by his students, peers and international network of colleagues.