News in 2012
Project adds another dimension to campus
by Adela Talbot Western News January 5, 2012
Mohammed Afana is putting The University of Western Ontario on the map. Literally. A first-year PhD student in Hispanic Studies, with research focused on digital architecture, Afana is developing a 3D model of campus for Google Earth that will serve as a stepping stone for a mobile application making Western accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Read MoreEl Cerrito' challenges filmmakers
by Scott Kennedy Western News February 16, 2012
El Cerrito is a documentary by the creative duo, and Western Film Studies faculty members, director Juan Andrés Bello and producer Constanza Burucua. The film has had a successful run on the documentary film circuit, capturing nearly a dozen awards from festivals around the world. Read MoreMilde named dean
by Communications Staff, February 17, 2012
Michael Milde has been appointed to a five-year term as Faculty of Arts and Humanities dean, starting July 1. He has been serving as acting dean since Jan. 1, 2011.Boyi receives 2012 Western Humanitarian Award
by Jacques Lamarche (Department of French Studies) for Western News March 22, 2012
Professor Henri Boyi from the Department of French Studies has been awarded the 2012 Humanitarian Award for his work with students in Rwanda. Read MoreExhibit eyes city's artistic pull
by Adela Talbot, Western News March 29, 2012
It may not be the common perception of London, but according to a group of Western Students, the Forest City was - and still is - the home and artistic hub for artists from around the world. Read MoreFilmmaker stands 'Alone' atop festival
by Adela Talbot, Western News April 12, 2012
Social media, the very tool that's brought the world together, is likewise responsible for worldwide alienation, according to one Western student. Read MoreHead start, hard work pay off in Ivy League bid
by Adela Talbot, Western News April 19, 2012
Imagine being able to write your own academic ticket to an Ivy League school of your choice. That’s just what Emily Kress was able to do. Thanks to Western’s Initiative for Scholarly Excellence, the 21-year-old got a head start to her post-secondary studies. Read MoreWriter-in-residence stresses sharing an honest story
by Adela Talbot, Western News April 26, 2012
Whether she’s writing or telling them to an audience, such are the stories Ivan Coyote likes to tell. “I’m not just sharing my stories. I’m a storyteller,” said Western’s 2012-13 James A. and Marjorie Spenceley Canada Council for the Arts Writer-in-Residence, hosted by the Department of English. "I comment on the life around me. That’s what I find most motivating. Read MoreGoldschlager honoured for volunteerism
Western News May 10, 2012
Western professor Alain Goldschlager, Department of French, recently received the Ontario Volunteer Service Award, recognizing 30 years of service with B’nai Brith Canada, the National Task Force on Holocaust Education and the League of Human Rights. For a man who started “as a simple soldier” conducting voluntary research during the trial of Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel, his work evolved into a lifetime of local, national and international leadership positions. Read MoreFilm class turns camera onto community
by Paul Mayne, Western News May 24, 2012
Nicole Cheese didn’t know what she would discover when she looked through her camera’s viewfinder. What she captured amazed even her. Offered by the Faculty of Arts & Humanities for the first time last semester, the third-year course Special Topics in Film Studies: Service Learning took students out of the classroom and into the community where they spent nearly four months at a number of community-based organizations. Read MoreTraister finds lessons for university, union and self during term
by Jason Winders, Western News June 7, 2012
On Sept. 7, 2011, one day before he would lead the university’s first strike in a quarter century, and first-ever by an academic unit, Bryce Traister was trying to focus on something else entirely. Heading his first Department of English meeting, the “very nervous” rookie chair wanted to be in that moment only. “This was a very big deal for me,” he said. Read MoreAlumna's life among the characters
by Adela Talbot, Western News June 7, 2012
As a journalist, Joan Barfoot was used to jumping into stories in medias res – in the middle of things. Exposing her to diverse situations and subjects, good preparation this might have been for the now acclaimed author of 11 novels, but it wasn’t enough..“In journalism, you find the frustration of never getting to see the end of stories. You never get to see the beginnings, either, and you never get to see where people’s lives or where things went. I wanted to see where the stories might actually go. Read MoreStepping into the Ivy League
by Paul Mayne, Western News June 7, 2012
Matthew Leisinger came more than 4,000 kms from his hometown of Prince George, B.C., to earn an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Western. So what’s another 1,000 kms – especially when he’ll find himself walking the hallowed halls of Yale University this fall? Read More
Barfoot presses all to dig, quest and read
by Adela Talbot, Western News June 19, 2012
Today’s graduates, trained with the tools of language and words for their future professions, must use them wisely while being acutely aware of how they’re used by others, said author Joan Barfoot. Barfoot spoke to 369 graduates from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the School of Graduate& Postdoctoral Studies at the Tuesday, June 19 morning session of Western’s 299th Convocation. Read MoreCompany brings 'Winter's Tale' to summer's stage
by Katie Starr, Western News July 3, 2012
After the blistering heat of the long weekend, the last thing on most Londoners’ minds is winter. So why did Western’s Summer Shakespeare choose The Winter’s Tale for its 32nd production, opening Tuesday. Read MorePhilosopher named among year's best
by Communications Staff, August 27, 2012
A paper by Western Philosophy professor Wayne Myrvold, a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, has been named among the 10 Best Papers of 2011 by Philosopher’s Annual. Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics: A Maxwellian View was published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Vol. 42.l. Read More
Henri Boyi honoured with Diamond Jubilee Medal
London Community News
In recognition of their significant achievements and contributions to the community, 29 deserving local residents were presented with Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals in a ceremony held at the Windermere Manor.Read More
Sex, status and the Stiletto
by Kelly Olson, Western News, September 13
As a fashion historian, I feel it is my duty to own around 120 pairs of shoes. I have shoes in every conceivable color, height, and style, for every season and every possible activity. I buy several additional pairs every year, at vintage stores, department stores, Italians selling streetside at Rome, the Goodwill. I have mules and Mary Janes and cowboy boots, ballet flats, t-straps, and sandals. But my favorite are the stilettos. Read MoreNew minor logs students onto humanities
by Adela Talbot, Western News, September 26
A first-of-its-kind minor in Canada will help students examine some of the oldest questions using the newest technologies. A new minor at Western – one in Digital Humanities – offered, for the first time this year, through the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, is bridging the past and future through innovative courses that will foster culturally and digitally literate students. Read More
Class continues to open eyes to the world
by Anne-Marie Dolinar, Kylie Erika Spadafora and Martha Elliott for Western News, October 4, 2012
The Rwanda: Culture, Society and Reconstruction course in the Department of French Studies, taught by professor Henri Boyi, involves a five-week international service-learning experience in Rwanda. This course started four years ago. Western News asked three students from that class – Anne-Marie Dolinar, Kylie Erika Spadafora and Martha Elliott – to reflect on that trip. Here’s what they had to say, in part. Read More
Professors redefining fitness, feminism and 50
by Adela Talbot, Western News, October 4, 2012
It’s not just the numbers – that number on the scale, number of calories you eat or the size of your jeans. It can’t be your shape, your image or even a label you ascribe to your body – or any body, for that matter. So, then, what is fitness? What does it mean to be ‘fit’? Read More
Artist explores landscapes closer to self
by Paul Mayne, Western News, October 11, 2012
Be it as an architect, artist or graphic designer, Edgar Yanez Zapata finds himself focused on the relationship between art and urban space, or what he calls “laboratories for the arts.” While the physical location can’t help but affect his work, it’s the ‘inner self’ that makes his work come alive. Read More
New school rethinks arts and humanities education
by Adela Talbot, Western News, October 11, 2012
Next fall, Western will welcome 25 undergraduate students to its new School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH), a unique-to-Canada program offering what organizers call an elite liberal arts education. Read More
Writer-in-residence program marks four decades of connections
by Adela Talbot, Western News, October 25, 2012
As Western’s Writer-in-Residence program, hosted by the Department of English, celebrates its 40thanniversary this year, it’s important to keep its role and necessity in mind, said Manina Jones, professor and vice-chair in the English department. Read More
Artist presents an 'Endless' book of works
by Adela Talbot, Western News, October 25, 2012
In life and art, you never know what you’re going to get. And that excites Jamie Q. This is the approach the London artist took in creating a new art book, The Possibilities Are Endless, published by Western’s McIntosh Gallery Curatorial Study Centre and launching this Friday at the Forest City Gallery. Read More
Is big bad and small good?
by Ken MacQueen, Maclean's Magazine, University Rankings Issue (November 2012)
It’s 11:30 a.m. and this is how the morning has gone for the 71 students in Science One at the University of British Columbia—one of the rare small-class programs that brings big universities down to a more human scale. It started with a physics mid-term, which most of these high achievers feel good about. Then a quick, unscripted shift into biology. Read more.
Western-led team delivers world-first ethics guidelines
by Communications Staff (November 21,2012)
Led by Charles Weijer of Western’s Rotman Institute of Philosophy, in association with Jeremy Grimshaw and Monica Taljaard of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, an international team of researchers has issued world-first ethics guidelines governing cluster randomized trials (CRTs). Read More
A number of thoughts on type
by Laurence de Looze, Western News, December 6, 2012
Since childhood I have loved the "Note on the type" that one finds at the end of many books. It generally says something like: "This book was set in Janson from matrices first cut by the Dutchman Anton Janson, a practicing founder in Leipzig during the years 1668-1687. The delicate serifs of Janson give a sense of peace and repose, while the sturdy hasts convey strength and stability." As a teenage reader, I was amazed at both how old some typefaces were and how many affective qualities were attributed to them. Read More
Confronting ethical implications of detecting awareness in the vegetative state
by Andrew Peterson and Lorina Naci, Western News, December 13, 2012
Imagine that a close family member of yours was involved in a terrible car accident. The accident caused a traumatic brain injury that, despite the best efforts of physicians, has left your family member with a nebulous prognosis and severely diminished levels of consciousness. The attending neurologist explains to you that your family member has received a diagnosis of vegetative state — a disorder of consciousness characterized by cycles of wakefulness without concomitant awareness. Read More
