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Arts & Humanities Day at Western!
Date: November 6, 2025
Registration open: September 25 to October 27
The Faculty of Arts & Humanities welcomes high school students to Arts and Humanities Day, at Western University. This day promises to be a wonderful opportunity for your students to immerse themselves in the humanities through interactive and insightful sessions. It also provides a chance to connect with university faculty and students, shedding light on the importance of the arts and humanities in a rapidly changing world.
- Entire classes (grades 10-12) or individual students are welcome to attend. Please note that registration is required for each student and teacher attending. The capacity of this event is 350 people.
- If you have any questions, please contact Amanda Green, Faculty Outreach Coordinator, at agreen8@uwo.ca.
- Buses should arrive between 9:30-10:00AM.
- Students and teachers will begin their day with lectures and then attend workshops.
- A free pizza lunch will be provided in Mustang Lounge, after which our raffle extravagnza and closing remarks will take place.
The Faculty of Arts & Humanities and the Department of History are each holding their own outreach event on November 6. Students and teachers will have the opportunity to register to participate in either Arts & Humanities Day or History Day. We hope that this format will allow more high school students to visit Western University’s campus and engage in our disciplines.
Event Schedule
- 9:30-10:00 - Buses arrive on campus
- 10:15-11:00 – Lectures
- 11:15-noon – Workshops
- 12:15 - Pizza Lunch in Mustang Lounge
- 12:45 – Raffle extravaganza!
- 1:15-1:30 – Closing remarks and bus departures
Lectures
Social Media, Privacy and Control
In this lecture, we’ll explore the relationship between privacy and control in the digital age. Through real-world case studies and interactive discussion, we will think about questions like: What exactly is privacy? How do social media companies profit from our personal information? Do we truly own our data—and if so, in what way? We'll unpack how platforms collect, analyze, and monetize user behavior, and consider the ethical and personal implications of living in a data-driven world.
This Dragon Must Die: Secrets of Story-telling
From the beginning of language to modern fantasy, patterns, formulas, and secret codes have been the foundation of story-telling. The monster-slayer and the monster are part of all of us, and their stories are hidden in our subconscious. The dragon has to die, and the story has to be told in a particular way. Join Michael Fox from English and Writing Studies to find out why.
Digging Up the Past: Voices from Ancient Greece and Rome
How do we hear the voices of people who lived thousands of years ago? From epic poetry and inscriptions to temples, tombs, and the worship of gods, Classical Studies uncovers traces of ancient lives. This lecture explores how archaelology and the study of ancient texts brings us closer to those voices - and why they still matter today.
Workshops
Ancient Greece & Rome
3D Scanning & 3D Printing in Classical Archaeology
Learn all about how classical archaeologists use 3D scanning methods and 3D printing tools to enhance our understanding of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Students will be introduced to 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies and some of the fascinating ways these tools have been used in the archaeological analysis of artefacts. Students will also have an opportunity to interact with 3D printed artefacts and play the ancient Greek game called Kottabos with 3D printed cups.
Art History
Art Detectives: Decoding the Past Through Art
In this interactive workshop, students will engage with art history through visual and formal analysis, as well as historical context and interpretation.
Creative Writing
Writing Memory in Prose
"All knowledge," say Plato, "is but remembrance." In this workshop, I am asking us to remember and to seek some form of self-knowledge. We will consider what it means to be "in transit," and reflect on objects - vehicles - from the past, write down their features, and share.
English Studies
Fightin' Word(game)s
Why does it matter how someone says something? Does play help us hear a serious point? In this workshop, we'll explore how writers play with words to comment on the world around them, and try our hand at some word games of our own.
A Day in the Life of an English Student
What's it like to study English at University? We'll take you through the three weekly components of literary studies--reading, lectures, tutorials--to give you a first-hand experience of English studies at Western.
This week's topic: Romanticizing Romanticism.
French Studies
French Expressions through Comics
In this hands-on workshop, students explore French idiomatic expressions in a fun and creative way. Working in small groups, they receive blank comic strips and invent their own dialogues using the target expressions. By combining humor, collaboration, and imagination, participants discover the richness of the French language while practicing vocabulary and expressing themselves playfully.
Gender Studies
Evolutionary Biology & Gender Queerness in the Natural World
This workshop explores how gender variance manifests in the natural world, sharing cutting edge discoveries regarding biological sex beyond the binary that would make Darwin’s head spin. Join us in celebrating the gender queerness of the natural world from protozoa to primates.
Ivey Business School
Combining your Arts & Humanities Degree with Business
Learn about Ivey's Dual Degree program and how you can combine your liberal arts skills in critical thinking, communication, and problem solving with a degree in business. Hear from a recent HBA and Arts & Humanities graduate and participate in a live case class with Ivey Business School instructors.
Languages & Cultures
The Iceberg Hidden World: Unlocking Cultural Codes Through Languages
Why do people greet each other with Namaste in India, use usted in Spanish, or laugh at sayings that don’t translate? Culture is like an iceberg—what we see on the surface is only a small part. In this interactive workshop, students will dive beneath the surface to discover the hidden world of languages and the cultural codes they carry.
Through games, role-play, and group challenges, they will explore idioms, gestures, and expressions from around the globe while reflecting on how languages shape identity and connection. By the end, students will understand languages not just as words to memorize or a set of grammatical rules, but as keys to unlocking new perspectives, friendships, and opportunities in today’s interconnected world.
*If you speak another language other than English, bring it to the workshop and share with us how you see the world through it.
Linguistics
The Hidden Language Within: Exploring Unconscious Linguistic Knowledge
Did you know there's a huge amount of knowledge stored in your brain that you use to understand others, but you're not even aware of it? We'll put your "unconscious" language skills to the test, uncovering the incredible cognitive processes that allow you to produce and perceive language.
Medieval Studies
Exploring Medieval Manuscripts
In this workshop we'll learn a little bit about medieval manuscripts: how they were made, how they were used, and how parts of them were sometimes reused. You’ll be able to see, up close and in person, some books and individual pages from Western Libraries' Archives and Special Collections, ranging from 500 to 1000 years old.
Philosophy
Artificial Intelligence: AI LIke Us?
AI systems are beginning to write, speak, and look like us. They tell us their thoughts, and seem to understand ours. They share their feelings, and seem to empathize with ours. But are they really doing the things they seem to be? How can we know?
