Summer Artist and Curator Office Hours Residency

The inaugural Office Hours artist residency at the was a fabulous success! The six weeks have flown by, and we’ve enjoyed sharing workspace with artists Rachel Kalpana James and Golrokh Salehi. Read on to learn more about what they worked on during the residency. Special thanks to Julie Hodgson, Founder of the Ottawa Art Society for generous support in enabling us to fund the Office Hours Curator contract position and hire FASS Sociology graduate Felicity Hauwert.��We extend our sincere thanks to Felicity for their thoughtful stewardship of the program.

Preparing for autumn exhibitions

In August, we will host artist Joi T. Arcand who will transform the main floor of the gallery into an “immersive urban Cree utopia” for her exhibition ᑳᐃᓯᓈᑿᐦᑭ ᐃᑘᐏᓇ kā-isinākwahki itwēwina: The Shape of Words. Arcand reclaims nēhiyawēwin (the Plains Cree language), which she has been learning her whole life, and asserts its intellectual, aesthetic and cultural sovereignty and manifests its power to shape worlds. 

Upstairs, we will present Faisa Omer: Threading Roots, an exhibition inspired by the lived experiences of Omer, a Somali Canadian photographer whose practice is shaped by her work in the mental health field and her personal journey as a racialized individual. Through photography, sound, and material elements, the exhibition explores how mental health is experienced, visualized and navigated within Somali Canadian communities. In addition to being a professional artist, Omer works as a mental health counsellor for racialized students living in residence at �Ӱ�ԭ��. The exhibition is curated by Reyhab Mohmed Patel, a PhD candidate in Sociology at �Ӱ�ԭ��. 

The exhibitions open on Tuesday, Sept. 22 and run until Sunday, Dec. 13. The launch party will be held on Sunday, Oct. 4, featuring a conversational walk-through tour with the artists and curators at 1:30 pm. More details to come! To book a class visit, please reach out to Cara Tierney.��

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Photos by Brenna Mackay

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Good morning, everyone. It is such a pleasure to be here with you today.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Dr. Anne Bowker, and I have the privilege of serving as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and as a professor of Developmental Psychology.

To the family members, friends, faculty, staff, mentors, and supporters who have helped our graduates reach this milestone, thank you. Today is a celebration of individual achievement, but it is also a celebration of community. None of us arrives at a moment like this entirely on our own.

And to the Class of 2026: Congratulations! You have worked incredibly hard to get here, and you should be so proud of what you’ve accomplished.

As I look out at you today, I find myself thinking not only about where you’re going next, but about how much you’ve changed since you first arrived at �Ӱ�ԭ��.

Four years ago, many of you arrived on campus carrying a mixture of excitement, uncertainty, ambition, and perhaps a few assumptions about how the world worked. Since then, you’ve encountered new ideas, complicated questions, unfamiliar perspectives, and people whose experiences challenged and contrasted your own.

You have each learned a great deal in classrooms and lecture halls, libraries, studios, labs, work and field placements, community groups, and late-night conversations with friends. But education is never just about acquiring information. It is also about comprehensive personal evolution.

One of the great joys of working in a university is having the opportunity to watch students grow over time. I’ve had the honour of seeing that growth in many of you, and what strikes me most today is not simply the expertise you’ve developed through your disciplines. It’s who you’ve become.

Through your classes, experiences, and relationships at �Ӱ�ԭ��, you have become people who are better equipped to understand the world around you. And I don’t use the word understand lightly.

In my view, understanding is one of the most powerful skills a person can possess. It helps us make sense of a complicated world, build meaningful friendships, contribute to our communities, and become the kind of leaders people trust and want to follow. It is a skill that enriches every part of our lives, personally and professionally.

Throughout your Arts and Social Sciences education, you’ve developed that skill in ways both big and small. You’ve examined multifaceted questions from multiple perspectives, challenged your own assumptions, and learned to look beneath the surface. You’ve discovered that understanding the world around us requires curiosity and a willingness to engage with complexity.

Those habits of mind may not always provide quick answers, but they often lead to better ones.

The world you are graduating into is fast-moving and often overwhelming. Information is abundant. Opinions are everywhere. Artificial intelligence can generate answers in seconds.

Yet understanding remains as important, and as difficult, as ever. Because true understanding requires something more than information. It requires inquisitiveness, good judgment, and the willingness to see beyond our own experiences.

Whether you studied psychology, English, history, music, sociology, cognitive science, or any of the many disciplines represented here today, you have spent your time exploring the human experience and developing the capacity to understand it more deeply.

As all of you now understand, the most important challenges facing our communities are not simply technical problems waiting for technical solutions. They are human challenges. And human challenges require people who can build connections, navigate nuance, and bring people together.

In other words, they require leadership. And while leadership is often associated with authority, expertise, or visibility, the most effective leaders I have known possess something much more human. They understand people. They pay attention to context. And they recognize that meaningful progress depends on trust, and that listening is often more valuable than speaking.

And that brings me to my core point I hope you’ll remember from my remarks today.

Understanding matters. But what matters even more is what we do with that understanding.

We often talk about kindness as though it were simply a personality trait. A virtue. Something you’re either born with or not. Something admirable, perhaps, but not especially useful in a competitive world.

I see it differently. To me, kindness is a skill. It is the practical application of empathy and understanding. It is how we build trust, strengthen communities, and help others feel valued. And despite what we sometimes hear, these qualities are not obstacles to success. They are often the foundation of it.

The people who build strong organizations, meaningful connections, and healthy communities are rarely those who move through the world thinking only about themselves. More often, they are people who understand others, who earn trust, and who recognize that connecting and belonging matter.

Maya Angelou once observed that it takes courage to be kind. I think she was right. Kindness requires courage. It takes courage to remain curious when certainty would be easier. It takes courage to reconsider our assumptions. And it takes courage to genuinely try to understand people whose experiences differ from our own. But I believe kindness is one of the most valuable skills you can carry into the future.

Whether in your career, your relationships, or your community, kindness will help you build trust and bring people together in a world that often feels divided and uncertain, and frankly requires mending.

One of the great privileges of my career has been spending more than three decades teaching, mentoring, and learning alongside students like you.

People sometimes assume that learning flows in only one direction. That professors teach and students learn. My experience has been quite different.

What I can tell you is that year after year, students continue to challenge my assumptions, expand my perspective, and remind me that every generation brings new ideas, new energy, and new possibilities. They also remind me that kindness is far more common, and far more powerful, than we often give it credit for.

And that is one of the reasons I remain so hopeful. I have spent my career meeting the people who will shape the future. I see them sitting in front of me today.

So, as you leave �Ӱ�ԭ��, I hope you carry forward the habits of mind you’ve developed here. Continue asking thoughtful questions. Continue seeking understanding before rushing toward simple answers.

But most importantly, please continue practicing your acquired and highly dynamic and refined skill of kindness. Not because it is easy, and not because it is expected, but because it is powerful if practiced consistently and with intention.

Thank you for choosing �Ӱ�ԭ�� and for enriching our Faculty with your intelligence, creativity, generosity, and of course, your skill of kindness.

Congratulations, Class of 2026. We are so proud of you and cannot wait to see where your talents take you next.

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Congratulations to fourth‑year Philosophy honours student Jack Ragan on receiving a 2026 Provost Scholar Award! Funded by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and administered by Teaching and Learning Services, the Provost Scholar Award is valued at $500 and is given to undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in research, community engagement, immersive learning and/or international activities.

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By Kirsten Maramba

�Ӱ�ԭ�� University’s inaugural Black Faculty and Students Meet and Greet, held on March 30, 2026, at the Institute of African Studies, brought together students, faculty, and alumni for an inspiring evening of connection, mentorship, and celebration. The event created a vibrant space where Black members of the �Ӱ�ԭ�� community could see themselves reflected across academic and professional roles—an experience many described as both empowering and long overdue.

Speakers shared candid reflections on navigating university life, confronting systemic barriers, and finding strength through community. Their stories highlighted the importance of representation, mentorship, and visibility in fostering Black student success.

Student speakers Dylan Ntemgwa and Dupe Adesoji encouraged peers to pursue excellence beyond grades by engaging in research, volunteering, and leadership opportunities. 

Faculty members also highlighted the value of informal settings for building authentic relationships and breaking down barriers that persist in traditional academic environments. Journalism professor Adrian Harewood spoke about overcoming academic challenges through meaningful relationships. Alumna Petra Michael offered a powerful account of her experience transitioning to Canada as an international student, describing how the support of Black faculty mentors, including Professor Daniel Tetteh Osabu‑Kle helped her adjust and succeed despite challenges related to accent-based bias and cultural adaptation.

Students responded enthusiastically to the event and expressed how deeply the event resonated. Many shared that hearing from Black faculty and alumni made academic pathways feel more accessible and helped them feel seen and supported. 

One international student noted that attending helped him break out of isolation and make new connections. Another said Petra’s story mirrored his own experience of feeling academically strong yet judged for his accent, underscoring the need for spaces that validate Black students’ experiences. One student noted, “I didn’t even know we had these Black professors at �Ӱ�ԭ��. Seeing us represented at all levels is incredibly important.”

The Meet and Greet reflects �Ӱ�ԭ��’s ongoing commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, aligning with initiatives such as the Scarborough Charter. Faculty emphasized that informal gatherings like this help break down barriers and create space for authentic, community‑building conversations.

The event was supported by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and the Black Inclusion Working Group, with coordination by Professor Nduka Otiono, Faculty Advisor on Anti‑Black Racism and Black Inclusion and Director of the Institute of African Studies. Kirsten Maramba, Computer Science Honours and Co‑op student, served as a research assistant.

For upcoming events and initiatives, visit the �Ӱ�ԭ�� University Anti‑Black Racism and Black Inclusion website.

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Five �Ӱ�ԭ�� University professors were recognized with a Faculty Graduate Mentoring Award during a ceremony held on campus on April 7, 2026.

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When I chose English as my major, the question I was asked was: “What are you going to do with that degree?” Before I went into the program, my answer was straight-forward: “An editor.” Now, after two and half Co-op experiences, my answer has been to reframe the question itself. Rather than: “What are you going to do with that degree?” (because, really, to list off the various jobs seems a bit tedious), I would instead prefer to respond to the question of: “What skills and experiences are you gaining through an English degree?” I am learning communications, interpersonal relations, analysis, and, while I could go on, I will end with, critical thinking.

This last one is especially important in countering the new, though no less intimidating, question of: “Well, isn’t AI just going to replace you anyways?”. In some ways this question felt more insulting—the idea that a machine could do (better) what we’re spending years studying.

My initial reaction to society’s obsession with AI was to ignore its existence entirely. I refused to engage with any of the platforms outside of the few class assignments which mandated AI exploration. This approach worked while I was in school, and the idea that, if my will was strong enough, I could put the cat back in the bag was believable for a time.

So, imagine my surprise, when, on my second day of Co-op work at the Kanata North Business Association (KNBA), I was asked what they could be doing to better implement AI into their workflows. Apparently, I belong to the ‘technological’ generation, and I should just ‘know these things.’ What I had just spent the last year resisting, I would now have to wholeheartedly embrace and… advise on?

When I first started working with AI, it felt like a betrayal to my English degree. It felt like I was training the very entity that would eventually replace me. However, it was also through working with AI that I learned that would not happen, and that I was not replaceable.

On my first day of work at Hydro Ottawa, I was told by my supervisor that they were specifically looking to hire an English major. Rather than taking AI’s outputs at face value, I am able to read, analyse, comprehend and think critically on the content it is producing, which are all desirable skills.

One such example is writing a blog on semiconductors at the KNBA. I was tasked with simplifying the subject so that it was digestible for a wide audience. However, this was a technology that I was not familiar with. I did my own research, but the terminology was foreign – so how could I break it down for others, if I did not understand it myself?

Because I didn’t have the time to research extensively, I put my notes into ChatGPT and asked it to explain the information as if it were speaking to a ten-year-old. This helped me to understand what semiconductors were, and why they were important, so that I could write the blog post in a way that made sense to others.

AI did not do my work for me, it did not replace my abilities or skills, but rather it enhanced my productivity.  

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Congratulations to the following FASS faculty members who were awarded Connection Grants in the May 2025 competition:

Patricia Ballamingie (Geography and Environmental Studies)��and a team of eight co-applicants and collaborators (including��Peter Andrée��from Political Science and��Irena Knezevic��from the School of Journalism and Communication) received outreach stream funding for “Mobilizing Knowledge from Food Movement Elders: Building a Digital Library of Actionable Wisdom.” This initiative preserves and makes accessible the experience of leaders in food justice, governance, and systems transformation. Using research interviews with these leaders, the team will create a digital library of textual and audiovisual material to ensure that past knowledge, successes, and lessons learned will be remembered, built upon, and re-interpreted as new food system challenges arise.��

Jennifer Evans (History),��along with co-applicant��Sandra Robinson��(School of Journalism and Communication), received outreach stream funding for “Hate, Conspiracy Theories, and the Challenge to Democracy.” Bringing together students, junior and senior scholars, and community stakeholders, this project explores the historical, psychological social and political dimensions of conspiratorial thinking across time. The team will hold a workshop to explore a series of related case studies out of which will come academic publications, a public lecture, policy briefs, teaching modules and resources, and social media content to build capacity that organizations, universities, government and community can draw upon to address the threats conspiracy theories pose today.��

Kevin Nunes (Psychology)��received event stream funding for “Violent Thoughts: Constructs, Measures, Interventions and Synthesis” and will hold a meeting of experts of violent cognitions to clarify and refine our understandings of the nature of these conditions, distinctions/overlap between them, how to measure them, and how to change them for the better. There is little evidence on whether violent cognitions have a causal effect on violent behaviour; this event will enable diverse perspectives to facilitate advances in theory, research, knowledge transition and practice, which will ultimately permit more effective and efficient efforts to reduce violence.��

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)����supports events and outreach activities geared towards short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives.

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We are pleased to announce that in September 2025, a new Algonquin Wayfinding Wheel was installed at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University, as part of the City of Ottawa’s ongoing public art and Indigenous engagement projects. 

The Algonquin Wayfinding Wheel was created by , adjunct research professor in �Ӱ�ԭ��’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, in collaboration with Mairi Brascoupé, who at the time was completing a master’s in design at Central Saint Martins, London. Developed in partnership with Algonquin Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community members, the work draws deeply from Algonquin cosmology. Its design incorporates symbols such as the four sacred directions, animals of spiritual significance, and the north arrow, weaving them together into a unified whole.

More than a map-like device, the Wheel functions as both a visual landmark and a site of orientation and reflection. In Algonquin artistic practice, such a form is not static but living, embodying relationships of connection and balance and reminding us of the responsibilities we carry to the land and to one another.

The chosen site for the Wayfinding Wheel is at the �Ӱ�ԭ�� University OC Transpo station and Trillium Line. This installation represents a meaningful collaboration between the City, campus planners, and Carol Brascoupé, Project Manager, and marks a significant step in weaving Indigenous presence into the landscape of the campus and city. This location is significant, on a nexus where many students, faculty, staff, and visitors pass daily, and it offers a moment of pause on journeys across the campus. As part of �Ӱ�ԭ��’s campus wayfinding and landscape planning strategies, this installation helps bridge functional orientation with deeper cultural and relational meaning. It aligns with the campus design goals to embed navigational and interpretive elements at intuitive locations, thereby enhancing both legibility and belonging across the campus fabric.

By placing the Wayfinding Wheel at a transit-adjacent and visually prominent location, the work invites those who pass by to consider the layered histories and ongoing presence of Algonquin Anishinaabe Peoples on this land. It also opens space for dialogue about how we move through, name, and engage with campus and city environments. In this sense, the Wheel contributes not only to physical orientation, but to relational orientation, helping viewers shift perspectives, ground in reciprocal respect, and remember interconnected responsibilities.

We invite everyone on campus and in the broader community to visit the installation, learn about its significance, and share the gift of presence with it. For more information and an animated video about the Algonquin Wayfinding Wheel project across Ottawa, visit the .

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By Sophie Drache and Erica Raley

In preparation for the 2025-2026 Munro-Beattie Lecture on October 15th, students Sophie Drache and Erica Raley spoke with lecturer over the phone about trans relationships, censorship, and the power of storytelling in creating networks of resistance. Ivan Coyote is a writer, storyteller and performer. They have created four films, seven stage shows, three albums, and authored 13 books. Their most recent book published in 2021,��Care Of,��is a collection of correspondences between Ivan, fans, readers and audience members, co-authoring a story of relationality that Ivan says is essential in our modern political moment.��

Interview

Sophie: So we know that you did your first writer-in-residence here at �Ӱ�ԭ�� in 2007.

Ivan: I did, yeah.��

Sophie: How do you think your path has led you back here to do this event?

Ivan: Oh, easy. Relationships. Mycelium. Human connection.��

You’d have to ask Jodie [Jodie Medd, Professor in the English Department] how I first got on her radar, I think it was teaching English and I’d write short stories that are accessible. In 2007 … I get this email asking if I want to come [to �Ӱ�ԭ��] and it was like.. A paycheck for a self employed artist. I had left my job in the film industry in 2003, so I was still really having to hustle and it was just kind of like a paycheck. It was for, I wanna say, two semesters. Like 8 months. It was a paycheck for eight months and a chance to work at a university for a blue collar kid from the Yukon, whose mom wanted nothing more than me to be an academic. My mom’s side of the family lauded university education, that would be the ticket to not having to bust your back and knees and wrists and your shoulders.��

My mom was like, “You have a chance to go work at a university? How amazing.” That was twenty years ago. Before the residency, Jodie asked me to come in and do a queer literary gig [Referring to “Wilde �Ӱ�ԭ�� Sappho” at the National Archives, through work with the Lambda Foundation].

…That’s how I started. Me and Jodie– I love her work, I love her approach, she’s passionate, she’s got skin in the game. 

I walked into the English department and one of the things they kept saying [was] about my CV, my academic credentials, and I sent them my CV which is impressive, I’ve done a lot of stuff, even back then, I had a lot of books out. They were like, “Oh, we’re missing a page of your CV. Your education? Your academic credentials?” And I was like, “Um. I’ve got my grade 12 and my electricians ticket. I can write that down on a piece of paper and send it to you.”��

Yeah, so it’s mycelium, it’s friendship, it’s relationship. It’s common working together for a principled cause and aligned moral values. And respect. Mutual respect, I think. Crazy artists need Jodies. There’s Jodies somewhere buried, usually underpaid, underappreciated, being micro-aggressed against, queer academics all across this country. We need each other right now. Look what’s going on, look what we said was going to happen all along if we allowed the continued march of facism… Ask any trans person, especially someone who has been trans their whole life, and knows what we’ve always been up against. I just didn’t think we were going to be strapped right to the front of the tanks. I didn’t realize how far under the bus trans people were going to get thrown. 

Erica: Absolutely… Sophie and I are taking a graduate seminar right now with Jodie Medd about book banning, with a particular focus on LGBTQIA+ literature being targeted in North America, particularly in the States, but in Alberta recently as well.

Ivan: It’s endemic, we can’t just blame it on Alberta, it’s everywhere. We’re all Alberta right now. Make no mistake, vigilance is required. Carry on.��

Erica: We’re curious about your particular experience with targeted censorship, have you experienced this over the course of your career and has it exacerbated in recent years?

��Ivan: Oh yeah, of course. I don’t know if I’ve existed on a book ban list, but of course. Yes, since the beginning. It’s endemic, it’s homophobia.��

Erica: My particular research interest is about creative ways of resisting modern censorship. How do you see means of resistance to this censorship developing? What does this mean for you?

��Ivan: Way back in the day, librarians and teachers were photocopying a couple of pages of my books and handing it to kids. Because my books weren’t in the libraries at school. […] And then basically librarians and teachers came to me and said, […] “Could you please put together a collection of short stories and include this one, this one, this one, and this one, and try not to put any in that contain anal sex or marijuana use or underage drinking.” Not for the kids who are reading all of that, but for the parents who are going to be vetting probably only the queer book.��

They’re not vetting anything that their kids are reading or consuming or living— but they will vet the queer book. I wasn’t being censored to make it accessible to youth, it was their parents who would be vetting it. It’s always been that way. This has always been happening. [In Nazi Germany] they destroyed an immense amount of data, our data, […] it was us writing ourselves down ‘cause nobody was interested. 

But really, we’ve always [resisted] this, we’ve always done this and we’re going to continue to do it. Queer people and trans people will make and distribute. 

We need to prepare for the apocalypse and make sure that there’s still a physical book when everything has crashed. We need to plan for a time when we need to go back to handing a piece of paper from one to another. We need mycelium, we need to create cultural mycelium. And we need to make it so that it is unburnable. And if we don’t we’ll just make new stuff and find each other again. We have always done this. Always. 

Sophie: The [Munro Beattie Lecture] was in part founded to invite writers/thinkers who can really speak on current issues that will resonate with the public, so what does it mean for you to be invited this year and what do you hope guests at the lecture can leave with?

��Ivan: Well hopefully they leave with a book.

I’m quite f–in’ old, and I have to crawl into my crawlspace and I got to go get books which are heavy and I have to put them in a pelican case so they don’t get damaged, which is heavy, and then I gotta get on a plane and I gotta hop across the country, because of mycelium. Because of this. Because I want to, not just speak to you, but I want to hear from and meet other queer and trans people and I want to pass them something and I want them to pass me something back. 

People pass me letters and I collect them, that’s what����is. And this is us, back and forth, this is us handing each other a piece of paper. Our story. This is my story, what’s your story? ‘cause that’s what we have to do right now.��

So what does it mean to be asked? I get to come back to Ottawa, and guess who’s going to be there? A bunch of doctors, mostly young(er) than me, mostly immigrants from immigrant families, mostly brown, women of colour, doctors, who I met and did a keynote for and they’re bringing all their doctor friends to come and listen to trans stories because they’re trying to give better gender affirming care, while we still have it. 

Erica: To end on a lighter note, what are you looking forward to in the next couple of months in terms of your career?��

Ivan: My career? I hope in December to not get in an airplane. I’m hoping in December to have time to play guitar, sit in front of a wood stove, read. I really need to generate. I’ve been on a travel-travel-go-go-talk-talk-meet-meet-greet-greet-travel-travel-drive-drive. I can’t say where I’m going to be in two months; December I’m going to stay home. I am writing a memoir called��This Won’t End Well��about caring for my father with Korsakoff… but hopefully over the next months I’m not going to be thinking about my career, hopefully I’ll be thinking about my family and my life.��

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Department of English language and Literature invite you to the 2025-2026 Munro-Beattie Lecture at �Ӱ�ԭ�� Dominion-Chalmers Centre on October 15th at 7 pm to see Ivan Coyote’s talk, “And Then This One Time: Sweet Stories for Hard Times.”

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