Last summer, Environmental Studies student Joey Slinger had the seed of a great idea. All he needed was the support to help it grow.

Joey was one of five undergraduate students across the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences selected for a 2025 杏吧原创 University Research Opportunity Program (CUROP) internship. CUROP interns receive a $10,000 stipend to help cover costs as they design and complete their own research project over the summer term.

Thanks to this support, and with Prof. Patricia Ballamingie acting as his project supervisor, Joey spent the summer researching how to design and launch an academic seed library at 杏吧原创.

“I got into farming shortly after starting my degree at 杏吧原创 and was looking into seed saving and sharing,” Joey explains. “I quickly found out about seed libraries and was impressed by how they bolstered both interhuman relations and human-ecosystem relations. That鈥檚 because when you participate in plant breeding, you鈥檙e not only caring for the plant, but also its progeny and the humans, animals, fungi, and bacteria that rely on and interact with that plant.”

What is a seed library?

A seed library “lends out” packets of seeds to patrons, who grow the plants and return the seeds they produce to replenish the library, for future patrons to use in their own gardens. The goal of seed-sharing initiatives like this is to empower gardeners of all levels to grow their own food, strengthening local food resilience as grocery costs rise, while also helping to preserve biodiversity in our region.

“It鈥檚 an opportunity for you to explore gardening and community building and interact with soil on a very grounding level,” says Joey.

For his project, Joey interviewed seed librarians working at Canadian academic institutions, as well as people who have developed and manage thriving seed libraries in their communities. He also reached out to local seed farmers to learn from their experiences and invite them to partner with him.

How it works

Fast forward through winter and as the first snowdrops and crocuses are bravely pushing their way up through the dirt, the 杏吧原创 University Seed Library is now officially up and running at the MacOdrum library.

杏吧原创 community members are encouraged to browse the seed collection, conveniently stored and labelled in a vintage card catalogue near the Library Services Desk on the second floor, and can take home up to five packets of flower, herb, grain, or vegetable seeds. Each packet also includes growing instructions, so no prior gardening experience or green thumb are required.

When asked about his preferred seed varieties to grow, Joey says it鈥檚 hard to pick favourites.

“In terms of presentation, it would have to be the colourful grexes (i.e. mixes) of corn, as well as beans, which have such a beautiful display of phenotypic diversity. My favourite varieties for eating would have to be sweet fruits like ground cherry, watermelon, and cantaloupe. And in terms of impressive growers, you really can’t go wrong with the squash, corn, and sunflower grexes.”

The Seed Library is available on the second floor (i.e. ground level) of the MacOdrum Library, near the Library Services Desk, from now until Friday, July 3.

Curious to learn more about the program? Send your questions to carletonuseedlibrary@gmail.com.

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When I chose English as my major, the question I was asked was: 鈥淲hat are you going to do with that degree?鈥� Before I went into the program, my answer was straight-forward: 鈥淎n editor.鈥� Now, after two and half Co-op experiences, my answer has been to reframe the question itself. Rather than: 鈥淲hat are you going to do with that degree?鈥� (because, really, to list off the various jobs seems a bit tedious), I would instead prefer to respond to the question of: 鈥淲hat skills and experiences are you gaining through an English degree?鈥� 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: 鈥淲ell, isn鈥檛 AI just going to replace you anyways?鈥�. In some ways this question felt more insulting鈥攖he 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 鈥榯echnological鈥� generation, and I should just 鈥榢now these things.鈥� 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鈥檚 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 鈥� so how could I break it down for others, if I did not understand it myself?

Because I didn鈥檛 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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This year, won making this the best ever showing for 杏吧原创 students.

These scholarships are open to PhD students across Canada and are valued at $50,000 per year for three years during their doctoral studies.

Genevieve Johnston was elated and overwhelmed with gratitude when she found out that she had received a .

Johnston, a first year PhD of Sociology student, will be using the Vanier award to support her qualitative research on homeless and street-involved youth across Canada.

Her research explores how these youth negotiate and resist their marginalization through self-determination, resilience, and building communities of support.

Through her research, Johnston hopes to contribute to discourses on youth homelessness and offer a perspective that acknowledges the agency and courage of homeless youth, rather than focusing on their victimization.

Johnston鈥檚 supervisor is Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

鈥淒r. Kennelly has been very supportive throughout the year and has generously involved me with her projects on youth homelessness,鈥漵aid Johnston.

Dr. Kennelly gave Johnston the opportunity of working as a research assistant on the planning committee for the  conference that they are organizing, which will take place at the University of Ottawa from February 20-22nd, 2018. The conference will bring together youth who have experienced homelessness, academics, policy makers, homeless service providers and the public.

Johnston said that she could not have won this award without the support and encouragement of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. 鈥淭he department truly cares about students and actively encourages student involvement by offering opportunities for socializing, self-care, and expanding our intellectual horizons,鈥� said Johnston.

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This year, won making this the best ever showing for 杏吧原创 students.

These scholarships are open to PhD students across Canada and are valued at $50,000 per year for three years during their doctoral studies. Sandy Barron found out that he had won a two minutes before meeting with a student to discuss a paper.

鈥淚 had to hold myself together enough to discuss her paper, so I suppose my first reaction was to suppress my desire to jump up and down,鈥� said Barron, who is a PhD student in the Department of History.

Barron鈥檚 research is about the politics around deaf and blind education in Western Canada during 1880-1930.

鈥淚t鈥檚 mostly an examination of why the three Prairie provinces did as little as they did in the area, at a time where state formation around other institutions out West was gathering steam,鈥� said Barron.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about how hearing and sighted people and government officials saw notions of citizenship and educability for everyone, and how deaf and blind children fit into that.鈥�

Barron believes that we need a better understanding of past politics around accommodation and inclusion of Deaf people and people with disabilities.

鈥淭his is a central issue we now face as a country with an aging population and communities of people with disabilities who increasingly seek and demand autonomy and respect,鈥� said Barron.

Vanier CGS funds will help Barron visit a wide array of archives across Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. These include government archives, deaf and blind association archives, deaf schools, and city archives.

鈥淭he security that Vanier affords is going to allow me time and funds for the extensive travel that the success of this project relies on,鈥� said Barron.

You can read more about Barron鈥檚 research here:

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In collaboration with the and , and her students recently had the opportunity to host a public screening of the results of Dr. Kennelly’s research project with homeless youth.

with the youth, which were focused on the issues they had identified as most important to them – including policing, decriminalizing marijuana, and the supports they need to transition out of homelessness.

The public participated in activities that were similar to those that the youth had conducted, including mapping, a thermometer exercise, and discussions.

Encountering Democracy: A Civics Salon

The films and a resource guide are freely available for teachers and professors to use in their classrooms, or for organizations or individuals to use for community screenings. The resource guide provides outlines of the activities and includes discussion questions and websites for further research on the topics raised. .

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Snip, snip, go the scissors of the Fates.

Sometimes, my life lies in pieces around me. Consider my apartment: books everywhere, post-it notes with lists of readings, essays to edit; literal pieces (of literature) splay my education languorously across minimal square footage. There is a papered materiality to studying English that I cannot escape. My schoolwork surrounds me in fragments. Loose paper, all my pens four-fifths out of ink.

I begin to think that this is how life works: perhaps it is that everything of import has been sent through a shredder and then lies around you, waiting for reassembly.

Near the end of reading week, I was standing in the , staring at Georges Seurat鈥檚 A Sunday on La Grande Jatte 鈥� you know the painting I mean, the Pointillist one, with the woman on the right side who has a pet monkey. I鈥檝e liked it since I鈥檝e known it, which dates to my art history class in second year. I never thought I would see it in real life. I don鈥檛 know what it is about the Met, but it pulls together disparate things. There I am, in 19th century European Paintings, reliving art history. Then, downstairs, to Greek and Roman art, where I find stelae from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis and the gymnasium at Pergamon, places I visited in a study abroad class with the department in Summer 2015. And so the windy day on the Pergamon acropolis is before me.

How do you 鈥� suddenly and obliviously, and in a strange city no less 鈥� find yourself confronted by the missing pieces? In the case of the stelae, I mean that literally; they were pieces missing from the places I鈥檇 gone across the globe to see. Does it happen often that a poetic and cyclical pattern shapes your life? How do you ever find yourself in this position you鈥檇 never thought you鈥檇 be in, a position of ecstatic recognition and overwhelming privilege, as though the world literally revolves around you, for you?

When I write an essay, I have to wander around the space I occupy and find the scraps of paper on which I鈥檝e written my thoughts 鈥� single words, exclamation points, long block quotations. I gather, compile, assess. This is the puzzle I鈥檝e made for myself, whence the thesis emerges. I draw it out slowly, tease meaning, solve the mystery. Somehow, over the course of five years, my life has worked itself into something similarly cohesive, emergent, and true.

I blame my education, the thing that has taught me to un-puzzle the pieces and to puzzle them further; the thing that has inspired in me a desire to see. I鈥檓 not sure when I became willing to travel in spite of fear, when I put the desire to know more about the world over the desire to be comfortable and safe in my own home. Perhaps it鈥檚 been lying latent, but recently 鈥� in the rooms and halls of this university 鈥� the careful hands of brilliant teachers, the ideas and adventures bound up in pages and pages that have passed through my eyes/fingers/brain have drawn it out, teased the meaning out of me, begun to solve the endless mystery of my own life.

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by Ashley Wenyeve

Prior to commencing his graduate studies at 杏吧原创 University, Brent Bezo spent five years living in Ukraine. While there, he was able to take in the culture and learn the Ukrainian language, while also making a few observations.

鈥淥f all the nations that had been part of the Soviet Union since the early days of its formation in the 1920s, Ukraine has arguably been the most successful in terms of transforming into a democracy鈥攅ven though that transition is still ongoing, complex, and challenging,鈥� said Bezo.

However, he said that in other areas, Ukraine was and is not faring well鈥攕pecifically in terms of physical/mental health and health behaviour trends. 鈥淲hile I was living in Ukraine, I started to wonder if adverse impacts of the genocide were still affecting modern-day Ukraine, in terms of the health data鈥攁nd in other areas, as well.鈥�

These observations piqued Bezo鈥檚 interest on the topic and, once he moved back to Canada, he decided to focus on this area of study for his Master鈥檚 and now his PhD degree in .

His research looks at the intergenerational transmission of trauma. He is studying how large-scale traumatic events, such as wars and genocides, cannot only impact survivors, but also their descendants鈥攅ven though the descendants did not directly experience the traumatic events themselves.

While in Ukraine, Bezo was able to conduct interviews with survivors and their adult children and grandchildren to find out how they perceive the 1932-1933 genocide of Ukrainians as it affected their lives over the decades.

Said Bezo: 鈥淭he participants told me that the genocide continues to impact their individual well-being, family functioning, and community-society norms.鈥� For example, the participants in his study noted that alcohol use increased after the genocide as a coping response to trauma. Successive generations, therefore, have also adopted alcohol as a coping strategy, as this behaviour has become more widespread and acceptable.

What differentiates his research from others in the same field of study, is that trauma research typically looks at survivors only. He said, 鈥淢y research adds to the comparatively smaller body of work that suggests that descendants of survivors may also be affected.鈥�

Bezo decided to stay at 杏吧原创 for his PhD degree after completing his Master鈥檚 degree.

鈥淚 found a perfect match, in terms of a supervisor, Dr. Stefania Maggi,鈥� shared Bezo. 鈥淎nd the openness of many faculty members at 杏吧原创 — in terms of openness to new research ideas — attracted me because this indicated a creative and supportive research environment.鈥�

Bezo said there are three main features about the PhD psychology program that might interest other students.

First, he noted that many diverse research agendas and talented researchers exist in the psychology department. 鈥淲hat this means for me, personally, is that I can learn different perspectives and approaches, increase my published articles and broaden my graduate school experience.鈥�

Second, he pointed out that the Department has a strong emphasis on research and productivity. 鈥淭his was highly evident from the very first day that I set foot at 杏吧原创 as a graduate student. I still remember this from my first Psych Department orientation.鈥�

Third, he said that the diversity of students in his program has helped him enormously. 鈥淚 am fortunate to have student colleagues who are originally from many areas of Canada and other parts of the world. This diversity in background and experience has greatly benefitted me in that my student colleagues are an invaluable source of feedback and support in sharing our research ideas.鈥�

Bezo said that his research has helped him in his personal life because it has shown him how he reacts to, and copes with, stress and challenges will likely be learned by his children and, in turn, their children.

鈥淏ecause, I could see intergenerational patterns in the families involved in my study, this research, therefore, made me realize in a very concrete way that so much of what I do, even seemingly everyday life things, might impact my grandchildren and their children,鈥� said the PhD candidate.

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