Of Interest - Faculty News

What's been happening in FIMS?

Paul Benedetti, Ajit Pyati, and Michael DaubsExcellence in Teaching award winners announced
Congratulations to FIMS faculty members Paul Benedetti, Ajit Pyati and Michael Daubs, who were named recipients of the 2012 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Faculty are presented with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching in recognition of outstanding contributions to the academic development of students in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

FIMS Convocation speech available on YouTube
The speech given by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish to FIMS graduates at the Convocation ceremony on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 is available on the FIMS website. The full lineup of Convocation 2012 presenters is also available on Western’s YouTube channel.

DOCAM’12 Conference: Keynote lecture is available online
The annual meeting of the Document Academy, DOCAM’12, was held at Western in August with FIMS Adjunct Professor Bernd Frohmann and Associate Dean Pam McKenzie heading the organizing committee. John Durham Peters presented the keynote address: “Of Cetaceans, Deities, and Databases” on August 15.

Funds awarded to researcher
Assistant Professor Amanda Grzyb was recently awarded a Western International Research Grant for her research project, “The Changing Landscape of Holocaust Memorialization in Post-Communist Poland.”

Evolve or die
Assistant Professor Diane Rasmussen Neal authored the Western News article “Evolve or die: Modern classrooms need to change with times”, for the September 20, 2012 edition of the paper.  The article discusses the use of Social Media in the classroom, and highlights Diane's recent publication, “Social Media for Academics.”

Health Information Science in the News
Associate Professor Nadine Wathen, along with Professor Roma Harris, released the results of the Ontario Shelter Research Project on August 30, at a press conference at Western. Professor Wathen appeared in numerous news sources in the following days, responding to inquiries about the study’s findings. She can be found in the London Free Press article "Women's shelters offer more than just a bed," as well as the Metro article "Women's shelters providing more than beds: Western University study."  Professor Wathen also spoke to CTV News and CBC Radio and was quoted in the Washington Times, Chicago Tribune as well as on the websites of several professional medical organizations.

Students in the News
Popular Music and Culture student Chris White was featured in the Western News story "Student drops a beat on hip-hop careers," on October 25, 2012.

Summer of the Defense in Media Studies
Chris Richardson, Media Studies PhD Candidate, successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs in Contemporary Canadian Journalism", on Friday, June 15.

Brian Brown, Media Studies PhD Candidate, successfully defended his dissertation “Will Work for Free: Examining the Biopolitics of Unwaged Immaterial Labour” on June 28.

Sarah Baxter, Media Studies MA student, successfully defended her thesis, titled "Watching High School: Representing Disempowerment on Teen Drama Television" in July 2012.

Veronica Lukacs, Media Studies MA student, successfully defended her thesis, titled "Romantic Breakups in the Age of Facebook" in July 2012.

Trisha Phippard, Media Studies MA student, successfully defended her thesis, titled "The (m)Health Connection: An Examination of the Promise of Mobile Phones for HIV/AIDS Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa" in July 2012.

Craig Butosi, Media Studies MA student, successfully defended his thesis, titled "Social Net-work: Exploring the Political Economy of the Online Social Network Industry" in August 2012.

Are you a FIMS grad with news to share in this newsletter?  Send your details to fims-alumninewsletter@uwo.ca, specifying that the information is intended for publication.