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• FIMS welcomes new faculty member teaching in FIMS and CAP

FIMS welcomes new faculty member teaching in FIMS and CAP

The Faculty of Information & Media Studies is pleased to announce the addition of new faculty member Basil Chiasson, who will commence his role as Assistant Professor on July 1, 2020. Professor Chiasson’s appointment will be to FIMS, but his teaching will be divided between FIMS and CAP (Creative Arts and Production), a new undergraduate program being jointly developed by FIMS, the Faculty of Arts & Humanities and the Don Wright Faculty of Music.

Chiasson was recently appointed at the University of Leeds as Research Fellow on a project entitled Pinter Histories and Legacies: The Impact of Harold Pinter's Work on the Development of British Stage, Screen and Radio Practices. His work on the Histories and Legacies project included researching in archives in Britain and America, interviewing theatre practitioners, and populating and curating an open-access database with information about the production history of Pinter’s works. Chiasson’s PhD is in English, from the University of Leeds, and he has degrees from York University (MA) and Saint Mary’s University (BA). Prior to working in Britain, he taught at the University of Calgary and at Memorial University. His published research is concerned with political drama and performance, subjectivity and the politics of affect, and neoliberalism’s impact on the culture industries. An extensive background in music performance, recording, and instruction and also in theatre, acting, and creative writing inform Chiasson’s teaching practice, his research, and his collaborations.

“I’m honoured to be joining Western and looking so forward to participating in the culture of interdisciplinarity, creative inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, and outreach that defines FIMS.” — Basil Chiasson