The Ottawa Citizen has identified a FASS researcher and student as two of their twelve “People to Watch 2010”.

Chris Herdman, scientific director of the Visualization and Simulation Centre (VSIM), was among the first profiled in the Ottawa Citizen’s people to watch series.  Herdman received $28.8 million in funding from industry, the federal and provincial governments to establish the multidisciplinary VSIM Centre at Carleton University.  The VSIM Centre includes 11 core labs from Cognitive Science and Psychology as well as from Engineering and Architecture.  The Centre supports training of more than 80 graduate students.

“I am honoured to have received this recognition and I do so on behalf of my colleagues, students and industry partners at the VSIM Centre who are working collectively to define cutting edge research and training in visualization and simulation at Carleton University,” said Herdman.  “The multidisciplinary approach at VSIM represents a team effort and it’s my good fortune to be involved with such a dynamic and forward looking group of academics.”

Kyrie Kristmanson, a fourth-year student in the College of the Humanities was also selected. In addition to her studies, Kristmanson is also an award-winning singer-songwriter. True to the times, just before Christmas, she received a message through Facebook from the Ottawa Citizen’s arts editor notifying her that she had been selected.

“I was honoured to represent Ottawa’s very rich and complex artistic community,” said Kristmanson. “And though I can’t truly represent all the poets, the painters, the writers, the bands and the many other songwriters of the city, I feel blessed to be part of their company.”

By Nicole Findlay

Scripture from the Bible, philosophy, the exploits of conquering heros, combined with commentary on modern political ideologies and the dogma pitting East against West provided Bachelor of Humanities students with a glimpse of what’s to come.

Journalist, filmmaker and author Nelofar Pazira spoke to first-year B.Hum students at the College’s annual inauguration ceremony. In her lecture Through a glass darkly: Looking at the Muslim World, Pazira wove together the past and present, providing context for the philosophies and dogmas that have emerged from the East and West. Citing scripture from the King James translation of the Bible, theories espoused by Francis Bacon, philosophies of Plato, the impact of European colonialism in the East, and current Western occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq Pazira gently cautioned students to think and analyze beyond the knowledge they will acquire through their studies.

Intellectual advancement can be a double-edged sword according to Pazira, in that the feelings of accomplishment one derives from knowledge can also foster a sense of superiority. Through this lens, other traditions and cultures can be disregarded as inferior. A result of this world view is the obligation the West has felt to civilize or bring democracy to cultures they do not fully understand.

Pazira’s question everything message must have struck a chord. The question and answer period riveted students, keeping them in their seats long after the inauguration program had ended.

By Lori Tarbett

When humanities and film studies student Paul Anderson isn’t watching movies at the ByTowne or Mayfair theatres, as part of film studies research the student protests, he is either blogging for Admissions or working for the House of Commons.

Anderson is one of ten students who write regular blogs which are posted on Carleton’s Admission’s website. The blogs are intended to give potential students a glimpse into Carleton life and aid them with post-secondary decisions as our students discuss their experiences online.

The second year student also serves as a Proceedings and Verification Officer for Hansard, the publication which records the House of Commons daily debates. Anderson sits in the middle of the chamber and tracks the different bills being debated as well as the speakers. “I have to keep my ears open and catch any comments members yell out,” explains Anderson. He also works in the Hansard Satellite Office just above the House of Commons where he collects MPs’ notes and faxes them to editors.

This position and his past position as a Parliamentary Page led him to be recruited to speak to Carleton students who are currently working as Pages. At the beginning of the year he spoke to them about what to expect as a first year Carleton student and how to balance their studies with work in the House. Anderson answered their questions, kept in touch with most of the Pages throughout the semester and met with all of them during exams to see how their year was going.

When he’s not advising potential or current students, Anderson is focussing on his studies. He says he loves the atmosphere of the Humanities program. “I feel that the subjects we are studying are extremely important and the professors encourage us not to just do assignments for the sake of doing them, but to really further our knowledge, to understand ideas, and ultimately become better people,” says Anderson.

By Lori Tarbett

Anna Avdeeva and Magali Desjardins Potvin rolled up their sleeves this summer and received some hands-on training on how to dig up the past.

The two students each spent four weeks participating in archeological digs overseas. Desjardins Potvin, a fourth year classical studies and humanities student, spent the entire time in Argilos, an ancient Greek colony in Northern Greece, located on the coast. While Avdeeva, a third year Greek and Roman studies student, left Argilos for Ust’-Sheksna, Russia part way through the trip.

The pair pursued the digs on the advice of their archeology professor, Elizabeth Klaassen. They searched for a dig through the Archaeological Institute of America and because there were so many volunteer opportunities there were many destinations to choose from. Assistant professor Susan Downie, agreed to supervise a directed study summer course for the students which allowed them to receive credit for their dig journals.

“I had been dreaming of doing archaeology since I was in high school, so this summer I have finally arrived at my long-dreamt-of goal,” says Avdeeva.

The Argilos site served as a field school where inexperienced volunteers like Avdeeva and Desjardins Potvin were taught basic archaeological methods and techniques. They spent the first couple of days removing weeds and brushing off dust from areas excavated over the past 10 years, but according to Avdeeva, they soon got to the “meat and potatoes of archaeology,” including taking measurements, documenting the details of their progress along with cleaning, classifying and cataloguing artifacts.

Desjardins Potvin’s team followed walls discovered in a previous year in an attempt to find the rest of the structure and determine what it was. Avdeeva’s team also attempted to unearth an ancient wall to find out if it was part of a building or a terrace wall. The small pickaxes and trowels they carefully used helped them discover ancient potsherds and roof tiles, bones and pieces of corroded metal.

Desjardins Potvin says she most enjoyed the “thrill of discovery” every time she found an interesting artifact. “I don’t know if that feeling’s supposed to wear off once it’s no longer your first experience, I hope not,” she adds.

Avdeeva describes removing well-preserved potsherds from the Argilos soil with her own hands as her most exciting moment. “. . . These very bits of painted clay had been in the ground for more than 2,000 years and had been manufactured in the times of Alexander the Great,” says Avdeeva. “I loved to think of people who made and used the pot, a fragment of which was now in my hands for collecting, washing and classifying: an amazing feeling of being linked to the ancient history. This was like shaking hands with my most dear but long dead Ancient Greece.”

Both students agree that they would join another dig without hesitation

By Nicole Findlay

Armed with her Bachelor of Humanities, Maria Gruending has set her sights on a new education. Having read all of the classics, she has packed her books for company and moved to Argentina where she knows not a soul.

Gruending is pursuing a long-time interest in Latin America, having already studied Spanish in both Mexico and Spain. Her time in Argentina will also give her an opportunity to think about graduate school. When she returns to Canada she would like to pursue her Master’s in Latin American Studies.

For Gruending, a native of Saskatchewan, the same love for adventure guided her to study the Humanities. She had considered Carleton initially because her mother had a teaching position with the University, however a closer look at the Humanities program convinced her.

“I was attracted to the broad base of the program and to its focus on reading primary texts,” said Gruending. “To get into Humanities, one has to submit a fairly lengthy portfolio, which signaled to me that the program was going to be full of bright people who wanted to be there.”

During the next year she will live in Buenos Aires, teach English, work on her Spanish, and of course learn to dance.

“I don’t know how to tango … yet,” said Gruending. ” My measure of success will be whether I can stick it out and learn to tango in Buenos Aires in the coming year.”

University Medal in the Humanities

Alexander James Reginald Dearham, Bachelor of Humanities

Senate Medalist

Julie Crabb combined her Bachelor of Humanities with a major in English literature. She was drawn to the Humanities because of the College’s reading list, small class size and its interdisciplinary approach. In addition to the texts she examined during her studies, she discovered she was among peers she found stimulating.

“Throughout my time here, I thrived on the challenge of engaging with such a wide variety of texts,” said Crabb. “I have grown intellectually and personally under the guidance of terrific professors.”

Crabb will remain at Carleton in the fall when she begins a Master’s in English literature. She will focus on the religious texts produced by early modern women writers. She hopes to continue on to a PhD in English literature.

Other Senate Medalists Include:

Joanna Marie Coates, Bachelor of Humanities and Philosophy
Theresa Louise Huntley, Bachelor of Humanities
Kyle Kirkup, Bachelor of Humanities and Political Science
Rosemarny Frances Masemann, Bachelor of Humanities and History

New Feature: FASS invites students to contribute their perspectives on FASS-related activities. Linda Bolton, a forth-year major in the College of the Humanities, is the first student contributor.

On Becoming a Writer… A student’s perspective
by Linda Bolton, fourth-year major, College of the Humanities

On Friday, February 10, nearly 200 people gathered at Carleton University to hear the annual Munro Beattie lecture. This year’s presenter was Shani Mootoo, an accomplished visual and video artist, and writer of novels, short stories, and poetry. The lecture was entitled, “In the Temple of the Recurring Dream: Notes on Becoming a Writer.”

Shani Mootoo is a particularly interesting speaker because she transcends many of the boundaries which scholars and critics assign with regard to nationality, gender, and race. Mootoo stated that “there are many ways of being” within herself.

As the lecture was centred on becoming a writer, Mootoo recounted childhood experiences of getting in trouble for expressing herself through words. One example was being reprimanded for reporting that she was being abused. This caused Mootoo to turn from words to art because art allowed her to express herself without making her vulnerable to criticism.

Well into her adult career, Mootoo returned to writing in the form of cathartic journal entries. This lead to an unexpected publishing contract, and resulted in her first novel, Cereus Blooms at Night.

Mootoo spoke several times of difficult personal experiences having a role in the course of her life as well as in her writing, because for her, “stories [and] poetry reside in contradictions, not Disney neatness.” After the lecture I had the opportunity to speak with Mootoo. I asked if crossing or defying boundaries of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, as components of identity, affect her writing or her life. Mootoo replied with a laugh, and then answered that she tries not to think about it. Rather than assume that Mootoo simply dismissed these ideas, I believe that the implication of her statement was that labels are confining for individuals and for creative endeavours.

After the lecture, I thought about Mootoo’s words. I remembered the number of times that Mootoo was, for various reasons, silenced, and I was struck with the awareness of the importance and preciousness of words. Upon further reflection, I found that while Mootoo was creating art, she was speaking, and that although for many years Mootoo was afraid to speak, it is impossible to silence a strong voice.