Alumni
Contact Information
FIMS Development Officer
Susannah Gergich
sgergic@uwo.ca
FIMS Alumni Newsletter
Becky Blue
bblue@uwo.ca


Alumni Awards

The Faculty of Information and Media Studies is proud of the more than 10,000 FIMS alumni who have graduated over the 25 years since the Faculty was created at Western. FIMS is also honoured to be able to count as our own the many thousands of additional alumni who graduated from our founding schools, Library and Information Science (LIS), and Journalism, going back to the mid-1940s. Collectively, FIMS alumni from all eras have gone on to do wonderful work, contribute important research, drive change, discover, innovate, and create.
To more widely recognize the accomplishments of our alumni, we've established the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence, to be presented each year during Western's Homecoming celebrations.
We seek nominations from all members of the FIMS and Western community including current students, alumni, current and past faculty and staff, and community partners. If you know a FIMS alum whose success should be celebrated, please consider nominating them for one of the two awards listed below.
FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence
Nominate a FIMS graduate for the new FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence and recognize someone for their outstanding professional achievement, community service, service to the university, or social impact and innovation. The recipient is selected by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the award will be presented at Western's Homecoming in September 2025.
NOMINATION DEADLINE
Nominations for the 2025 FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence are due by April 11, 2025.
Nomination Form
Western Alumni Awards of Merit
Nominate a FIMS graduate for Western's Alumni Awards of Merit. Presented by Western's Alumni Association, the awards recognize alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their professions or communities. Four prestigious awards include the Dr. Ivan Smith Award, the Professional Achievement Award, the Community Service Award, and the Young Alumni Award. Descriptions of each award are available on the Western Alumni website.
NOMINATION DEADLINE
Nominations for the 2025 Alumni Awards of Merit are due by March 31, 2025.
Nomination Form
More information about the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence
General Criteria and Selection
Who can nominate an alumni?
Anyone who knows a deserving FIMS alum and has information they can share is eligible to submit a nomination.
* Note that the awards committee does not notify people of their nomination prior to adjudicating the award.
What makes someone a good candidate for nomination?
We're interested in FIMS alumni who are making a positive difference in the world through their professional or personal work in media, information, community development and social justice, government, the arts, politics, and leadership. We will recognize many forms of achievement including within professional activities, community service, service to the university, social impact and innovation, or contributions to equity, diversity, inclusion and access in institutional and community contexts.
It doesn't matter what year the person graduated, or how professionally established they are; if they're making significant change out in the world or contributing something big to one of our related fields of study, we'd love to hear about it.
Who chooses the recipient?
An awards committee made up of current students, staff, faculty and FIMS alumni will collectively choose a winner from the pool of nominations.
When is the award recipient announced?
Recipients are typically announced in mid- or late-June. The formal presentation of alumni awards happens during Western's Homecoming celebrations.
For questions related to the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence, contact:
For questions related to the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence, please contact Susannah Gergich, FIMS Development Officer, at sgergic@uwo.ca.
Who are FIMS Alumni?
Anyone holding a degree from one of the following programs at Western counts as FIMS alumni!
- BA in Journalism
- BA in Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT)
- BA in Media and the Public Interest (MPI)
- BA in Media, Theory and Production (MTP)
- Master of Arts in Journalism (MAJ)
- Master of Media in Journalism and Communication (MMJC)
- Master of Library Science (MLS)
- Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)
- Master of Arts in Media Studies
- Master of Arts in Popular Music and Culture (PMC)
- Master of Health Information Science (MHIS)
- PhD in Library and Information Science
- PhD in Media Studies
- PhD in Health Information Science
This degree range encompasses students who graduated from either of FIMS' founding schools (LIS or Journalism) going back to the mid-1940s, right up until present day with students graduating under the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (founded in 1997).
More information about the Western Alumni Awards of Merit
You can also nominate a FIMS graduate for a Western Alumni Award of Merit. This award is adjudicated at the university level as opposed being an in-Faculty award. There are four distinct categories under which you can nominate someone. For full details, visit the Western Alumni Awards of Merit webpage.