No. 550 - April 1, 2026

  • Coming Events:

    - LIS 9004 - Research Methods - Student Research Showcase
    - The Curious Times of CONVERSATIONAL AI - Student Poster Session
    - CA 3010 - Archival Practice and Creative Production Showcase
    - MJCOM 9606 - Documentary Screening
    - Truth Under Pressure: Finding the facts in a noisy world
    - MEDIACOM 4401 - Short Film Screening
    - The Environment as a Medium of Communication: Storytelling, Memory, and Resistence in Post-War El Salvador
    - Save the Date: FIMS Faculty GenAI and Assessment Design Workshop

  • Important Dates:

    - Friday, April 3, 2026 - Good Friday holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)
    - Thursday, April 9, 2026 - Undergraduate classes end
    - Friday, April 10, 2026 - FIMS Graduate classes end
    - Sunday, April 12 - Thursday, April 30, 2026 - Undergraduate Exam Period
    - Friday, May 1, 2026 - MLIS Orientation for new students
    - Monday, May 4, 2026 - FIMS Graduate classes begin

  • News & Announcements:

    - Changes to Alert WesternU
    - Robertson Davies Library 2026 Summer Workshops
    - Slides shared from Bri Watson's Hot Topics talk

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Luke Arnott
    - Juan Andrés Bello
    - John Kausch
    - Yetunde Owolabi

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Anastazia Csegeny
    - Yetunde Owolabi
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Sarah Smith 
    - D St-Amour
    - Tiara Sukhan
    - Bri Watson

  • In the Media:

    - Alison Hearn
    - Angela Murphy

  • News from the FIMS Grad Library:

    - Upcoming Library Closures
    - Upcoming Events at the Library

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events

LIS 9004 - Research Methods - Student Research Showcase
Session 1: Tuesday, April 6, 2026
2:00 p.m.
FNB 4130 or via Zoom
Session 2: Thursday, April 9, 2026
6:30 p.m.
Via Zoom
More details to come. Contact Pam McKenzie if you have any questions at pmckenzi@uwo.ca. 

The Curious Times of CONVERSATIONAL AI: Human Ingenuity & Technological Wonders
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
9:30 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.
FNB Atrium
Description: In a world that sometimes divides people into technophiles and technophobes, we invite you to choose a third path: the techno-curious. This session explores how conversational AI is evolving - and how humans remain central to creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. Light refreshments will be served (read more).

CA 3010: Archival Practice and Creative Production Showcase
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
10:30 a.m.
Weldon Library, Scholar's Square
Join students from the CAP course Archival Practice and Creative Production, taught by Assistant Professor Juan Andrés Bello, as they present their work at this end-of-year showcase.

MJCOM 9606 - Documentary Screening
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
FNB 3090
Join the students from Assistant Professor Sally Kewayosh's By, For, and About: Storytelling from the Margins, for their final film showcase. All are welcome.

Truth under pressure: Finding the facts in a noisy world
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (reception to follow)
Attend in person: FNB 3050 (Broadcast Studio) - Register for In-person
Attend online: Register for Zoom Webinar.
Join us for this special symposium as journalists discuss their areas of expertise including image & video verification in a growing sea of fakes, covering the increasingly contested arctic region, and border issues in the era of Trump. Presented by Angela Murphy, the FIMS 2026 Asper Fellow, along with a series of journalist panelists (read panelist bios).

MEDIACOM 4401 - Short Film Screening
Thursday, April 9, 2026
3:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Conron Hall, UC
Join the students in Sally Kewayosh's course Script to Screen, Advanced Digital Film Production, for their final film showcase. All are welcome.

Save the Date: FIMS Faculty GenAI and Assessment Design Workshop
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
FNB 4070 
Description: This Generative AI and Assessment Design Workshop is a collaborative, hands-on event designed for undergraduate and graduate instructors who are exploring how to thoughtfully respond to generative AI in their course assessments. Facilitated by CTL, this workshop will cover informed frameworks and strategies for assessment to prioritize learning, including examples, a practical guide for lecturers, and UDL considerations for proactive accessibility in assessment design (read more).


Important Dates

- Friday, April 3, 2026 - Good Friday holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)
- Thursday, April 9, 2026 - Undergraduate classes end
- Friday, April 10, 2026 - FIMS Graduate classes end
- Sunday, April 12 - Thursday, April 30, 2026 - Undergraduate Exam Period
- Friday, May 1, 2026 - MLIS Orientation for new students
- Monday, May 4, 2026 - FIMS Graduate classes begin


News & Announcements

Changes to Alert WesternU Notifications
On April 10, 2026, Western will be transitioning to a new service provider for emergency notifications. They will be introducing a new app called Alertable, which is a mass notification tool that provides timely, accurate information directly to your smartphone or tablet, ensuring clear and effective communication when it matters most. If you wish to receive emergency notifications to your phone, download and customize the Alertable app. After April 10, the previous app OnSolve will no longer function and can be uninstalled. For full details visit the Alert WesternU website.

Robertson Davies Library 2026 Summer Workshops
The Robertson Davies Library, Massey College at the University of Toronto is offering summer workshops in Rare Book & Manuscript Cataloguing. July 20-24 will cover Rare Book Cataloguing, while July 27-31 will cover Manuscript Cataloguing. The workshops are in-person. The principal aim of these workshops is to provide an introduction to cataloguing books of the hand-press era and manuscripts ranging from the ancient to modern world. By the end of each workshop, participants will be able to accurately identify, interpret, and apply the core elements of rare book and/or manuscript cataloguing to produce records that meet professional standards, enabling them to effectively catalogue special collections materials within their current or future institutional environment. The deadline to apply is April 27, 2026. More information.

Slides shared from Bri Watson's Hot Topics keynote lecture
Assistant Professor Bri Watson has made the slides from the lecture Hot Takes: the Purpose of Research in a Melting World, presented at the Hot Topics: Smouldering Scholarship at FIMS on March 27, available for download. Download the pdf.


Awards & Accomplishments

Assistant Professor Luke Arnott is a recipient of a 2026 CAUT Dedicated Service Award in recognition of his work with UWOFA on behalf of contract faculty over the last 10 years. 

Assistant Professor Juan Andrés Bello has been nominated for the Barbara Sears Award for Best Visual Research by the Canadian Screen Awards. The nomination is for Professor Bello's work on Mafia: Most Wanted, a true crime documentary series (Crave-Bell Media). See the full list of CSA nominations.

John Kausch, PhD in LIS candidate, successfully defended his thesis titled A 21st Century Essay Towards A Real Character Language on March 20, 2026.

HIS PhD student Yetunde Owolabi received the Western Black Leadership University Experience (B.L.U.E.) certificate upon completion of the program.


Publications & Presentations

Anastazia Csegeny, PhD student in Media Studies, presented "Representing Criminality and Enlightenment Through Dante's Divine Comedy in the True Crime Graphic Novel," at the 8th Annual International Comparative Literature Conference, hosted by Louisiana State University, on March 28.

HIS PhD student Yetunde Owolabi presented her poster titled “From Theory to Practice: supporting equitable diabetes care for ACB population” at the Western B.L.U.E. showcase event, and published the following article:

Owolabi, Y. A., MacGregor, J. C. D., Canie, J., Mantler, T., & Wathen, C. N. (2026). Knowledge Mobilization Strategies for Intimate Partner Violence Research in Canada: A Mixed-Method Study. Journal of Family Violence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-026-01083-4

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase co-authored the following publication:

Esteve del Valle, M., Heinrich, A. & Quan-Haase, A. (2026). Introduction to special issue digital resilience within a hypermediated polycrisis. Media and Communication, 14, 12272. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.i499.

Associate Professor Sarah Smith will share her research at the DemocracyXChange 2026 (DXC26) workshop “Leveraging Culture to Strengthen Canada’s Global Power” at Université de l’Ontario Français on April 17.

D St-Amour, PhD Media Studies candidate, and Assistant Professor Bri Watson, co-authored a journal article titled "Building and sustaining the Homosaurus, an inclusive LGBTQ+ linked data vocabulary," published in Catalogue & Index on March 23.

Professor Watson also presented a paper titled "Queerness as Isochronicity" at the iConference Early Career Colloquium as well as at the Queer Bibliography Conference (March 12-14). Professor Watson is willing to share the presentation with anyone who wants more information on metadata and queerness.

Assistant Professor Tiara Sukhan authored an article titled "Reality TV is testing age-gap relationships - but the real issue runs deeper," published in The Conversation on March 31.


In the Media

Professor Alison Hearn was quoted in an article titled "Senate discusses Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy, TKMS partnership," published by the Gazette on March 19.

Angela Murphy, FIMS Winter 2026 Asper Fellow, was profiled in an article titled "Angela Murphy brings her experience in foreign journalism to Western," published by the Gazette on March 26.


News from the FIMS Grad Library

Upcoming Library Closures

Easter Weekend

Friday, April 3, 2026 - CLOSED
Saturday, April 4, 2026 - CLOSED

Intersession

The library will be closed from Sunday, April 12 to Sunday, May 3. Regular hours will resume Monday, May 4 at 10:00 AM. If you require access to the library during the intersession period, please email fimslib@uwo.ca to make arrangements.  

Upcoming Events at the Library

The FGL hosts workshops, lectures, and community events each term to support graduate teaching, learning, and research. Events are posted to our website (https://lib.fims.uwo.ca/events/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fimsgradlib/)

Professional Headshots

Back by popular demand, The FIMS Grad Library and Broadcast Services teams are delighted to offer complimentary, high-quality headshots to members of the FIMS Graduate community (students, faculty, and staff)! Whether you're graduating and aiming to spruce up your LinkedIn profile, or seeking to enhance your online professional presence, swing by the Library during specified days/times to have your photo taken by skilled professionals. No registration required; simply drop-in. First come, first served!

Tuesday, April 7th 1:00PM - 2:00PM
Friday, April 10th 1:00PM - 2:00PM

Next Issue

The FIMS Bulletin is your source for news, announcements, and events pertaining to FIMS graduate programs. Submissions from the FIMS community are always welcome and may be sent via e-mail to fims-communications@uwo.ca.

This is the final issue of the FIMS Bulletin for the Winter 2026 term. Over the Summer term, the Bulletin will be published once per month on the following days: May 13, June 10, July 8, August 5.