A Message from the Acting Dean

October 2025

Headshot of Susan KnabeDear FIMS alumni,

I am delighted to be able to update you on important changes here at FIMS. Dean Lisa Henderson’s term came to an end June 30, 2025, and I stepped into the role of Acting Dean in July, after serving for more than a decade as Associate Dean, Undergraduate.

I came into this role with a deep appreciation for the creativity, scholarship, and collaboration that make this Faculty unique. Over these past months, I have had the privilege of seeing that spirit in action from a new perspective, and I am proud of the momentum we are carrying forward together during this period of transition.

Some of the important initiatives that I have recently had the honour to see to their completion, but which were initiated before I took on the Acting Dean role, include the celebration of our very first FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence recipient, Brodie Fenlon (MAJ’99), Editor in Chief of CBC News. In addition to the official awards dinner, Brodie and his family joined other FIMS alum for a reception in the FIMS and Nursing Building prior to the football game on Homecoming Saturday. Also in attendance at that alumni reception was Angela Murphy (MAJ’88), currently the Foreign Editor at the Globe. Angela is our incoming Winter 2026 FIMS Asper Fellow and will be taking up her position in January when she will be teaching a very topical course tackling reporting on Canada/US relations.

Other initiatives, such as our recent annual MACS career conference build on our strong and ongoing relationship with alumni. This year’s conference, themed Careerchella, featured 14 alumni as speakers. These speakers delivered keynotes, breakout sessions, and took part in a dinner and networking opportunity with over 100 FIMS undergraduate students in attendance.

Within the wider university landscape, Western has launched its All in Campaign, with pillars that speak directly to the challenges and opportunities of our time.

I see deep resonances between FIMS’ work and many of these priorities, and part of my role this year will be to articulate how research and teaching at FIMS support these initiatives. For instance:

In Navigating New Realities, we interrogate how media, technology, and information ecosystems are reshaped by AI, climate change, inequality, and evolving public discourse.

Through Preparing Future Leaders & Global Citizens, FIMS plays a critical role: our students learn to question, communicate, and respond to rapidly shifting cultural and media landscapes.

And though the connection may be less obvious, Optimizing Health for All also touches us — in the communication, accessibility, representation, and equity dimensions embedded in media, digital health and public health discourse.


As FIMS, we contribute to these goals through our teaching, our interdisciplinary collaborations, and our scholarship. Over the coming months, we will bring our media and information lens into the heart of these campaign initiatives, foregrounding our unique contributions.

Thank you for your ongoing support of FIMS, and for the many ways you continue to enrich our community through your engagement as mentors, as ambassadors and as partners in our scholarly and outreach activities.

Take care,

Susan Knabe

Acting Dean, Faculty of Information and Media Studies