I hope your week is unfolding well, and that you’ve been able to deal with the upcoming winter. On December 5th, Massey/Munk Global Scholar Timothy Synder will lead a discussion on ‘What’s Next?’ after the American election.
Also, in anticipation of our upcoming Winter Gaudy, I’m pleased to let you know that we are opening up submissions for our annual literary competition (winners to be announced and recited at the Gaudy itself). Members of the community are invited to indulge in a bit of creativity and whimsy to celebrate the season of fellowship and goodwill.
You can enter either or both of the categories: Limerick or Haiku. The subject should be an aspect of college or academic life.
For rules and other details click here.
A reminder that we are also accepting nominations for New Senior Members, 2025 Clarkson Laureates AND new members of the Finance and Audit Committee.
RSVP for the last two High Tables of the term: Pride High Table and Junior Fellow High Table (the Junior Fellows welcome all community members to this event).
THE JCR PODCAST – The Narrative Battlefield: Russian Disinformation in the War in Ukraine
In latest episode Junior Fellow Robbie Steele speaks with Haley Forgacs, a recent Massey alumna and a graduate of the Master’s in European and Russian Affairs at the Munk School of Global Affairs, about her research into the Russian disinformation in the war in Ukraine. They discuss how Russia’s disinformation narratives draw on long histories of Russian cultural memory and identity formation to support the Kremlin’s imperialist aims in Ukraine. You can find the episode here and on your favourite podcast platform.
NOVEMBER PROGRAMMING
Wednesday, November 20 (5:00pm) | Massey Dialogues – The Pursuit of Equity in International Higher Education
Intuitions of higher learning such as colleges and universities are essential to deepen our understanding of the world. For decades, the pursuit of higher education at the most prestigious universities often meant that people from the global south would travel to the global north to receive an education. We will speak with a panel of experts: Senior Fellow Edith Hillan and Ian Graham (Board Chair) of Academics Without Borders and alum Nataliya Machalina in conversation with Junior Fellow Alison D’Cruz to answer crucial questions around approaches, knowledge sharing, equity and more.
As a personal note, I spent over 10 years on the Board of Directors of Academics without Borders/ Universitaires Sans Frontières and deeply believe in their mission to help universities and colleges in developing nations – by providing expertise in the areas that these institutions request. Senior Fellow and Governing Board member Edith Hillan has recently returned from an AWB/USF project in Rwanda.
Wednesday, November 20 (6:30pm) | Alumni Dinner (2005-2014 cohort)
All Massey community members are welcome. RSVP.
Join the reception in the JCR at 6:00 pm.
Save the date for the 1985-1994 cohort dinner on January 22.
Thursday, November 21 (2:00-6:00pm) | Ursula Franklin Forum and reception – History and Aspirations for Science and Engineering within Massey – Curating Ursula Franklin’s Vision into the Future
The forum will engage fellows and visitors alike to consider the aspirations for future activities around science, engineering and policy. The panel discussion will feature Senior Fellow Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Alum Julie Payette and myself with Junior Fellows: Mohaddeseh Abdolhosseini, Alec Krawciw and David Li followed by a new innovation – the UFF poster session for Massey. The session will be informal and fun with refreshments provided! Review details and RSVP.
Sunday, November 24 (5:00pm) | Environmental Film Screening with Environmentalist-in-Residence Sir Graham Watson
This week’s film will be ‘2040: an exercise in fact-based dreaming’ by Damon Gameau (92 minutes).
Described as “an exercise in fact-based dreaming” the film is structured as a letter to his daughter whereby Gameau travels around the world investigating numerous solutions that can contribute towards climate mitigation and imagining what a future would be like where they have been implemented at scale. All are welcome. RSVP.
Monday, November 25 (8:00pm) | Junior Fellow Lecture Series on Ethics
Hear from Junior Fellows on the following subjects:
- Aidan Mitchell-Boudreau – Beyond Borders: Canadian and International Legal Responses to Non-Consensual Disclosure of Intimate Images
- Sourojeet Chakraborty – On Tantra & Ethics: Recognizing the Self
- Yizhou Zhang – Between What Is and What Ought to Be: Crafting Truth and Playing Real in Documentary Theatre
Tuesday, November 26 (10:00am) | *NEW DATE* German Canadian Media Symposium: Covering the Middle East
In Western media, few subjects entail as many competing pressures and layers of complexity as coverage of the Middle East. At this transnational symposium, journalists from Canada and Germany will discuss the opportunities and limits of their respective approaches and what it would take to offer the fullest, most accurate reflection of the current, widening conflict. Join us to hear from industry experts from both countries to discuss covering the Middle East in the newsroom and on the ground.
Saturday, November 30 | Cooking en français – French Programing at Massey
What are the holidays without our favourite festive foods? We’ll kick it up a notch just in time for the holidays to come together and explore some traditional franco-Canadian delights that are enjoyed especially during the holidays!
All levels of French are welcome. Visit our website for more information and to RSVP.
MASSEY PRIDE EVENTS
The Junior Fellows have organized a series of special events for the community in advance of our Pride High table this month. All are welcome to attend!
- November 21 (evening) – Ga(y)me Night
- Drop by, have a snack, and play Codenames, Mafia, or the infamous Dutch Blitz with your fellow queer JFs! The aim of this event is to create a safe space for Massey’s LGBTQ+ community to socialize in an informal setting. RSVP.
- November 22 (5:00pm) – LBGTQ+ Networking Mixer – open to all.
- November 22 (6:00pm) – Pride High Table – Join us for a fabulous night of food and community celebration. RSVP by Wednesday.
SAVE THE DATE – DECEMBER EVENTS
- Dec 2 – Book Club – White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link. Presented by alum Keshna Sood. RSVP
- Dec 4 – Resilience Network Launch presented by our Chairs in Global Engagement Nurjehan Mawani and Human Rights Payam Akhavan in partnership with Equitas, Journalists for Human Rights and the Resilience Society. RSVP
- Dec 4 – Special film screening – The Nature of Healing RSVP
- Dec 5 – ‘What next?’, after the American Election? with Massey/Munk Global Scholar Timothy Snyder RSVP
- Dec 6 – Junior Fellow High Table – This is a High Table to celebrate the Junior Fellows. New for this year, the Junior Fellows would like to extend the invitation to all members of the Massey Community. RSVP
- Dec 7 – Winter Gaudy RSVP
- Dec 10 – Latkes & Learning: A pre-Chanukah Celebration RSVP
- Dec 12 – Senior Fellow Luncheon with Sarah Wolfe RSVP
COMMUNITY NEWS
AWARDS and APPOINTMENTS
Alum Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey’s book Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America, is being honoured with the 2024 Governor General’s History Award for Scholarly Research. Learn more about the 2024 recipients.
Congratulations Wendell!
NEWS
- Senior Fellow Anne-Emanuelle Birn has recently co-authored paper in BMJ. Read it here.
- Senior Fellow Sabreena Delhon was featured on the Social in advance of last week’s In Defence of Democracy event. Watch it here.
- A reminder that Senior Fellow Jeffrey Dvorkin is featured in a regular bi-weekly spot on “Headlines & Heartaches” on Trent Radio Monday 12:30-2:00pm. Listen online, here or on 92.7FM in the Peterborough – Nogojiwanong area.
- Senior Fellow and Governing Board Chair Akwasi Owusu-Bempah spoke to CBC about RCMP complaints. Watch it here.
- Senior Fellow Shoshanna Saxe was quoted inCTV regarding Toronto Bike Lanes, read it here.
- Senior Fellow Neil Seeman, and his colleague Jeff Ballabon have used a highly scalable method to detect subtle and structural bias in high-frequency contributors to certain Wikipedia pages. Information about the work was covered by the National Post, read about it here, with access to their process, methodology and full findings provided in GitHub for transparency and replicability for researchers across the world.
See you soon!
Jonathan
P.S. In case you missed it, watch or listen to the Ethics Series on Climate Change, Global Conflicts and Humanitarian Aid with Dr. James Orbinski, Junior Fellow Marianne Lahaie Luna and MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith on our YouTube Channel.
