December News at the College of Arts

Check out what our faculty at the College of Arts have been up this December 2024!

From exciting projects to new publications, read more about their work and connect with us to learn more about the College of Arts.

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School of Creative Arts

• Marcel Casarini, Assistant Professor, Media Arts – This year, Marcel released a book titled Level Design and Architecture: Space and Digital Environment (Level Design e Arquitetura: Espaco e Ambiente Digital), published by Senac in Brazil. The book is available in both digital and hard copy formats throughout the country. Publisher: Senac Release Date: Aug/24.

• Associate Professor, Visual Arts, Shel Stefan, was recently involved in a number of initiatives:

1. They presented their work in a two-person art exhibition at the Museum of the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The exhibition, entitled They, They, & It: Reflections on Trans Identity, ran from April 11, 2024 – July 5, 2024, and drew upwards of 1000 visitors to the museum in support of the work. Stefan featured two series of works in the show: Self Portraits, a set of 6 life-size acrylic paintings on panel, and Gargolla, a series of 10 clay, wood, and wire sculptures. One of their paintings was also featured in The Georgia Straight Newspaper 2024.
2. Their exhibition, work, and research were featured in The Source Newspaper: 2024 The Source, “They, They, & It”. Exploring the Deep Connection Between Italian and Transgender Identity, Curtis Seufert, Volume 24, Issue 21, May 28-June 11, 2024.
3. They were a panelist on June 21, 2024 for the Queer Discussion Panel: Safe and Inclusive Spaces for LGBTQ2SIA+ at the Museum of the Italian Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC.
4. They exhibited their work in the 2023 Fraser Valley Biennial, a group art exhibition which toured several regional galleries and museums from May 30, 2023 – September 30, 2023. Stefan’s drawings were featured in shows at four of the FV Biennial venues: the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, the Langley Arts Council Gallery, the Chilliwack Cultural Centre Gallery, and the Ranger Station Harrison Arts Council Gallery.
5. Their work was featured in the Fraser Valley Biennial in two publications: 2023 The Chilliwack Progress, Artists Explore Human Body in Fraser Valley Biennial Show, Jenna Hauck, Nov 1, 2023, and 2023 Preview Art Magazine, 2023 Fraser Valley Biennial, Michael Turner, Feb-March 2023.
6. They collaborated in two interactions of their live art performance entitled Drawing, Tending, Tying: An Art and Rope Experiment. In October 2023, Drawing, Tending, Tying 2: An Art and Rope Experiment was performed at the opening ceremonies of Unabashed in Denver, Colorado, USA. In May 2024 Drawing, Tending, Tying 3: An Art and Rope Experiment was performed at Diva’s Den in Vancouver, BC.
7. They also had one of their paintings featured in & Magazine: 2023 & Magazine #2, She Rope Re-Members Rosemary, Image Feature, Maine College of Arts & Design
8. They were also interviewed by Maine College of Art & Design.

 

Criminology & Criminal Justice

• Associate Professors, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Dr. Zina Lee and Dr. Irwin Cohen, report on the remediation of residential homes used in drug production was cited in a Vancouver Sun article.
• Assistant Professor, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Mark Kersten, was interview by CBC News in an article called Indigenous leaders praise report on Canada’s ‘disappeared’ residential school children. The article features Kimberly Murray’s research about abuse of children at residential schools.
• Assistant Professor, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Dr. Mark Kersten, was invited to speak at the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee on Canada, recognizing Palestinian statehood.
• Professor Emeritus Mr. Yvon Dandurand co-authored an article on children whose parents are in conflict with the law. Capp, M., & Dandurand, Y. (2024). Supporting children whose parents are in conflict with the law through the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Honoring the legacy of Hon. Landon Pearson. The Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights, 11(1), 15-37.

Political Science

• Assistant Professor, Noah S. Schwartz, wrote a research article called “Grandpa Joe’s hunting rifle: morality policy framing in Canadian Parliament”. Policy Sciences (2024): 1-16. The paper was completed with the help of a Work Study Grant, and the hard work of his student Claire Kitsul (a POSC major).
• Assistant Professor, Political Science, Noah Schwartz, was interviewed by CTV Your Morning show in November about his research with police & community groups on gun violence in Canada.

May to November News at the College of Arts

Check out what our faculty at the College of Arts have been up to from May to November 2024!

From exciting projects to new publications, read more about their work and connect with us to learn more about the College of Arts.

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💼 Follow us on LinkedIn

📥 Subscribe to our Arts Newsletter

Philosophy

• Philosophy Associate Professor Dr. Glen Baier presented at the 2024 Friedrich Nietzsche Society conference at the University of Verona, in Verona, Italy. It was entitled “Nietzsche in the Anthropocene” and it ran from July 25-27. Dr Glen presented a paper entitled “Sin, Alienation, and Tragic Art. The Problem of Nature in Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy”.

 

• In August 2024, UFV student Nicky Whitehouse gave a presentation at the 25th World Congress of Philosophy in Rome along with co-authors UFV Philosophy faculty member Anastasia Anderson and Abbotsford School District teachers (and UFV alumni) Elizabeth Wilson and Karla Toro-Chacon (in absentia). The co-authors’ research was inspired by their work in philosophy for children through the UFV Philosophy department and UFV Centre for Philosophy for Children and their experiences with the Thinking Playground summer camps. The 25th World Congress of Philosophy had approximately 5000 attendees from all over the world and showcased presentations on a wide range of philosophical topics.

 

English

• English Associate Professor Dr. Alex Wetmore presented a paper titled “Springs of Emotion” at the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studiesin Fall 2023, on figurative allusions to spring-regulated clockwork mechanisms in sentimental literature, related to his current book project on the intersections of emotion, literature and technology, 1660-1830.

 

• English sessional instructor Dr. Carl Peters will be presenting two papers at the MLA in New Orleans: “Poe Dies on Netflix: Life Is a Narrative & The Crisis of Narration: The Tell-Tale Heart” (sponsored by Poe Studies Association) and another on contingency: “Art & Fear: Reflection on Self-Recognition, Disillusioned Maturity, and Moral Steadfastness in the Midst of a Bad Situation” (sponsored by MLA Committee on Contingent Labor in the Profession). The MLA also accepted for publication “I Wanted to Teach a Poem,” to be included in a book on William Carlos Williams: Approaches to Teaching the Poetry and Prose of William Carlos Williams, published by the MLA scheduled for 2025.

 

• Fraser Valley Writers’ Festival took place November 1-2 in Evered Hall. We welcomed Angela Sterritt and Billy-Ray Belcourt as keynote speakers, with panel discussions and workshops led by important Canadian authors offered to students and the public free of charge.

 

Modern Languages

• Spanish Associate Professor Maria de Luna presented in two conferences. The first one was “A 2900 Millas de Distancia: Voces de Migrantes Temporales en un Mundo de Fronteras Lingüísticas.” – Paper presented at Lengua, Identidad y Racismo: un Enfoque Lingüístico/Language, Identity and Racismo: a Linguistic Approach, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. The second one was “Identidad, Tradición y Creatividad: Integrando la Cultura Popular en la Enseñanza del Español LE/L2/LH.” – Workshop presented at 34th Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Para la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera (ASELE), Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

• The Head of the Department of Modern Languages, Dr. Molleen Shilliday, presented their work in two occasions. The first one was called “Trauma Based Adaptations.” APFUCC ((l’Association des professeur.e.s de français des universités et collèges canadiens) Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Montréal, June 2024. The second presentation was called “Extreme Adaptations”, presented at 58^thannual Comparative Literature Conference at California State Long Beach. April 2024.

 

Political Science

• Political Science Associate Professor Dr. Edward Akuffo accepted an invitation to appear as an expert witness in front of  the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade for its study on Canada’s engagement and interests in Africa on October 2, 2024.

 

• Dr. Akuffo was featured in University Affairs magazine, where he discussed how his passion for global politics has inspired innovative approaches to international relations. The article explores his work in bridging the gap between Canada and Africa, and his efforts to foster new dialogues in diplomacy and conflict resolution.

 

Criminology and Criminal Justice

• Associate Professor Dr.  Carlos Ponce co-authored an article on drug policy. Bouchard, M., & Ponce, C. (in press). Structuring adaptations: Resilience, restrictive deterrence, and the Cunningham precursor control papers. International Journal of Drug Policy.

 

• Associate Professor Dr. Carlos Ponce presented at a webinar on July 30, 2024 by the American Chamber of Commerce in El Salvador, “Prospective Security Analysis: Exploring Potential Crime Scenarios in El Salvador.”

 

• Professor Emeritus Yvon Dandurand was a keynote speaker at the Borderlands of Criminal Law Conference held at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law. Mr. Dandurand spoke on “The Future of International Cooperation in Criminal Matters” on June 20, 2024.

 

• Professor Emeritus Yvon Dandurand co-authored an article on the treatment of child victims and witnesses. Le, D. H. T., & Dandurand, Y. (in press). Improving the treatment of child victims and witnesses of crime in the Vietnamese justice system: Unfinished reforms. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law.

 

• Professor Emeritus Yvon Dandurand presented on September 25, 2024 to the Eastern Caribbean Development Partners’ Group Meeting on Citizen Security, “Crime Prevention and Response Interventions in CARICOM Countries: A Gap Analysis on Behalf of Global Affairs Canada.”

 

Graphic and Digital Design

• The Graphic and Digital Design (GDD) department and Assistant Professor Trevor Embury host a public seminar series called Counterforms – Practices, Theories, and Methods, happening on Wednesday, October 9^th at 6-8pm – UFV Abbotsford, Room C1422. The initiative invites students to explore the complexities of design across its various modalities, from practice and activism to discipline and ways of knowing, and beyond.

 

Psychology

• Psychology Assistant Professors Drs. Valentina Proietti and Shawn Geniole co-authored an article entitled “Testosterone rapidly increases men’s emotion-based dehumanization of a conservatively dressed woman” in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

 

• Psychology Assistant Professor Dr. Shawn Geniole and his honours thesis student, Shelby Shuster, and other students (Witzel, A; Buhler, T) published Shelby’s honours thesis on Women’s sensitivity to threat in online dating and the (in)effectiveness of standard safety warnings Dr. Geniole and Shelby were interviewed by PsyPost about their work on how threat influences decision-making in online dating.

 

Social Justice

• Dr. Geetanjali Gill, Associate Professor Global Development Studies, published an article called “Centring intersectionality and decolonisation in an online undergraduate gender and development course in Canada”, Development in Practice Journal Special Issue: The Future of Teaching Gender and Development.

 

• Dr. Geetanjali Gill, Associate Professor Global Development Studies, presented in the following conferences:
  • 1 -Photovoice: Aiming for Impact 2024 Conference, Photovoice Worldwide, Oct. 17, 2024. Presentation title: “Photovoice with youth in Mali and Senegal for research on youth agency and empowerment, evaluation, and advocacy”;
  • 2 – New Frontiers in Research Fund Midterm Forum, Sept. 12-13, 2024. Presentation title: “Impact, Knowledge Dissemination and Institutionalizing Change: Participatory Action Research with female sex-trafficking survivors living with HIV/AIDS in Nepal: Addressing intersectional gender oppression and advocating for well-being and inclusion”;
  • 3 – Featured speaker at: Pathways to Gender Equality Conference, SPUR Change, Inter-Council Network, and Government of Canada, Ottawa, Nov. 7, 2024. Presentation title: “Small Steps, Big Results: small and medium organizations advancing gender equality.”

 

• Chelsea Klassen, Global Development Studies Sessional Instructor, presented at UK Development Studies Association 2024 Conference, June 26, 2024. Presentation title: “’Bad Girls’: Using the aspiration cycle of women’s sports in Afghanistan (and beyond)”. Her presentation was also highlighted in the DSA’s article, “Social Justice in Many forms at DSA 2024.”

 

• Chelsea Klassen was a guest lecturer at WJ Mouat Social Justice 12 class on Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, 2024. GDS 100 students are also virtually making presentations on different global conflicts to the Social Justice 12 students.

 

School of Creative Arts

• The School of Creative Arts (SOCA) featured an exhibition called Portals into Nature on the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery. This is a group exhibition exploring the evolving relationship between humans and nature. Through sculpture, photography, and mixed media, the artists reflect on transition, transformation, and the passage of time. Each piece acts as a portal into overlooked or forgotten moments, bridging the gap between urban life and nature. Featuring works by Megan Ali, Jacqueline Pan, Devin Pigeau, Yukun Lin, Cobi Timmermans, Arty Urdabayev, and Ruby Woo, and curated by SoCA student Megan Ali and recent graduate Yukun Lin.

 

• Presented by the UFV SOCA Acting and Production Classes, The Paper Bag Princess is based on the popular and beloved children’s book, The Paper Bag Princess © 1980 Bob Munsch Enterprises Ltd (text) and Michael Martchenko (art), published by Annick Press. This production was built in partnership with the Chilliwack Cultural Centre, that is hosting a few performances in their Rotary Hall Studio Theatre.

 

Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub

• UFV Changemaking debuts at Community Showcase – UFV debuted its changemaking efforts at the celebration of St’elt’elawtexw, the university’s annual community report. The Community Health and Social Innovation Hub supported these efforts, with students speaking with community members about what changemaking meant to them. These responses were brought together in a beautiful graphic recording capturing the evening’s discussions artistically.

 

• CHASI research shows VisionQuest program reduces criminal recidivism by 55% – A new report from CHASI looks at VisionQuest‘s substance use treatment program in Logan Lake, B.C. The report, prepared by Dr. Darryl Plecas, Dr. Martha Dow, and Chelsea Klassen, MA, found that the program demonstrated capacity to reduce collective crimes committed by 55%, and suggests that the VisionQuest program has the potential to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous individuals in the criminal justice system.

 

Social, Cultural, & Media Studies

• Dr. Beaulieu presented Reconciliation in Action Award – On September 24, Dr. Sarah Beaulieu, a UFV SCMS assistant professor and CHASI Faculty Associate, was honoured with the Reconciliation in Action award at the DIVERSEcity Awards of Impact in Surrey. Her ongoing work supporting Indigenous communities in their search for unmarked graves has led to international attention on the history of Canada’s Indian Residential School system.