Dear Colleagues,
To kick off the first newsletter for 2022, a bit of a change for this month’s Dean’s Message.
I recently read some student feedback regarding a faculty member who wishes to remain anonymous. I was so touched by the profound impact the professor has had on this international student’s life, I would like to share the note in its entirety. While the note is specific in its details, the sentiment is a common one at Seneca. Our students often remark on the incredible support they receive from our faculty.
In the professor’s words, the note “reinforced how we can positively influence, coach, and guide students to succeed - especially, when we reach out to the underperforming students. It made a big difference to this student - at midterm, her performance was below standard.”
I hope you find this letter as inspiring as I have. Stay well and stay safe.
Dear Professor _____
When I look back at where I started in September and see how far I have come, I feel blissful. While I am anxiously awaiting the result tomorrow, I am happy knowing that whatever the result might be, I have learnt SO SO SO much over the last few months. Not just concepts and their application, but also how to basically live in a whole new country!
Professor, you have played a very important role in helping me grow as a person. With your abundance of knowledge and constant willingness to help, I have benefitted massively and would not be here without you. Thank you for the innumerable calls and constant back and forth you had with me for all projects. It means a lot to me to know that I can trust and depend on you for not just education related things but also for matters related to life! You have always been so positive and pushed me to do better with in-depth feedback. Professor, you have helped me beyond words can explain.
I take comfort in knowing that I can always reach out to you for guidance. You have been the greatest mentor anyone could ask for, and I will continue to think of you as my mentor and guide throughout life. I look forward to meeting you soon.
Wishing you and your family happy holidays, a merry Christmas and the happiest New Year!
Eternally Grateful,
Your Mentee, ____"
Six months ago, a new program was launched in our Faculty, the Inclusive Design for Business. The program teaches students the necessary skills for bringing accessible solutions to the workplace, focusing on finding points of exclusion and developing solutions for them. The program has been met with great success in its inaugural semester.
Recently, the CBC featured Seneca Professor Donna Saccutelli in an article about the importance of inclusivity in business. Saccutelli helped launch the Inclusive Design for Business program. The article focuses on the recent introduction of braille to Purdy’s Chocolates packaging. While this an improvement towards accessibility, there is still a long way to go.
There has been a lack of awareness in companies with decisions when it comes to accessibility,” said Saccutelli.
The Inclusive Design for Business program is paving the way for more progress.
Kudos to Seneca graduates who have been nominated for Visual Effects Society Awards (VES)! VES is the top visual effects industry association in the world. The event is to celebrate the people behind the outstanding visual effects and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games.
Mark Hammond (VFT 2012) was nominated for his work on the Guillermo del Toro directed feature film Nightmare Alley for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.
Jeremie Maheu (VFT 2013) and Karthic Ramesh (VFT 2014) were nominated in the Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Feature category, for working on the Marvel hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - Macau City Sequence.
Zac Campbell (VFT 2005) was also nominated in the Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Feature category for his work on Spider-Man: No Way Home - Liberty Island Battle and Christmas Swing Finale Sequence.
Congratulations to all the nominees and Seneca wishes you all the best on March 8 when the awards are announced!
Seneca Illustration Professor Dr. JoAnn Purcell recently contributed to two books being released this month: Key Terms in Comics Studies and Graphic Medicine. Both books are focused on comics through an academic lens.
Key Terms in Comics is an annotated and indexed glossary of over 300 terms and critical concepts currently used in the academic study of comics – the first of its kind in this growing area of academic study.
After creating excellent collegial contacts at a comics studies conference a few years ago, Purcell was approached to contribute entries in her fields of expertise. These include: disability, disability studies, illness, ethics, collaboration, autographics and pathographics.
Comics studies has been around for about 25 years but has expanded more recently as an area of academic and artistic inquiry, housed in academia within illustration, media studies, history, literature or other art and design areas,” said Purcell.
Graphic Medicine is a collection of essays and autobiographical comics that explore lived experiences of illness and disability. Her essay is a hybrid essay which combines autobiography, theory and comics and illuminates a revised philosophy of collaboration with her daughter Simone, born with the genetic difference Down syndrome. The book would like to shift the perceptions and representations of illness and disability as an experience of changed living, rather than the narrative of treatment, recovery, and returning to “normal life.”
Purcell is the founding co-ordinator of the Illustration diploma and professor in the Illustration program.
Key Terms in Comics will be available in the Seneca Library soon. If you’d like to learn more about Key Terms in Comics, click the link below.
Graphic Medicine will be launching in June in Finland and in July in Chicago.
If you'd like to learn more about Graphic Medicine, click the link below.
Congratulations to School of Fashion Professor Sabine Weber for her interview by Forward Fashion Magazine! In the article, Academic Leader in Fashion Textile Recycling Answers Your Questions on Textile Waste, Dr. Weber discusses why people need to be conscious of minimizing textile waste in landfills and how Canada is handling textile recycling.
You can view the full article below:
Seneca grad students from the Animation program premiered their leicas on livestream this past December. Leicas (animatics) are film storyboards that are pieced together using animated stills, sound effects, voice narration (if needed), and music to tell a story.
During the livestream, the production teams discussed the behind-the-scenes of each leica. They covered early character designs, inspirations, story concepts and more!
Leicas Premiered:
Laundromonster by: Mikayla, Emma, Anthony, Kristen, Young, Julia, Alex, Shayla and Valerie
Sihk Fan by: Jamie, Bree, Arruni, Mario, Courtney, Caroline and Rangi
Ursa by: Ellie, Leslie, Amy, Hazel, Miranda, Catherine, Vincent, Constant and Jhanine
Slay it, Son by: Lucas, Kennedi, Grace, Althea, Ben, Griffin, Jo, Anthony and Helena
Seneca recently hosted an exciting and informational online seminar in partnership with the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). The Misinfo 101: How to Identify & Report Misinformation workshop was led by the award-winning ProPublica’s journalist and author, Craig Silverman.
Seneca Journalism professor Paula Todd, who introduced the event, said fact-checking is part of journalism’s future.
The more false content surges online, the more essential post-publication fact-checking becomes. That can mean new jobs for journalists who are passionate about correcting the public record,” said Todd, who teaches fact-checking techniques in her courses.
Silverman urged everyone to increase their critical thinking skills, and exercise caution because innocently shared false information can be just as dangerous. The Canadian journalist also demonstrated simple computer programs and ‘reverse-image’ searches that quickly identify false content, including old photographs being circulated as new events.
For aspiring journalists, this two-hour workshop provided tools of the trade on how to quickly identify and report misinformation. These strategies and knowledge were developed by top Canadian investigative journalists and researchers. Online attendees immersed themselves with in-depth learnings on how to fact-check and the ethical considerations when reporting on misinformation.
Battling online lies, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories — and other disinformation intended to harm — is hard, but crucial, said CAJ President Brent Jolly.
“While today's digital ecosystem is absolutely flooded with ideas and information, we must acknowledge that not all 'information' is created equal," Jolly said. "Bad actors online don't seek to inform, but rather, to prey on biases and peddle in conspiracy theories that have a marked impact on how we operate and organize as a society. That’s why these training sessions are designed to give post-secondary students the tools, resources, and practical advice they need to sharpen their critical thinking skills to find credible and accurate information online.”
FCAD is thrilled to announce the first awarded applied research grant for 2022!
Dr. Reid Kerr (FASET/SDDS, FCAD/Marketing) will be leading a team of Research Assistants from the School of Software Design & Data Science for Audiit. Audiit Business Solutions Corp. (a ventureLAB company) provides data-oriented project management solutions for organizations with complex infrastructure requirements (e.g. Aecon, Ontario Power Generation, etc.). Dr. Kerr and the Research Assistants will be developing and implementing machine learning methods to enhance Audiit’s software. This will provide Audiit’s customers with advanced machine learning data analysis tools for project performance improvement.
The project will be funded by a combined NSERC-OCI Voucher for Innovation and Productivity grant.
Congratulations to the research team and to Andrew Paton, Research Manager, who led the proposal development!
School of Media Professor David Turnbull will be leaving Seneca on January 31. He had many adventures around the world whilst representing Seneca. From Hobart, Australia to Budapest, Hungary, Turnbull has collected many memories and stories over his lifetime. He had the pleasure of teaching many students whose lives have been impacted positively.
Here is an excerpt from his goodbye letter:
It’s been a wonderful time. I’ve represented Seneca in 20 countries, some I got to visit several times.
And, once when I was in Helsinki, I received a personal visit at the hotel inviting me to lunch the next day in Talinn, Estonia to meet with a government minister to talk about public relations. So, the next day I walked across the road to a private government helicopter, took the 20 minute flight across the Baltic Sea to Talinn, where I was greeted by a chauffeur and an aide, and driven to a restaurant to meet the minister. We had a delightful lunch discussing public relations, and one of his assistants showed me around the spectacular city for a while afterwards before taking me back to the private helicopter. To this day I am confused by that event, thinking they must have confused me with someone very important. I might add, that at no time did I try to convince them otherwise.
I’ve taught 3 doctors, 3 police officers, 1 firefighter, 6 nurses, 2 professors, 2 disbarred lawyers, Lady Gaga’s dancer, 1 somewhat famous Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback who asked professors not to raise their voices because it upset him, a student who was probably the son of a very famous African politician, 2 opera singers, 1 reasonably famous actor, 1 star Bollywood dancer, and 1 student who discovered they had been in the wrong program when they received their invitation to graduate. And a couple thousand other ones who provided me with energy, fulfilment and joy almost every day. And, dozens that I continue to meet for coffee, career discussions, and philosophical explorations regularly.
We are so excited to welcome Lillian Chan as a new full-time faculty member, teaching in the Animation program!
In addition to her teaching at Seneca the last several years, Lillian has spent her career as a sought-after animation filmmaker and creative director for over 15 years. From auteur films to educational pieces, multi-disciplinary works, and independent features, Lillian’s work is deeply involved in the creative process. Her recent work includes her role as creator for Yumi and Boom, an episodic VR prototype for the CFC Medialab that occurred in partnership with Seneca. Her Master’s thesis explored the use of cozy games and character-driven story worlds in designing effect tools for voice therapy for children.
We’re very lucky to have Lillian a part of our full-time team in Animation this year. You can see her full range of work below:
Leadership & Employee Development activities:
- Explore learning events, including Just Breathe, Outlook Desktop: Tips and Tricks and Microsoft 365: Tips and Tricks
- Learn different ways to stay healthy this winter
More information can be found on the Leadership & Employee Development space.
The Teaching & Learning Centre activities and faculty resources:
- Online learning modules are available, including Managing Expectations in a Virtual Course and Communication in Online Courses
- Explore ways to incorporate icebreakers, energizers and closers into your courses
- Learn about the different web-conferencing platforms available to all faculty
- Register for Developing Online Materials beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 1, and FunFlex – Fundamentals of Flexible Course Design and Delivery beginning on Friday, Feb. 7
More information is available on the Teaching & Learning Centre space.
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