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Steve Cordes Announced as Guest Instructor for SASAH's 4th-Year Capstone Seminar, 2024-2025 |
SASAH is pleased to announce Steve Cordes, CEO of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, as the guest instructor for our fourth-year capstone seminar. The capstone course component, called Understanding and Addressing Youth Homelessness in London, Ontario, will provide a comprehensive exploration of youth homelessness while fostering community engagement between students, youth and housing advocates, and youth experiencing homelessness.
Each week, SASAH students will participate in dialogues, practical activities, and field work visits that may challenge their assumptions while also empowering them to contribute meaningfully to solutions in their local context. The culminating project for the course will be short, collaborative video documentaries that share stories of local youth experiencing homelessness.
Steve Cordes is a graduate of Western University (Hons BA – Sociology, 1984) and resides in London with his wife, Connie. His dedication to youth empowerment and community development serves as an inspiration to all who know him. As a visionary leader with a remarkable 40-year tenure at Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), Steve has been instrumental in the organization’s growth and success. Under his guidance, YOU has evolved from its humble beginnings in a social service incubator to become a prominent non-profit organization. With seven locations, three social enterprises, over 120 staff members, and a network of community partners, YOU has become a beacon of hope for youth in need.
Steve’s leadership has been pivotal in shaping YOU into an internationally respected organization in the field of youth services. His unwavering commitment to meeting the needs of youth, rather than conforming to existing systems, has been a driving force behind YOU's innovative approach. Under his leadership, YOU is a highly regarded and emulated organization offering a unique integrated framework of programs that include emergency shelter, transitional housing, employment and training, all focused on helping youth.
Steve is known for his infectious enthusiasm and unwavering commitment to meeting the needs of youth. He believes in creating systems that prioritize the well-being and success of young people, rather than forcing them to fit into a predetermined framework. “I am thrilled that Steve Cordes will be working with our students this term,” states Dr. Aara Suksi, Director of SASAH and co-instructor with Steve for this seminar, adding, “I can think of no better model for leadership in building compassionate, effective, and youth-centered support services. He has the experience and expertise to offer our students truly community-engaged learning.” |
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Great (and very cute) Tidings!
A few newsletters back, we were able to share delightful news about the wedding of SASAH alumni Victoria Burnett and Jill O’Craven.
To start 2025, we are thrilled to offer warm congratulations to alumnia Sarah Graham-Shaughnessy on the birth of her beautiful daughter. Sarah is currently taking a little break from her PhD in Classics at the University of Toronto to get this small person started in the world. Here's the text from Sarah's recent Facebook announcement:
"Introducing Elara Rose Graham! Our healthy baby girl was born November 14th at 1:50pm weighing 10lbs 6oz and measuring 21.5 inches long." |
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Theatre Western's Little Women: 2024 video recording
Remember all that December snowfall? Unfortunately, two of the three performances for Theatre Western's adaptation of Little Women were cancelled due to weather. Thankfully, they've made a full recording of the performance available. Congratulations to SASAH Director Hannah Teicher, and all the cast and crew! Image courtesy @theatrewestern |
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Luke Stark: "Animation and Artificial Intelligence: Further Questions" January 27, 4PM FNB 2210 and via Zoom
Luke Stark (FIMS) discusses his 2024 article, " Animation and Artificial Intelligence." He proposes that ChatGPT and similar chatbots powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) can be best understood as animated characters—which can help us respond appropriately to AI and the hyperbolic claims of their promoters. |
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2025 Duncanson Lecture: Come With Me Inside a Black Hole Carlo Rovelli January 30, 5-7PM
A New York Times bestselling author, Carlo Rovelli will guide attendees on a trip towards and into a black hole, illustrating what we know and what we do not know about these strange objects. |
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SATELLiTE on Pause
The SATELLiTE partnership between Western University and Fanshawe College hopes to return in Fall 2025: "Thank you to all of the members of our community, artists, students, and faculty that have been involved with Satellite since 2015. The collaboration from all of the partner organizations over these nine years has been vital to the growth of emerging artists in our city and provided a unique exploratory space for projects and collaborative study. |
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Miss our Law Alumni or Arts & Humanities Career Panels?
We invited eight recent SASAH alum to speak with arts and humanities students about their undergraduate journeys and what came after: Misha Apel, Meg Cormack, Lauren Cowell, and Celine Tsang spoke on our Law Alumni Panel; Julia Campbell, Amber Carroll, Andrew Fullerton, and Dessa Hayes spoke on our Careers panel. Contact sasah@uwo.ca to access these recordings! |
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Events Around the SASAH Community
Dept. of Visual Arts - ArtLab Gallery, January 9, 6-8PM
Metropolitan United Church, January 9-11, 7PM
Good Sport Gallery, January 10, 7-9PM
The Palace Theatre, January 10-12
Westland Gallery, Saturday, January 11, 1-3PM
Museum London, Sunday, January 12, 2-3PM (Zoom webinar)
TAP Centre for Creativity, Monday, January 13, 6-9PM
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The School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH) offers an enriched undergraduate learning experience that is unique in Canada. Students gain practical experience in many career fields in a range of sectors—including arts and culture, non-profit, for-profit, education, and information technology—and undertake opportunities in the London community and beyond. We are grateful for our community: our students and alumni, our teaching fellows, our valued Advisory Council, our community partners and our supporters.
SASAH acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Chonnonton Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. With this, we respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service.
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