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SASAH's 2026 Capstone Instructor is Dr. Rhonda Bathurst! |
Each year, students in SASAH's fourth-year Capstone course benefit from the expertise of an invited guest instructor. This industry professional leads the class in uniquely embedded and thoughtful activities within the community. SASAH is pleased to announce that the guest instructor for the January semester is Dr. Rhonda Bathurst, Executive Director of the Museum of Ontario Archaeology.
SASAH Director Manina Jones shares: "I’m excited that Dr. Rhonda Bathurst will be teaching the Winter term of the SASAH capstone course. During the Fall term, our class has had the opportunity to consider a variety of ways of telling the stories of the past, through field trips and guest speakers from various disciplines. In the Winter term, students have the opportunity to explore and re-imagine the role of the museum in 21st century."
Dr. Rhonda Bathurst leads the Museum of Ontario Archaeology (MOA), where she oversees community-centred programs connecting visitors, students, scholars, and Descendant communities with southern Ontario's cultural and natural heritage. Since becoming Executive Director in 2016, she has championed ethical stewardship practices, expanded institutional competencies, and prioritized community collaborations. Her interdisciplinary research spans ancient disease ecology to Virtual and Augmented Reality in archaeological interpretation, and she previously served as Project and Operations Manager for Western’s Sustainable Archaeology project (2009–2016).
The MOA has previously hosted SASAH classes, and Dr. Bathurst has found those interactions rewarding and fun – finding the students' inquisitive nature and enthusiastic insights enlightening. The capstone course offers an opportunity to deepen that engagement: working collaboratively with students on a project that will benefit both the museum and their professional development. |
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Epiphanies ProjectA collaborative exhibition by SASAH's Capstone ClassOpening Reception: December 3 in the Jim Good Boardroom (UC 3100)
Doors at 2:15, Speakers begin at 2:30 |
Epiphanies are sudden moments of realization, enlightenment, or shifts in perspective. This is also the title of a collaborative exhibition event organized by SASAH's fourth-year cohort for their Capstone group assignment. The students have solicited personal epiphanies from any person who has ever been to Western University or any of the affiliate campuses (Brescia, King’s, Huron). You can preview some of the submitted, anonymous statements on the Epiphanies Project's Instagram.
The opening reception for this event will be the first glimpse of the collected statements in one place. The afternoon will also feature guest speakers: Mary Lou Smoke is the current Indigenous Elder in Residence at Western University. She is an Anishinawbe from Batchawna Bay, which is located on beautiful Lake Superior where she was raised. Mary Lou shares her culture and wisdom through storytelling and songs. Trish Market is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Western and a historical archaeologist who examines place, memory and landscape in the generations following migration events. She will deliver the talk, "The Landscape in Six Stories: Memory, Archive and Ruin in D'Hanis, TX" as part of this opening reception event.
It is also very important to note that there will be food at this event. |
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Student Life: We All Have To SubmitFeaturing works by Fanshawe College + Western University students LAB 203, TAP Centre for Creativity
December 3 - 20, 2025
Opening reception Thursday December 4, 6PM - 9PM |
Join us for the opening reception of Student Life: We All Have to Submit this Thursday, Dec 4 from 6-9PM. All welcome!
Featuring work by Western University and Fanshawe College students, as a mobile project of SATELLiTE Project Space. Curated by Promise Chen, Ellie Smith, Steph Katchabaw, Alana Pielechaty, Maya Allison, Karam Bhuee, and Jasiah Tahrim. Student artwork takes on a wide variety of forms, styles, and concepts. Inevitably it is underlined by its context; the turbulent world that surrounds it. In a world that is uncertain and rapidly evolving, what does it mean to be a student? What does it mean to create art in the face of personal turmoil, climate cataclysms, and political upheaval? Through this exhibition, student artists seek to reconcile their creative existence with the demands of a greater world. You are invited to witness how these pieces, though different in origin and conceptualization, are in conversation with each other, academia, and the juxtaposition of stagnancy and chaos on the global stage. ​ |
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Now online: Kristen Case, "Thoreau's Temporal Imagination" If you missed it in person, you can now view the recording of Kristen Case discussing her recently published transcriptions of Henry David Thoreau's late-life natural history charts, as explored in her new book Henry David Thoreau's Kalendar. The talk foregrounds the ways that Thoreau's temporal creativity can help us reimagine our increasingly time-famished lives.
Kristen Case is a poet and scholar. In addition to Henry David Thoreau's Kalendar, she is the author of American Pragmatism and Poetic Practice: Crosscurrents from Emerson to Susan Howe and three books of poetry, most recently, Daphne. She lives in Maine, where she is executive director of The Monson Seminar, a residential program for Pell-eligible and first-generation college students.
Kristen was a guest of Professor Kate Stanley's first-year class, "Climate Conversations: Finding Common Ground for the 21st Century." The annual, interdisciplinary SASAH Speakers' Series invites nationally and internationally renowned leaders across the arts and humanities to discuss leading topics of concern. |
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Announcing Leanne Betasamosake Simpson for the 2026 Duncanson LectureSave the date! Thursday, March 12, 20265PM, Conron Hall |
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities and SASAH are deeply excited to announce that Leanne Betasamosake Simpson will be the 2026 Duncanson Lecturer. Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician, writer and academic. She is the author of eight books and a member of Alderville First Nation. Please stay tuned for more details and forthcoming registration information!
The Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture Series supports an annual lecture in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities offered through the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities. While the lecture is open to the entire University community, it is a key component of the SASAH Speakers’ Series and a vital part of our program’s curriculum. |
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Don't miss your exams! But just in case you do... |
It is the responsibility of the student to: double check both the preliminary and final postings of the examination timetables for their courses ensure that any examination conflicts are dealt with ahead of time not make any travel plans until after the last day of exams, particularly before the Final exam schedule is posted morning examinations are typically held at 9 a.m.; except Sundays, which are at 10 a.m.
Conflicts: Accommodation Requests: Holy Days: Verify the conflict with the Final Exam Schedule and then email arts@uwo.ca to request accommodation.
⚠️Sleeping in, misreading the Timetable, flight arrangements⚠️: These are not considered grounds for accommodation and professors are not required to set a Special Examination if you miss an exam due to such reasons. If you are only a half hour late, you may be given permission to start the examination. Otherwise, email arts@uwo.ca as soon as possible. You are expected to schedule vacations and flights that don't conflict with the examination schedule.
Medical Illness, Compassionate issues: Contact your the Academic Counselling office immediately by email to notify them of your illness. Please also follow through with your Professor(s) by email. For Medical Illnesses, visit a Physician and have them complete a medical form For Compassionate issues, obtain appropriate documentation on letterhead (or as instructed by the Counselling Office). Send all documentation to your Academic Counselling office (arts@uwo.ca) to discuss arranging an alternate examination. Accommodation of this nature will not be given without appropriate documentation.
Other Important Information: Image: Candidate [for] imperial examination drunk in cell, 1605. Source: Wikimedia Commons. |
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"The Internet's Vanishing Act"
SASAH Teaching Fellow Ruth Skinner is interviewed by SASAH student and Gazette Senior Culture Editor Paniz Vedavarz about the limitations, issues, and potentials of archiving our digital materials. “To archive websites, to make them accessible long term, is a kind of advocacy.” Read the article here! |
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Important Dates
Dec 9, 2025: Fall term classes end Dec 10, 2025: Study day Dec 11-22: Examination period
Image: Classroom in the Emerson School for Girls, c.1850. Daguerreotype by Southworth and Hawes (MET, 37.14.22-) Source: Wikimedia Commons. |
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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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