The history and foundation of the AMPD community is what propels us forward, emboldening us to pose new questions, devise new methods, and test new limits. This spirit of experimentation and improvisation found throughout our faculty is the difference between keeping up with today and leading the way into tomorrow.
Nine new faculty members will join the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD): Shital Desai, Tammer El-Sheikh, Jennifer Jimenez, Susan Lee, Aaron Kelly, Gavin McDonald, Yifat Shaik, Ingrid Veninger and Holly Ward.
“Welcoming new colleagues is always a pleasure, and these new faculty members bring exciting new dimensions to programs throughout AMPD,” said Sarah Bay-Cheng, dean of AMPD. “Their diverse talents, experience, and dedication to teaching will support our students to develop their own visions and skills as they prepare them to transform our world.”
Where does a composer look for inspiration? For York University Professor Stephanie Martin, an accomplished composer and conductor in the Department of Music, history provides fertile ground. Captivated by the true story of a Canadian hospital ship, the Llandovery Castle, torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Celtic Sea on June 27, 1918, she chose to write an opera, with librettist Paul Ciufo, to commemorate the nurses of the ill-fated ship.
A new, full-year capstone course is being pilot tested this fall at York University. C4: The Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom brings together third- and fourth-year students from different faculties into multidisciplinary teams focused on solving pressing, real-world challenges posed by organizations operating in both the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. C4 partners include the Yonge Street Mission, the Al and Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre, Glendon’s Globally Networked Learning Project, and Panoplo Inc.— among many others.
The purpose of the awards are to raise awareness on the important work that sustainability champions are doing at York, to provide much deserved recognition of their work, and to encourage others to get involved in sustainability initiatives on our campuses.
Bruce Cassidy, a musician and composer who has been a fixture in Toronto’s jazz scene for decades, has earned a Master’s degree at the age of 81. Audra Brown with what the York University student says he plans to accomplish next.
Paul Gross, an eminent Canadian actor, writer, director, producer, musician and arts supporter, received an honorary doctor of laws from York University on June 17 during afternoon convocation ceremonies for graduands of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
York doctoral student in music Heidi Chan has been chosen to participate in the highly competitive International Doctoral Workshop in Ethnomusicology, held at the Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim and Hanover University of Music, Drama & Media in Germany.