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Faculty updates
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) boasts over 300 world-class research faculty. From award-winning writers to leading-edge researchers, teaching is one of the pillars upon which FASS prides itself. Get the latest on faculty news and updates below.
Faculty news & updates
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September 18, 2024
September 18, 2024
Media appearances, features, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for July and August 2024.
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September 04, 2024
September 04, 2024
This year, FASS welcomes 22 new continuing faculty members whose diverse areas of expertise and professional experience will further advance our dedication to teaching and research excellence.
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August 20, 2024
August 20, 2024
Congratulations to the inaugural winners of the FASS Research Excellence Award—Lara Campbell, Arthur Robson, Joanne Leow, and Yuthika Girme.
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August 06, 2024
August 06, 2024
Congratulations to our Cormack Award winners—Janice Matsumura, Kathleen Millar, Margaret Grant, Sabrina Higgins, Sanjay Jeram, and Simon Woodcock!
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July 25, 2024
July 25, 2024
FASS faculty members Genevieve LeBaron (School of Public Policy) and Andrew Wister (Department of Gerontology) were recently named Distinguished SFU Professors.
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July 02, 2024
July 02, 2024
Media appearances, features, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for May and June 2024.
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May 07, 2024
May 07, 2024
Media appearances, features, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for January and February 2024.
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June 21, 2024
June 21, 2024
FASS accepts that the challenges set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report’s Calls to Action require a multi-faceted, holistic approach to intergenerational change in the academy and continuous collaboration in building new relationships with Indigenous students, faculty and staff and Indigenous communities.
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March 27, 2024
March 27, 2024
Congratulations to School of Public Policy associate professor Kora DeBeck who has been appointed as an Applied Public Health Chair by CIHR. As one of the twelve researchers from across Canada, DeBeck's research aims to tackle the toxic drug crisis for young people who use drugs in BC.
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March 25, 2024
March 25, 2024
Linguistics and Indigenous Languages Program instructors Donna Gerdts and Marianne Ignace were awarded the 2022 Award for Excellence in Leadership by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
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March 20, 2024
March 20, 2024
Media appearances, features, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for January and February 2024.
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March 06, 2024
March 06, 2024
Congratulations to Marianne Ignace for adding Excellence in Teaching to her many accolades. As an SFU faculty member for three decades, Ignace has gained respect and admiration among her students for her dedication to preserve, teach, and restore Indigenous languages within Indigenous communities.
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February 13, 2024
February 13, 2024
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February 05, 2024
February 05, 2024
Global Humanities assistant professor James Horncastle and Criminology professor emeritus Robert Gordon have been awarded the 2023 SFU Newsmaker Awards for their expert media commentary.
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January 09, 2024
January 09, 2024
Media appearances, mentions, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for November and December 2023.
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January 04, 2024
January 04, 2024
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) is pleased to welcome Dr. Adrian De Leon as the new 2024-2025 Jack and Nancy Farley Distinguished Visiting Scholar in History.
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December 22, 2023
December 22, 2023
SFU will soon – for the first time ever – offer Brazilian Portuguese language and Brazilian literature classes. Signed at SFU’s Burnaby campus, the MOU between the Consulate General of Brazil and SFU will bring a specialist in Brazilian Portuguese language, literature, and Brazilian culture to teach new courses to SFU’s undergraduate students. This marks an incredible moment in SFU’s long-standing history of multilingualism.
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December 12, 2023
December 12, 2023
Gathered in the W.A.C. Bennett Library in early September, the Dr. A.H. Somjee and Dr. Geeta Somjee Professorship in Indian Political Development was launched - a generous gift from Dr. Somjee to the Department of Political Science.
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November 24, 2023
November 24, 2023
Over 30 instructors from across FASS gathered in early November for the inaugural FASS Teaching Café, an initiative launched to foster conversations on a particular theme related to undergraduate teaching experiences and challenges.
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November 16, 2023
November 16, 2023
Media appearances, mentions, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for September and October.
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November 14, 2023
November 14, 2023
English university lecturer Nicky Didicher is making marking a better experience for students and instructors, with support from the team at Transforming Inquiry into Learning and Teaching (TILT).
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October 13, 2023
October 13, 2023
Media appearances, mentions, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni for July and August.
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September 19, 2023
September 19, 2023
Dr. Ali Bhagat joins SFU’s School of Public Policy this fall, bringing with him a background in the political economy of labour, finance, and racial capitalism. Bhagat will take on two new roles with the school, as an assistant professor and as director of the school’s new minor program, which opens up, for the first time, studies in public policy to undergraduate students.
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September 13, 2023
September 13, 2023
This year, FASS welcomes 25 new continuing faculty members whose diverse areas of expertise and professional experience will further advance our dedication to teaching and research excellence.
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August 29, 2023
August 29, 2023
In all, FASS has four new and renewed Canada Research Chairs, one Partnership Development Grant recipient, and eight Insight Grant recipients. From mental health care to sustainability to Indigenous sovereignty and more, FASS researchers stand at the forefront of innovation and knowledge mobilization.
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August 04, 2023
August 04, 2023
For their exceptional research accomplishments, the university conferred the Distinguished SFU Professorship to FASS professors Kora DeBeck, Krishna Pendakur, and Kendra Strauss.
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July 13, 2023
July 13, 2023
Michael Hathaway built the cross-disciplinary research project Transnationally Indigenous, supported by a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. The Transnationally Indigenous project explores the hidden legacies of a pivotal series of visits from all-Indigenous groups to China in the mid-1970s, including First Nations delegates from British Columbia and Ainu delegates from Japan.
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July 04, 2023
July 04, 2023
Media appearances, mentions, and publications featuring Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
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April 06, 2023
April 06, 2023
During a celebratory gathering at the Diamond Family Auditorium, faculty, staff, and alumni from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) came together to reflect on a year of outstanding academic achievements, department highlights, and public outreach.
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March 13, 2023
March 13, 2023
Congratulations to our FASS faculty who won the 2022 Excellence in Teaching Awards: Danielle Murdoch (Criminology), Yuthika Girme (Psychology), and Amanda Watson (Sociology & Anthropology)!
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March 10, 2023
March 10, 2023
A big congratulations to FASS faculty and students who earned a Community-Engaged Initiative Award. We are so proud that FASS won four out of five categories!
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February 23, 2023
February 23, 2023
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October 28, 2022
October 28, 2022
In recognition of their excellence and innovation in teaching, six FASS faculty members were honoured with the 2022 Cormack Teaching Awards.
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October 18, 2022
October 18, 2022
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September 28, 2022
September 28, 2022
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September 21, 2022
September 21, 2022
Blended (B) might be a relatively new course scheduling option for the university, but it’s already making a big impact on learning and teaching at SFU.
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June 14, 2022
June 14, 2022
Professor David Cox made sporting history as the first psychologist to be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, the highest sporting honour in BC.
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January 12, 2022
January 12, 2022
Brianne Kent's studies on how sleep disturbances contribute to the progressive memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s disease has earned her a Canada Research Chair and $350k in funding from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF).
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December 17, 2021
December 17, 2021
Reder shares the story behind the award from the Chetna Association—a group whose work is to raise awareness and promote dialogue about caste-based issues—and the parallels she sees between the evolution of Indigenous and Indian literatures.
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December 09, 2021
December 09, 2021
Humanities Undergraduate Chair Emily O’Brien received this year’s Cormack Teaching Award in recognition of her “passionate commitment to the importance of liberal arts in the 21st century university.”
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December 07, 2021
December 07, 2021
FASS Teaching Fellow and History professor Jennifer Spear is working to create more equitable and robust teaching assessment methods.
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November 22, 2021
November 22, 2021
Congratulations to 2021 Royal Society Fellows from FASS: Jasmina Arifovic (Economics), Catherine Dauvergne (International Studies), Murray Munro (Linguistics), Gerardo Otero (International Studies), and Betty Schellenberg (English).
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October 22, 2021
October 22, 2021
Five FASS scholars share insights on decolonizing and bringing acts of reconciliation into their classrooms.
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September 27, 2021
September 27, 2021
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at SFU is committed to the principles of Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. September 30 is a day to recognize and commemorate the tragic history and ongoing legacy of residential schools, and to honour their survivors, their families and communities.
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September 21, 2021
September 21, 2021
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) is pleased to congratulate the 2021 recipients of the FASS Dean's Medals. Dean's Medals are given in recognition of academic excellence in research, teaching, and service, with an emphasis on significant contributions while in position in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SFU.
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September 14, 2021
September 14, 2021
Dr. Catherine Murray prepares for retirement from her position as Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies, for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).
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August 03, 2021
August 03, 2021
SFU President Emeritus Andrew Petter has received B.C.’s highest civilian honour, the Order of British Columbia, for his leadership and impact on public policy, education, and community engagement.
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July 28, 2021
July 28, 2021
Eight Simon Fraser University faculty members have been honoured as the 2021 Distinguished SFU Professors. As a joint initiative of SFU’s Vice-President, Academic and Provost and the Vice-President, Research and International, the Distinguished SFU Professor program recognizes SFU research faculty members of distinction who have achieved exceptional performance and distinguished accomplishments relative to their rank and years of service.
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May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021
A collaboration with Vancouver Public Library, David Lam Centre’s current Chinese/Canadian writing series has run two successful events featuring Chinese writing and is drawing increasing interest, internationally and locally.
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February 24, 2021
February 24, 2021
Linguistics' Dr. Henny Yeung and co-researchers from UBC and Brock University question how mask-wearing influences children's speech and language development.
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February 19, 2021
February 19, 2021
In this series we share the reflections of faculty members who are discovering new teaching insights from and about remote teaching. Here’s what Dr. Elena Caselli, a term lecturer of Italian in the department of World Languages and Literatures, in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, had to say.
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November 25, 2020
November 25, 2020
The newest faculty members of FASS are all dynamic educators, excellent researchers who will undoubtedly contribute to and strengthen our already robust academic community.
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November 12, 2020
November 12, 2020
At the SFU Surrey campus, Rose Baik makes a special effort to help new students joining the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences smoothly transition from high school to university.
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October 08, 2020
October 08, 2020
The new Director of the French Cohort Program, Rémi Léger, shares some of his insights on the politics of language in Canada and why he’s so passionate about the French Cohort Program.
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September 30, 2020
September 30, 2020
Increasingly, social scientists are asked to expand their data collection beyond WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) populations.
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September 29, 2020
September 29, 2020
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to welcome Dr. Lara Campbell as she begins a three-year term as Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programming, Learning and Teaching, and Student Experience on September 1, 2020.
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September 14, 2020
September 14, 2020
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to welcome Dr. Mary-Ellen Kelm as she begins a three-year term as Associate Dean, Research & International on September 1, 2020.
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September 01, 2020
September 01, 2020
Klein sees the nation’s war effort as a helpful and hopeful reminder that in the past, Canadians mobilized in common cause across society to retool our entire economy in the space of a few short years.
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August 31, 2020
August 31, 2020
Professor Maite Taboada finishes her eight-month term Acting Associate Dean, Research & International for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on August 31.
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August 31, 2020
August 31, 2020
After four and a half very busy years, Catherine Murray stepped down as Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) on August 31.
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June 01, 2020
June 01, 2020
On April 30 Lisa Shapiro wrapped up her five-year term as an Associate Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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April 21, 2020
April 21, 2020
Jen Marchbank had a head start when SFU faculty switched to online instruction in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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March 06, 2020
March 06, 2020
SFU political science professor S. Laurel Weldon has studied the impact of women’s movements around the globe and finds they have advanced women’s economic empowerment.
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March 05, 2020
March 05, 2020
Jen Marchbank’s stellar teaching record has earned the professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies a 2019 SFU Excellence in Teaching Award.
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February 24, 2020
February 24, 2020
Yuthika Girme and Ryan Fitzgerald, are making the world a better place with their research. Girme studies how to support insecure people to develop satisfying relationships and Fitzgerald’s research reduces errors in eyewitness identifications.
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February 07, 2020
February 07, 2020
Dr. Bill Krane, former psychology professor, associate dean of arts, chair of the psychology department and associate VP-academic at Simon Fraser University (SFU), has passed away.
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January 27, 2020
January 27, 2020
It is with great sadness that the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SFU has learned of the passing of Dr. George F. MacDonald. MacDonald was an adjunct professor in the Departments of Archaeology and Indigenous Studies at SFU.
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January 21, 2020
January 21, 2020
Last fall, Claire Trépanier retired after 26 years of service with SFU, first as a senior lecturer in the Department of French and then as Director of the Office of Francophone and Francophile Affairs.
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October 29, 2019
October 29, 2019
Simon Fraser University’s Department of Philosophy is very pleased to welcome new faculty member Bruno Guindon as a lecturer this term.
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October 21, 2019
October 21, 2019
Professor Rob Gordon has completed his service as associate dean for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and is returning to Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology where he served as director for 15 years.
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October 07, 2019
October 07, 2019
Researcher Alexandra Lysova, an assistant professor in Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology, wants to involve men in strategies to reduce intimate partner violence.
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October 02, 2019
October 02, 2019
Reducing the risks of drug use is a life or death matter in British Columbia where 1,535 people died of illicit drug use in 2018. Alissa Greer knows that it will take harm reduction experts to solve the problem, and that those experts are people who use drugs themselves.
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October 01, 2019
October 01, 2019
Hellenic Studies is very pleased to welcome a new colleague to our team, Dr. James Horncastle, as the inaugural Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations.
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October 01, 2019
October 01, 2019
Register to vote. That’s Clare McGovern’s message to her students in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University as we near the federal election.
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September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019
Students are maxed out in Tiffany Muller Myrdahl’s Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies course on gender and the environment, and it’s not due just to the off campus work that many of them take on.
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September 19, 2019
September 19, 2019
This semester, a new pilot program in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences aims to see faculty engage with students through a revamp of its online course offerings.
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September 17, 2019
September 17, 2019
In the 1980s Marianne Ignace began audio recording the last generation of storytellers. When a language is lost so are the stories that pass on a people’s lessons about their land and how they live on it.
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September 16, 2019
September 16, 2019
Nicolas Fillion’s eyes sparkle when he talks about critical thinking even though he knows that it’s not the most popular subject among the many interesting Arts and social science courses on offer. Fillion’s passion for sharing the joys of critical thinking were recognized when the philosophy professor received a 2019 Cormack Teaching Award.
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September 15, 2019
September 15, 2019
Criminology lecturer Danielle Murdoch’s passion for teaching and the care and effort she puts into her classrooms have been recognized with a 2019 Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Cormack Teaching Award.
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September 14, 2019
September 14, 2019
“The biggest tool students can use to find work in a knowledge-based economy is the ability to read, retain, summarize and report,” says Panos Pappas, a professor in the Department of Linguistics.
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September 06, 2019
September 06, 2019
Rylan Simpson brings his expertise in extensive police work in a number of communities around the world to his new role as assistant professor in the School of Criminology.
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September 04, 2019
September 04, 2019
“When I moved to Canada I was amazed by the escalating housing unaffordability in Vancouver,” says Yushu Zhu, one of Simon Fraser University's newest professors. Professor Zhu has been jointly appointed to the Urban Studies Program and the School of Public Policy, both within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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September 04, 2019
September 04, 2019
Tamir Moustafa has received the Lasting Contribution Award from the Law & Courts Section of American Political Science Association (APSA). Moustafa, a professor of International Studies and Stephen Jarislowsky Chair at SFU, is being honored in recognition of his first book The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt.
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September 03, 2019
September 03, 2019
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to welcome 15 new faculty members.
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September 03, 2019
September 03, 2019
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to announce that professor Peter Hall has been appointed as associate dean, strategic academic planning, enrollment and budget for the faculty.
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September 03, 2019
September 03, 2019
Our highly esteemed and beloved colleague and friend, Sonja Luehrmann, passed away on August 24, 2019, a little over two years after she was diagnosed with cancer. As an Associate Professor in Simon Fraser University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Sonja modeled how to live a life devoted to learning.
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September 03, 2019
September 03, 2019
Zheng Wu (1960-2019) passed away on August 27 in Victoria, British Columbia after a short period of illness. He was Professor of Gerontology and Tier I Canada Research Chair in Aging and Health at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C.
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August 06, 2019
August 06, 2019
Assistant professor of psychology Michelle Kline has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant worth up to $71,701 for her research project.
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August 01, 2019
August 01, 2019
Role-playing games where students take on the personas of historical figures have made Diana Solomon’s English literature course Major Authors for Non-Majors a huge hit since she began teaching it in 2017.
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July 31, 2019
July 31, 2019
The Department of First Nations Studies is excited to announce its newest tenure-track faculty member, Assistant Professor Joyce Schneider (Kicya7), who is passionate about mobilizing Indigenous pedagogies as an all-my-relations approach to reconciling education.
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July 30, 2019
July 30, 2019
Tamara O’Doherty, who has been teaching at the Department of Criminology since 2003, has become a full-time lecturer.
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July 30, 2019
July 30, 2019
If you see a woman walking the halls of SFU’s Burnaby campus in an 18th-century skirt and petticoats, it is very likely Nicky Didicher, a Department of English university lecturer who has been awarded a FASS Teaching Fellowship for 2019-20.
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July 29, 2019
July 29, 2019
Dongwoo Kim will be joining the Department of Economics at Simon Fraser University this July as an assistant professor.
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May 13, 2019
May 13, 2019
Marianne and Ronald Ignace have been awarded a Governor General Innovation Award for their decades of collaborative research involving Indigenous people and communities.
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April 30, 2019
April 30, 2019
Betty Schellenberg, professor in the Department of English at SFU, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in the U.K. for her research on women writers in the 18th century.
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April 02, 2019
April 02, 2019
Battlestar Galactica fan and former culinary student Matthew Sigal shares how inspirational teachers fueled his passion for quantitative methods and data visualization in experimental psychology.
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March 29, 2019
March 29, 2019
Lara Aknin, social psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Psychology at SFU, co-authored a chapter in this year’s World Happiness Report discussing which prosocial behaviours promote happiness.
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March 21, 2019
March 21, 2019
Irene Pang, new assistant professor in SFU's School for International Studies, is a political sociologist whose research interests include labour and rights, with a particular focus on social inequality
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March 14, 2019
March 14, 2019
David Chariandy, professor in the Department of English at Simon Fraser University and author of the critically acclaimed Soucouyant and Brother, has been awarded the 2019 Windham-Campbell Prize.
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March 12, 2019
March 12, 2019
SFU research has found that babies' ability to follow adult caregivers' eye behaviour is very similar despite living in disparate societies.
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March 05, 2019
March 05, 2019
Ann Travers, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, has been awarded a 2018 SFU Excellence in Teaching Award.
New faculty
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September 19, 2023
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November 25, 2020
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October 29, 2019
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October 02, 2019
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October 01, 2019
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October 01, 2019
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September 06, 2019
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September 04, 2019
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July 31, 2019
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July 30, 2019
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July 29, 2019