SSH news

Jul 31

SSH News: Public intellectuals, open access & high APCs, and a hitchhiking robot

Have academics lost the arts of rhetoric and public engagement? Is engaging the public a part of their mandate at all? These questions were implicitly raised in essayist Scott McLemee’s overview of communication professor Anna M. Young’s book Prophets, Gurus, and Pundits: Rhetorical Styles and Public Engagement, which examines different types of public intellectuals. McLemee’s tongue-in-cheek piece, which promises to be part of a series, has not provided answers one way or another, but simply raising these questions is sure to pull in strong opinions from academics across the spectrum.

One such opinion comes from Tim Hitchcock, Professor of Digital History at the...

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Jul 24

SSH News: Financial aid, health care policy, and Canada-Quebec relations

This week, student financial aid made headlines in Canada and the UK, for different reasons. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published a report on July 17th comparing student eligibility for financial aid and the complexity of application processes across provinces. Discussing highlights from the report, with a focus on Ontario, the Toronto Star writes that, in addition to confusing students and their parents, current financial aid systems “do little to guarantee equity among students.”

Financial aid is also causing worries in the UK,...

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Jul 17

SSH News: Global University Ranking, World Congress of Political Science

This week, a new global ranking was released that measured the quality of 1,000 universities. Thirty-two Canadian universities made the list -- see which ones here!

This weekend marks the start to the 23rd World Congress of Political Science in Montréal (Québec). Political scientists are often seen not merely as analysts of political matters, but as something akin to engineers sculpting the organisation of power. Globalisation has profoundly altered the work of political scientists, intensifying communication and exchange on issues pertaining to the way in which communities, societies, nations...

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Jul 10

SSH News: Congress 2014 highlights, Skills for the Future, Humanités numériques 2015

This week, the Federation released a short publication featuring the many highlights from this year’s Congress at Brock University. Be sure to check it out online in either English or French!

Also this week, Skills for the Future was hosted by provincial and territorial education and labour market ministers in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This joint symposium aimed at bringing together government, business, labour, academic leaders, and student groups to address the...

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Jul 3

SSH News: Reported earnings by degree, SSH research matters, Ideas can… bubbles, Digital Humanities 2014 conference

Two contradicting articles this week report on the earnings of humanities and social sciences graduates. On one hand, the Globe and Mail reports positively that BA grads have better pay, more career options while Maclean’s magazine suggests that a graduate survey shows stark differences in salaries where humanities graduates earn the least, and even hints at the “underemployment” among these graduates.

Notwithstanding, in a newly-published piece this week in ...

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Jun 26

SSH News: ASPP and liberal arts degrees in the news

The Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP) is a competitive funding program designed to assist with the publication of scholarly books on topics in the humanities and social sciences. Through this program, the Federation tangibly supports research dissemination and encourages excellence in humanities and social science scholarship. This week, the Federation is delighted to congratulate two ASPP-supported authors on their celebrated works:

  • Willie Jenkins for the ACIS James S. Donnelly, Sr. Prize for Books on History and Social Sciences and the Ontario Historical Society Prize for his book, William...

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Jun 19

SSH News: Big Thinking at Congress, Genomics and Feeding the Future, Status of the humanities

Couldn't make it all the way out to St. Catharines this year? Didn't get a chance to catch every Big Thinking speaker while at Congress? Don't fret! We have high quality videos of each lecture available for viewing online. In addition to watching the videos, be sure to read the Congress blog for more Big Thinking highlights including Lise Bissonnette's thought-provoking talk on "servitude and grandeur of the university" (available only in French).

In most recent news, Genome Canada, in collaboration...

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Jun 5

SSH News: Congress 2014, CUVIC 2014, Engaged Scholar Journal

Well, it may be over for another year, but there’s no doubt that the 2014 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held at Brock University in St. Catharines was a huge success! Now that the dust is (slowly) settling, it’s time to look back on the many events that happened. This year's Big Thinking lectures provided insight and entertainment for hundreds of scholars and community members, and can now all be watched online. In addition, the Career Corner series offered valuable advice for professionals in the academic...

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May 15

SSH News: Communiqué, Studying liberal arts

Looking for news from the Federation? This month’s Communiqué was released earlier today! If you haven’t already read it, be sure to sign up to receive future e-newsletters here. The Communiqué brings you the latest news about the Federation, its events, members and the latest news and information from the humanities and social sciences learning and research community in Canada.

Otherwise, a snapshot of interesting reads from this week focused on studying liberal arts include:

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May 8

SSH News: Farley Mowat, Canada Prizes award ceremony, Hot button issues in higher education

It is with a heavy heart that Canada says goodbye to Farley Mowat, a literary great and passionate Canadian. Mowat passed away, yesterday, at the age of 92. “Mowat, author of dozens of works including Lost in the Barrens and Never Cry Wolf, introduced Canada to readers around the world and shared everything from his time abroad during the Second World War, to his travels in the North and his concern for the deteriorating environment,” writes the CBC.

In much brighter news from the Canadian literary scene, the Federation was honoured to award the four winners of the 2014 Canada Prizes at a gala held yesterday at York University...

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