On April 7, the inaugural Faculty of Arts Showcase drew together undergraduate students, teaching assistants, faculty members, alumni, and program staff in the Faculty Club Ballroom for a celebration of McGill’s Arts community. Presented and organized by the Office of Arts Education, the showcase celebrated students’ work and creativity through a series of 20 student research posters, a compilation of student films created as assessments for courses (such as Prof. Ara Osterweil’s ENGL 585: Image, Sound, Text; Prof. Alanna Thain’s ENGL 441: Feminist Media in Montréal; and Prof. Amanda Holmes’s LLCU 300: Decolonizing Cinema – Latin America), and costumes from the Drama and Theatre Program in the Department of English. The event also featured a roundtable discussion between Faculty and students and speeches from the Dean’s office, all highlighting the variety of opportunities available to students in McGill’s Faculty of Arts.
Students Reflect on Foundation Year Experience and Experiential Learning
Several posters featured the coursework and extracurricular activities undertaken by Arts undergraduate students, including those who participated in the Foundation Year Program Pilot (FYPP), a program running in the 2024-2025 academic year to provide a more structured pathway through the U0 year. The program offered small seminars, interdisciplinary lectures, and a writing course designed uniquely for U0 students.
One poster, created by U0 Arts student Mariana Monsalve Orozco reflected on the topic of political citizenship in Aristotle’s philosophy, drawing from the Foundation Year seminar PHIL 197: “Right and Wrong”, taught by Professor Marguerite Deslaurier. Another poster, by U0 Arts student Maya Kojima, outlined the value of the FYPP’s interdisciplinary pedagogy by highlighting this semester’s course, AFYR 102: “The Fictions and Realities of Work” co-led by Professors Barry Eidlin (Department of Sociology) and Alexander Manshel (Department of English).
For Maya, participating in the showcase was both valuable and rewarding.
“Creating and presenting my poster allowed me to reflect on the knowledge I have learned from the course”, says Maya. “The event reminded me of the importance of an Arts education and how excited I am to be part of [this] community.”
The showcase’s posters also gave guests the opportunity to learn more about some of the Faculty’s most sought-after student experiences. Several posters featured the professional and research experiences available to undergraduate students each summer through the Arts Internship Office (AIO).
The AIO enables undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience in their desired fields. For instance, Thelma Caye, U3 student majoring in Political Science and minoring in Hispanic Studies and Communication Studies, travelled to Santa Marta, Colombia, and worked as an educational project development assistant with the NGO Solidarité Colombie Québec (Solicolque). Thelma’s poster reflected on the invaluable guidance provided by the AIO in fostering cross-cultural communication skills through its commitment to experiential learning.
Other posters showcased programs that offer Arts students crucial research and community engagement opportunities, such as the Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (ExCELR) program in Quebec Studies, McGill’s Summer Studies in Italy, and a highly successful peer mentoring scheme in the Institute for the Study of International Development.
Spotlight on Undergraduate and Graduate Experiences
The inaugural showcase also highlighted the invaluable contributions of graduate researchers to the Faculty. Graduate students Salma Shaaban, PhD candidate in the Institute of Islamic Studies and Shakti Nirmal, MA in the Department of English, featured the important contributions of Teaching Assistants (TAs) to the undergraduate learning experience. Shaaban represented a project led by the Office of Arts Education and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies which aims to build more resources and support for TAs through Faculty-specific onboarding materials, fostering a community of peer support, and expanding professional development opportunities.
“As a first-time TA at McGill, getting to work with these students has been immensely generative for my growth as an educator”, said Shakti. “I was elated to see all their hard work displayed and receiving the recognition it deserved.”
The Foundation Year’s seminar courses also gave U0 students the opportunity to explore the value of small group, seminar-style courses. A roundtable discussion, led by Professor Suzanne Morton (Department of History and Classical Studies), gave U0 students Alexa Akada, Elle Bédard and Rachel Weber the opportunity to discuss their experience taking part in HIST 199: “The History of McGill”. The discussion explored the value of seminar-style teaching for U0 students and the value of learning local histories as a means of building connections between students and their educational environments. Alexa, Elle and Rachel also had the chance to talk about the individual research projects they undertook as part of the seminar.
Showcasing Creative and Hands-On Skillsets
Throughout the showcase, attendees were able to view a selection of films and costumes made by students.
Patrick Poulin, a graduating student majoring in English (Honours) with minors in World Cinemas, and Gender, Sexuality, Feminist & Social Justice Studies, was one of the students whose film was on display.
“The courses and professors who have allowed for creative applications of course discussions in my assignments are among those I hold dearest to my heart”, says Patrick. “Essays, close analysis, research papers, etc., are all valid and stimulating academic pursuits, but having the opportunity to engage in the art-making process and position one’s voice within media [and] visual culture allows for a much deeper [and] direct consideration of the complexities of the image within our social, political, cultural [and] affective formations.”
The film reel celebrated the various ways in which some Arts professors experiment with assessment design, increasing student engagement while teaching valuable hands-on skills such as video editing and graphic design.
The showcase also displayed the theatre costumes from the Drama & Theatre Program in the Department of English. All the costumes were created by students under the supervision of Resident Costume Designer and Faculty Lecturer, Catherine Bradley.
The Office of Arts Education would like to thank event volunteers for generously donating their time, poster presenters and speakers for sharing their work and insights, and all guests for attending and celebrating the Faculty of Arts.
The Faculty of Arts Showcase was supported by funding from the Dean of Arts Development Fund (DADF).
Watch the official video from the event: