Award-winning journalist and author Tanya Talaga is this year’s speaker for the MacClement Lecture, hosted by the Faculty of Education.

Talaga will speak on Indigenous education, health, and the responsibility for all of us to take an active role in reconciliation.  The event will take place Thursday, Sept. 26 at 5 pm at Duncan MacArthur Hall

The First Ojibway woman to deliver the CBC Massey Lectures, Talaga is an acclaimed storyteller. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers, a national bestseller that introduced seven Indigenous high school students who mysteriously died in Thunder Bay, won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize.

In her powerful keynotes, Talaga shares Indigenous stories from across Canada and the world, humanizing the legacy of cultural genocide and sharing her hope for a more inclusive and equitable future. 

“I am so looking forward to hearing Tanya Talaga speak. Her book, Seven Fallen Feathers, should be read by every adult (full stop),” says Elder-in-Residence for the Faculty of Education Deb St. Amant. “I am thankful that she listened to the Elders who wanted her to write about this important topic. She has an incredible gift for telling the truths of Indigenous experience.”

The lecture is free to attend and open to the public. More information is available on the Faculty of Education website.

The MacClement Lectureship was established in 1985 by friends and family in memory of William T. MacClement, a former professor of biology at Queen’s who helped establish a successful summer school at the university.

For the past 20 years, Talaga has worked as a journalist, and now columnist, for The Toronto Star. She has authored two books – All Our Relations: Finding The Path Forward and Seven Fallen Feathers. In addition to the RBC Taylor Prize, Seven Fallen Feathers also won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and the First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Award. It was also a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the BC National Award for Nonfiction, and was named CBC’s Nonfiction Book of the Year and a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book.

(This article has been updated to correct the date to Thursday, Sept. 26)

Queen’s presented two more honorary degrees on the sixth day of Spring Convocation at the university.

Sir Richard Evans, a British historian and author, was presented with his honorary degree during the morning ceremony at Grant Hall. Throughout his academic career Sir Richard has received a number of key appointments, including as Regius Professor of History in 2008 until retiring in 2014, and as president of Wolfson College, Cambridge from 2010-2017. He is currently Provost of Gresham College in the City of London, which has been offering free lectures for the general public since 1597. Sir Richard is the author of more than 20 books. His three-volume history of Nazi Germany (The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War) has been translated into 15 languages.

Fiona Sampson (Artsci’85, Law’93) was recognized during the afternoon ceremony for dedicating her 20-plus year career to seeking justice for society’s disadvantaged: disabled persons, refugees, Indigenous persons, and victims of violence. Sampson founded the equality effect, an NGO that uses international human rights law to make girls/women’s rights real and, as CEO, led her team to the landmark 160 Girls High Court victory in Kenya. She has published widely relating to women’s and girls’ equality and has received many awards and much recognition for her human rights work.

A total of seven honorary degrees are being conferred by Queen’s during convocation.

Spring Convocation will resume on Tuesday, June 11 with two ceremonies being held at main gym of the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).

A total of 18 ceremonies are being held for Spring Convocation, with the final one scheduled for Wednesday, June 12. The full schedule of the ceremonies is available online.

Live ceremony feeds will begin approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start of each ceremony.

More information about Convocation at Queen's is available on the website of the Office of the University Registrar.

More photos can be viewed at the Queen’s University page on flickr.

As part of NSERC’s Science Odyssey campaign, Science Rendezvous Kingston was the largest and most successful to date with 5,200 visitors and 400 volunteers learning more about the groundbreaking STEAM research happening at Queen’s and in the Kingston community.

Hosted at the Leon's Centre, the day featured three headline events. Attendees had an opportunity to meet Astronaut Drew Feustel (PhD’95, DSc’16), former commander of the International Space Station and Queen’s alumnus at the Ask an Astronaut Q&A. Upon entering the event space, visitors were greeted by Dippy the dinosaur, a casting of a Diplodocus standing over four metres high and 26 metres long. There was also an opportunity to learn about bee health and pollination with the Limestone Beekeepers’ Guild as they demonstrated a working beehive.

About 75 per cent of the researchers exhibiting at Science Rendezvous Kingston were Queen’s affiliated. Some of the highlights of the free, family-oriented event included hands-on exhibits from Queen’s Anatomy, Hexagon Magic Puzzles, the Art of Research pop-up photo exhibit, demonstrations from Ingenuity Labs, and the Chemistry Magic Show.

For more information about Science Rendezvous Kingston, visit the website.

During her time at Queen’s, Afsheen Chowdhury (ConEd’19), like many students, has been involved in numerous extra-curricular activities.

She has been a residence don for three years, serves as a Board Member for the Levana Gender Advocacy Centre (LGAC) and held several positions on the Concurrent Education Student Association (CESA), for example.

What makes her stand out from other students, however, has been her participation in the governance of the university – student Senator for the Faculty of Education; member and co-chair of the Queen’s University Board-Senate Advisory Committee; member of the Joint Board-Senate Principalship Search Committee; and, perhaps most significantly, member of the University Council on Anti-Racism and Equity (UCARE).

For all her contributions and continuing commitment, Chowdhury is the inaugural winner of the Margaret Hooey Governance Award.

The award was established in November 2018 by the estate of Margaret Hooey (LLD’02), the long-time secretary of Queen’s who was admired for her dedication to the university as well as the welfare of her colleagues, students, friends and family. The award is given to a student enrolled in any degree program at Queen’s who has made an outstanding contribution to the good governance of the university through work with Senate or any committee of the Senate.

For Chowdhury, receiving the award has been both exciting and humbling.

“It’s a little surreal. I think it is everything that went into it and this is the end of my journey here, after everything that has happened,” she says. “Receiving an award like this is an important reminder that the work you do has a real tangible impact to the people beyond the borders of that room and beyond the Senate.”

The award committee was unanimous in selecting Chowdhury as the inaugural winner. Letters of support mentioned her “thoughtful comments and opinions,” “impressive insights,” and keen interest in Queen’s governance processes.

While she had already been actively involved in governance at Queen’s, a turning point came when she ran for rector in 2017. During the campaign week she received many messages from students – Muslim students, international students, students of colour – telling her how important it was to see someone just like them standing up and trying to make a difference in the university community.

Ultimately, her campaign was not successful but the experience set her on a new path, one that led her to become a champion for equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives at Queen’s.

“We always talk about how representation matters but then you realize that it really does matter. This is about people feeling safe and realizing they can be someone,” Chowdhury says. “That’s when I really started to take it seriously and I said even if I don’t win the election I was still a senator and I’m still going to sit on the principal selection committee. I was going to move forward and I still wanted to do the things that I promised during the campaign.”

As much as she has contributed during her time at Queen’s, Chowdhury is quick to point out all that she has gained, particularly through her various roles with Senate. In the end her time as a senator wasn’t about networking but about personal and community growth.

“I think what really went a long way for me, especially sitting on Senate, was building community and genuine connections. It’s sharing our stories with each other,” she says. “The people who nominated me for this award were my friends, they are people who I had dinner with and it is such a blessing to have friends who are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, who are giving this wisdom but also treating me as an equal and feeling that I can have some wisdom to provide for them. It’s people who genuinely pick you up and pick each other up throughout the process.”

A Pillar of the Queen’s Community

During her more than 30 years at Queen’s, Margaret Hooey, was a valued adviser to four principals and their administrations, and a trusted mentor to students, staff, faculty and trustees. She played a key role in shaping Queen’s modern governances system and was an advocate for the unique form of student government. More than her role as an administrator, she was viewed by student leaders as a mentor and friend. For her contributions and dedication Dr. Hooey received the Queen’s Distinguished Service Award (1992), the John Orr Award (1998), and an honorary doctorate (2002).