The Faculty of Arts introduces four new faculty members
The Dean of Arts, along with members of the departments of Communication Arts, English, Philosophy, and Political Science, are very pleased to welcome four new faculty members who join Waterloo as part of the Black Excellence and Indigenous Excellence hiring initiative.
“I’m so delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the Faculty of Arts,” says Sheila Ager, Dean of Arts. “The Indigenous Excellence and Black Excellence hiring initiative marked a significant step for the University of Waterloo in recognizing our responsibility to shape a more equitable and inclusive academic community. We still have a long way to go in our journey toward greater diversity in our Faculty and in our goal of institutional decolonization. But our four new colleagues, through the substantive contributions they have made and will continue to make in scholarship, practice, and teaching, already show how much richer our community becomes with diverse membership. So, a warm welcome to Jay, Laura Mae, Rowland, and Paul!”
Professor Jay Havens, (BFA 2008 University of British Columbia, MFA 2016 Emily Carr University of Art and Design) joined the Department of Communication Arts as Assistant Professor on January 1, 2023. A member of the Six Nations of the Grand River and of Kanien’keha:ka and Scottish Canadian ancestry, Havens is a multi-media 2-Spirit artist-practitioner and scholar. Their research and teaching interests intersect Indigenous studies; historical, cultural, and linguistic identities; business and entrepreneurship; technology and design; as well as equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Their artistic background is strongly rooted in critical design-practice, working in the world of professional theatre and contemporary art, paired with expertise in scenography and storytelling. More broadly, Havens is a communication scholar with interest in making critical and conceptual interventions, which are deeply rooted in their historical and cultural identities. Within the Department of Communication Arts, Havens will contribute to the programs of Theatre & Performance, Communication Arts and Design Practice, and Digital Arts Communication.
Dr. Laura Mae Lindo, (BA 1998 University of Toronto, MEd 2005 PhD 2011, York University), joins the Department of Philosophy on July 1, 2023. Lindo has extensive experience in post-secondary teaching, senior academic leadership, and high impact public service as a Member of Provincial Parliament and Official Opposition Critic for both Colleges and Universities and Anti-Racism and Equity, and was the inaugural Chair of the Ontario NDP's Black Caucus. In her previous work, she developed expertise in knowledge mobilization, public engagement, and conducting research with an applied and public-facing focus.
She has an exciting research plan, including a project on anti-racism in education, a proposed Critical Race Institute, and planned book project on being Black in politics. She has served as Director of Diversity and Equity at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she also taught courses in Women and Gender Studies and in the Faculty of Arts. Lindo’s forthcoming book has the working title, Unthinkable Laughter: (Re)Imagining Anti-Racist Education (University of Toronto Press). She brings to Philosophy programs, which include the Gender and Social Justice and the PhD in Applied Philosophy, scholarly, pedagogical, and practical expertise in philosophy of education, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of race.
Dr. Rowland Keshena Robinson, (BA 2010, MA 2011, PhD 2020 University of Waterloo), joined the Department of Political Science as Assistant Professor on August 1, 2022. Rowland is Menominee and was born and raised in Bermuda. Their research has concerned itself with issues Native identity and what it means to be “authentically” Native, as well as the conspicuous consumption of Native story-telling in the post-Truth and Reconciliation era and the role of Nativeness within settler-colonial ideological, narrative, and meaning-making systems.
In addition, Rowland has interests in critical and postmodern theory, contemporary decolonial thought, critical legal studies, race/racialization, continental/post-continental philosophy, sovereignty, political economy, and autoethnographic and decolonizing methodologies. Currently Rowland is working on multiple analyses of the form and origin of historical and contemporary fascism in North America and the meaning of such movements considering existing settler colonialism and white supremacy, as well as the intersections of such movements with postmodern meme culture and post-truth politics, and the possibility of such forces to violently rupture into the off-line world.
Dr. Paul Ugor, (BA 1996 University of Calabar, Nigeria, MA 2002 University of Ibadan, Nigeria, PhD 2009 University of Alberta), joined the Department of English Language and Literature as full Professor on January 1, 2023. Ugor’s research and teaching interests are concerned with new social processes—in global politics, the economy, information and communication technologies, cultural/textual representations, and in everyday life—and the social responses which these social changes elicit, especially from marginal groups like youth and women in postcolonial settings.
Ugor specializes in 20th and 21st century postcolonial anglophone world literature; African literature and cinema; African popular culture; cultural theory; media cultures in the global south; and postcolonial theory. He is the author of Nollywood: Popular Culture and New Narratives of Marginalized Youth in Nigeria as well as nearly twenty articles and chapters, and three edited collections. Ugor is well positioned to teach numerous existing courses, including Global Literatures, Race and Literary Tradition, as well as contribute to the revision of survey courses on historical literatures around the world, and integrate Black rhetorical and literary traditions as part of needed curricular development.
