News

Brianne Skylar Casey, a proud Métis woman, scholar and talented artist, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at the age of 23 after a hard fought battle with cancer. Brianne had nearly finished her MA in History at Wilfrid Laurier University (Laurier) and was accepted to the PhD program. She was an active part of the Tri-University Graduate Program in History family. 

Dr. Sam Hossack defended her timely dissertation, “A Broken History:  Examining the Events, Experiences, and Narratives of the High Arctic Relocations, 1950-2010,” on January 10, 2025 at the University of Waterloo.

Megan Blair, University of Waterloo PhD candidate's article published in Gender and History in 2023 was awarded the E. Lisa Panayotidis Memorial Graduate Student Award from the Canadian History of Education Association during their October conference. The prize is one of the Founders prizes which are awarded biennially.

Megan's article examined the gender dynamics of feminist organizing at the University of Waterloo in the 1960s and 1970s. The article was entitled: '''Fraternity for Frustrated Females’: The Gender Dynamics of 1970s Feminist Organising at the University of Waterloo, Canada."

Recently, Tri-U students held their annual election. Ethan Coudenys, MA student at Guelph, Rosemarie Forsberg, MA student at Laurier, and Vera Zoricic, PhD student at Waterloo became the 2024-25 co-presidents. They organize events and encourage community-building among Tri-U students. Check out their bios.

Video highlights of Waterloo PhD candidate, Catherine Ramey's, research and teaching travels in Angola.

Congratulations to Dr. Catherine Carstairs, University of Guelph and Dr. Cynthia Comacchio, Wilfrid Laurier University on their being named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, September, 2024.

Thomas Littlewood successfully defended his dissertation entitled, "Public Commemorations and Personal Memories: Canadian Commemoration of the Second World War," at the University of Guelph on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. 

Dr. Kristina Llewellyn, adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo will see an interdisciplinary collaborative project with Waterloo's Games Institute launched as an exhibit later this year with the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia in Cherry Brook. The project entitled, "Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation: The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children History Education," uses virtual reality to tell the stories of harm experienced by children in the school.

In late June, Dr. Terry Copp, C. M., professor emeritus in history from Wilfrid Laurier University was appointed Member of the Order of Canada by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General. He co-founded and is director emeritus of the Laurier Centre for Military and Strategic Disarmament Studies, (now Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada) where he fostered a rich community of scholarship and cemented Canada’s role in the Second World War. His ongoing work is a legacy to future generations and their knowledge of our past. An investiture ceremony will take place at a later date.

The Tri-U celebrates several gold medal winners and a finalist, a new professor emerita, and other awards winners in 2024.