User:Mlevin6/sandbox

The School for the Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH) is a four year interdisciplinary program within the Arts and Humanities faculty at Western University, in London, Ontario. The program's current director is a Visual Arts professor, artist, and writer/curator, Patrick Mahon.

SASAH combines interdisciplinary study, community engagement, experiential learning, digital instruction, and international study. Students are also required to complete a language course. The topics of courses differ each year depending on the specialties of the professors chosen to teach that year.

The program accepts 25-30 students per year. Students will receive a Bachelor of Arts with a major in SASAH upon completion of the program, as well as a Major or Honours Specialization degree from any faculty at Western.

Their mission is as follows: "To educate citizens who thrive and lead in a time of transformative change. Through an interdisciplinary issues-based education, SASAH prepares graduates with new competencies for the jobs, the leadership roles, and the studies that the future requires."

History
The program was established in 2012, and is unique in Canada. Joel Faflak served as the first director. He remained the director until his sabbatical in 2018.

Two SASAH related extracurriculars were developed in the coming years. Creativitea is a student run writing workshop developed in 2015, and Iconoclast Collective is a student run publication developed by SASAH students in 2016.

SASAH's first graduating class was in 2017.

In 2018, Patrick Mahon replaced Faflak as director. That same year, Barbara Bruce joined the team as Experimental Learning Coordinator.

The SASAH blog, a student run blog that publishes writing from SASAH students.

== Administration == Professor Patrick Mahon - Director

Jennifer Tramble - Program Coordinator

Dr. Barbara Bruce - Experimental Learning Coordinator

Dr. Michelle Sugar - Outreach Coordinator

Dr. Tracy Isaacs - Associate Dean (Academic)

== Community Partners ==


 * Western's Student Success Centre
 * Western Libraries
 * Western International
 * McIntosh Gallery
 * The Don Wright Faculty of Music
 * Western Alumni
 * Public Humanities at Western
 * Museum London
 * Pillar NonProfit
 * Innovation Works
 * The Aeolian
 * The ARTS Project
 * DNA Arts Space
 * Satellite Project Space

Internships
The following Community Partners offer annual summer internships to upper-year SASAH students. The students can obtain course credit for completing any of the following internships at these locations:


 * Stratford Festival
 * Verge Capital
 * The Walrus
 * Toronto International Film Festival
 * Tom Thomson Gallery

One of SASAH's fourth year courses is titled Experimental Learning in the Arts and Humanities. Students are required to complete an internship worth one credit or two internships worth two half credits.

=== Western Performs! === In collaboration with The Don Wright Faculty of Music and Western Libraries, Western Performs! is an annual concert series held in Western's Weldon Library.

Visiting Scholars
=== Integrated Seminar === The Integrated Seminar is a fourth year capstone course led by a visiting scholar. The seminar is designed around a specific theme depending on the scholar for that specific year. The seminar may involve national travel and guest speakers.

Past scholars include:


 * Paul Kennedy (2016-2017)
 * Lainey Lui (2017-2018)


 * Shelley Niro (2018)
 * Laurence deLooze (2019)

Lainey Lui's seminar, Rumour Has It, focused on the topics of gossip and pop culture. The course concluded with a screening of the students' film in Talbot College at Western University.

Shelley Niro's seminar surrounded topics about Indigenous identity, and concluded with the students curating and creating an art exhibit. The exhibit titled /ruts/ opened at the Satellite Project Space on December 1, 2018 and will close on December 8, 2018.

Speakers' Series
SASAH's Speakers' Series invites visiting scholars to host presentations each year. Recent speakers have included Nino Ricci, Maryn McKenna, and Shelley Niro.

Notable Alumni
Levi Hord (class of 2018) was named a Rhodes Scholar. Hord is the 23rd Western student to receive the scholarship.