Stéphanie Walsh Matthews
Associate Professor Walsh Matthews joined Toronto Metropolitan University and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in 2007. She earned her B.A. in Lettres françaises at the University of Ottawa, then completed a year in Semiotics and Communication Theory at Victoria College (University of Toronto) followed by an Interdisciplinary and Collaborative M.A. in Semiotics. Pursuing her studies in French Literature, she completed an M.A. in French Studies at St. Michael's College (University of Toronto) and her Ph.D. at the Department of French Studies, University of Toronto. Her doctoral dissertation, "Le Réalisme magique dans la littérature contemporaine québécoise" uses genre and sociocritical theories and approaches.
Dr. Walsh Matthews has been Program Director for ACS since 2011. She teaches ACS 106, Introduction to Language, a first-year course that introduces students to the fundamental nature of language and communication, two introductory courses in Semiotics (SEM 101 and 102), and CC 8906 Communication and Culture: An Interdisciplinary Approach in the graduate program ComCult. She is an Executive Member of the Semiotic Society of America, the International Association of Semiotic Studies, and is the author of several chapters and articles on magical realism, published both in Canada and abroad. She also publishes articles in semiotic journals and is leading a research consortium on Robotics and ASD.
Sample of supervised ComCult projects:
2021 - Jade Hines; Major Research Paper: The Victorian Origins of Modern BDSM
2019 - Sahar Raza; Thesis: Toronto's Not-So-"Smart"-City: How "Urban Innovation" Is Enabling Surveillance Capitalism, American Imperialism and Systematic Discrimination
2018 - Sean O’Brian Murray; Thesis: Growing An Edible Campus
2015 - David Hibbs; Thesis: Individualized Environmentalism(s): the Deadly Sins of Environmental Organizations
ComCult Teaching Activities
CC 8901 Core Issues: Communication Studies
CC 8906 CC: An Interdisciplinary Approach