Welcome to the 2023-2024 academic year!

This summer saw much change across the journalism landscape. But that’s not new. 

What is unique is the multiple simultaneous fronts on which this change has occurred. The rise of AI has spawned discussion from classrooms to boardrooms. The Online News Act has impacted how we reach audiences. Many traditional news outlets have realigned their business models which, sadly, impacts journalists on screens and pages and over the airwaves. 

And yet, we stand in our halls, not despite these facts but because of them. 

Our goal and our role as the largest and best School of Journalism in Canada and as a university is to work with the fields of journalism as they are now to co-create what they will be next and foresee what they might be after that. This is a great time to be in our School of Journalism where our nearly 600 students experience over 75 courses taught by full-time academic professors and staff, alongside dozens of industry-leading professionals. 

Our curriculum builds on and goes beyond the core principles of accurate and fair storytelling. We teach freelance skills, digital platforms, audience engagement, and how to use technology such as AI and immersive digital experiences. 

We teach what journalism is, what it has been, and we continue to work toward what it will become. 

As the most diverse Journalism school in the country, we prioritize diversity and aim to diversify newsrooms by modeling inclusive environments, particularly as the ground shifts underfoot. Our students will continue to be prepared to work in any established newsroom, and also have the flexibility to adapt to new career paths that may not conform to traditional imaginings. 

As all of us get tucked into the 2023-24 academic year, keep a clear eye on the amazing things we can do together in this time of change. To that end, this year we welcome back Joyce Smith who is returning from sabbatical and we wish jagg carr-locke and Asmaa Malik well as they start their respective one-year research leaves. We say goodbye to Lisa Taylor as she takes up the Rogers Chair in Journalism at King’s in Halifax, leaving TMU after 15 years in roles from CUPE instructor in her early days to UPD and Associate Chair. 

With my thanks, I want to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of Gavin Adamson and Asmaa Malik as previous interim Co-Chairs and for sharing the role of Associate Chair (and UPD for Gavin) last year. I welcome Sonya Fatah as our new Associate Chair and Adrian Ma as our new Undergraduate Program Director (UPD). They will join Marsha Barber in her continuing role as Graduate Program Director and Bill Reynolds as lead of the Journalism Research Centre and me to form the School Leadership team for the 2023-24 academic year. 

Please also welcome our four visiting journalists (Karyn Pugliese, Rhiannon Johnson, Craig Silverman and Anita Li), our Adjunct Faculty member (and Professor Emeritus) Gene Allen, and our returning and new CUPE instructors (Ginella Massa, Sam Pazzano and Talia Ricci). 

All of them are key contributors to what makes our overall learning community so special.