Bam! Pow! Superheroes under study

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Arts news page.

“I think the study of comics is a really cool entryway to explore literature,” says Doctor Andrew Deman, who will teach English 108A: The Superhero, a popular undergraduate course this winter term. He become deeply involved in comics scholarship during his doctoral studies with the Department of English Language and Literature, noting the many connections between comics and other academic fields such as visual semiotics, narrative theory, and multimodality.

“A superhero is reflection of cultural values. Superman is what we want him and need him to be,” he says, explaining that before World War II, for example, Superman was rendered as a murderer, reflecting society’s need for superheroes to fulfill a protector fantasy. But after the war, “cultural values shifted and Superman became known as the big blue Boy Scout.”

As Deman will teach students next term, the superhero has a rich history that can be traced back to one of the first known books: The Epic of Gilgamesh. “That story is 4000 years old but it is very clearly a superhero story.” Evolving from that tradition, superheroes almost always served some sort of religious function, while in contemporary literature, the religious function is not as clear. As for the essential superhero formula? As Deman puts it, ”part power fantasy, part reflection of cultural values and part moral paradigm…plus tights.”

Since completing his PhD under the supervision of professors Andrew McMurry and Heather Smyth, Deman has further developed his research on graphic narratives and the historical depiction of superheroes. He was recently featured as an expert commentator in the documentary series "INK: Alter Egos Exposed" and is the current president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics.

Comic books are a classic example of multi-modality, Deman stresses; they tell a story through both the illustrations and the text. “Contemporary culture is obsessed with comics and superheroes.” He references the Marvel and DC movie lineup, which boasts dozens of movie releases in the next ten years.

The sub-culture of comics has also been recognized in the literature world, says Deman, citing Art Spiegelman who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his graphic novel Maus, and Time magazine including Watchmen in their All-TIME 100 Novels list. “While there may be a few people that oppose the notion of comics as literature, the academic word is very open-minded to the idea these days.”

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FASS auditions open today

Auditions open today for FASS 2015 and will run until Friday, January 10, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in HH 124.

FASS, which stands for Faculty, Alumni, Staff and Students, is the university's long-running amateur theatre company, and they've been doing their thing for more than 50 years. Each year's show is written, produced, and performed by members of the university community. Every show is themed and features parodies of popular music performed by a full stage band.

If competition isn't your strong suit, don't worry: it's written in the FASS constitution that everyone who auditions for a part receives a part in the show.

The FASS 2015 production will run on Thursday, February 6, Friday, February 7 and Saturday, February 8 in the Humanities Theatre.

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Registration open for latest CTE workshops

The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is offering several workshops and events for instructors during the winter months. Courses include:

• CTE656: Getting Started with LEARN, Thursday, January 8, 1:00 p.m.;
• CTE550: Getting Started in LEARN for TAs, Monday, January 12, 1:00 p.m.;
• CTE727: Using LEARN’s Rubric Feature, Thursday, January 15, 10:30 a.m.;
• CTE706: Timesaving Tips in LEARN, Monday, January 19, 9:30 a.m.;
• CTE668: Using the Grades Tool in LEARN, Wednesday, January 21, 2:30 p.m.;
• CTE740: Waterloo High Impact Practices Group launch, Wednesday, January 14, 12:00 p.m.;
• CTE642: Course Design Fundamentals on Monday, February 2, 9:30 a.m.; and
• CTE741: Five benefits (and two challenges) of à la carte assessment (Integrative and Experiential Education Series), Wednesday, February 4, 12:00 p.m.; and
• CTE908: Documenting Your Teaching for Tenure and Promotion on Tuesday, March 31, 11:45 a.m. The workshop will be moderated by Associate Vice-President, Academic Mario Coniglio.

The Instructional Skills Workshop (CTE601) scheduled during Reading Week (February 17 to 20), is now full, and another ISW section will be held the week of August 17 to 21.

In addition, registration is now open for the Educational Technologies workshop series scheduled for March 2 to 5. Courses include Screencasting and Camtasia, ePortfolios, Course Design for Blended Learning, Tools (Peer Evaluation, Question Facilitation, Concept Mapping), the Flipped Classroom, Presenting with an iPad, and more. Registration is available through myHRinfo.

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Pharmacy students don White Coats tomorrow

Tomorrow, School of Pharmacy students of the Class of 2018 will participate in the school's eighth annual White Coat Ceremony in the Humanities Theatre.

"The White Coat Ceremony marks the beginning of our incoming students’ professional journey," a statement from the School of Pharmacy explains. "It is where students make their commitment to ethics and integrity and where they are formally welcomed into the professional community. The white lab coat is symbolic of the tremendous responsibility that pharmacists have a health care providers."

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Cold hard truths on a cold hard day

The Registrar's Office is notifying undergraduates that the last day to add classes for the Winter 2015 term is Friday, January 16. Students are invited to contact their academic advisor if they have any questions.

Human Resources is reporting that retiree Marian Hoffer died on December 26, 2014. Marian began working at Waterloo in January 1979 and was the Administrative Assistant, Special Projects for the Dean of Science. She retired in September 1994. Marian is survived by her husband, Ralph who also retired from the University in 1994.

Retiree Lois Pickoski (right) died on January 1. Lois joined the University in April 1967 as a Key Punch Operator in the Department of Systems and Procedures, and after 40 years at Waterloo retired in March 2008 as an Information Systems Analyst in Information Systems & Technology (IST). She is survived by her spouse John.

The north side of the Needles Hall road (the exit side) will be closed all day today as a load of drywall for the Science Teaching Complex is delivered and unloaded. Vehicles will have to enter and exit in the lane closest to the Needles Hall extension. Emergency vehicle maintenance will be maintained.

The Faculty of Mathematics is organizing an information session on graduate studies for second, third, and fourth-year undergraduates scheduled to take place on Thursday, January 15, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in DC 1304. An overview of graduate studies in Mathematics will be presented, and attendees will have the opportunity to speak with department graduate student representatives. Refreshments and snacks will be served.

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