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Welcoming our new School Chairs

September 09, 2020

Frederik Lesage, Undergraduate Chair

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as Undergraduate Chair?  What do you hope to achieve?

First and foremost, I want to ensure that all our undergraduate students benefit from the world-class courses that the School of Communication has to offer. These are difficult and strange times but I know that the School’s amazing students, staff, and faculty will make this year one to remember.

How are the challenges of COVID-19 influencing the start of your new role?

I’m just getting started so every day brings new challenges. One of the really unfortunate things about the current situation is that we aren’t able to meet people face-to-face. It takes some getting used to, especially when starting a new role.

How does your previous work prepare you for the new role?

My decade of university teaching experience should help. I also had the opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary graduate program on digital culture and society at King’s College London in the UK before coming to SFU. That work taught me a lot about how to navigate the complicated world of university administration and how to take a holistic approach to curriculum building.

Who is one of the most interesting people you have ever met?

It’s hard to choose just one. I met Armin Medosch at a party once in London in the mid-2000s. We had a long chat about his hobby of making bread from deactivated yeast collected from the ruins of ancient abandoned Spanish baking ovens. Some people can turn any topic into something fascinating.

What are your passions and hobbies outside of SFU?

I have a professional interest in a number of creative practices that I also enjoy following in my free time so it’s hard to make the distinction you’re asking. I’m a bit of a news junky and I follow the English Premier League quite closely (COYS!). I’ve been trying to maintain good social distancing practice these days so much of my free time is spent playing Super Smash Bros. tournaments at home with my wife and kids.

Enda Brophy, Graduate Chair

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as Graduate Chair? What do you hope to achieve?

I’m looking forward to focussing my attention on the graduate program and working with grad students in the School of Communication. Fostering graduate research is one of my favorite parts of teaching, and graduate students play an immensely important role in the School and at SFU. 

How are the challenges of COVID-19 influencing the start of your new role?

An overwhelming portion of all things related to graduate work will be happening online, and this affects absolutely everything, from course delivery to research. To give one example, this fall for the first time ever the School’s graduate orientation events are virtual, so we won’t even get to meet each other in person just yet. Covid represents not only an immense logistical challenge, but an ethical and an affective one. How do we organize our graduate program so we achieve our social, cultural, and political objectives in an era of physical distancing and virtual meetings? How can we support outstanding graduate research and ensure the School’s culture is inclusive, transparent, and equitable? These are only some of the challenges that graduate work and culture will face in the School of Communication and at SFU.

How does your previous work prepare you for the new role?

I’ve served on the Graduate Program Committee for a number of years and worked with some really capable chairs during my time at SFU, so I’ve learned a lot. I’ve also worked with dozens of graduate students over the years, whether as a supervisor, a committee member, or in various political efforts.

Who is one of the most interesting people you have ever met?

I’ve had the good fortune to meet many, but I’ll mention one who is connected to the School of Communication and a part of our legacy. Bob Everton was a survivor of internment at the Santiago National Stadium in Chile after General Augusto Pinochet's violent 1973 coup in Chile. Following this he courageously travelled back to Latin America under an assumed name and smuggled dissidents out of the country as an underground resistance member. The story is depicted in Carmen Aguirre's award-winning memoir Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (Carmen is a force to be reckoned with on the cultural scene in Canada). Bob also had a bit part (as a conquistador, no less) in Werner Herzog's Aguirre Wrath of God. When he returned to Vancouver he was a longtime community organizer in East Van, and a Chief Steward at the TSSU here on campus. Bob taught me the political economy of communication for the first time as an undergraduate during the 1990s, and that is a course I now teach regularly. The last time I saw him was amid tear gas in Quebec City in 2001 at the FTAA meetings there. Bob tragically passed away in 2004 and is a great loss to scholarly and activist communities. 

What are your passions and hobbies outside of SFU?

I love to cook, spend time with my friends and family, and play soccer.