GSCS Student Art Exhibition

Opening Night Reception

Each year the STM art gallery, just outside the Shannon Library, features art from students across Saskatoon’s Catholic high schools. With our highest participation to date, STM proudly displayed the artwork of 43 grade twelve students from May 26-June 24, 2022. 

Thursday, May 26, was the 5^th Annual Opening night reception. The reception, held in Shannon Library, was a full house, bringing together the student artists in celebration with parents and friends along with the art teachers from the participating schools - Bethlehem High school, Bishop James Mahoney High School, E.D. Feehan High School, Holy Cross High School, and St. Joseph High School.

We love this tradition as it is a means of expanding our relationship and commitment with our local Catholic schools and welcoming prospective STM students, while we enjoy artworks from some of Saskatoon's most talented young high school artists.

2022 achimo

A Celebration of Storytelling

The second annual celebration of achimo! took place March 1, 2022, in Shannon Library. The event was hosted by Harry Lafond, the STM Scholar in Indigenous Education. achimo 2022: Engaging Through Stories saw more than 50 guests engrossed in stories delivered by:

• Tara Million, a doctoral student and lecturer in the Department of Indigenous Studies at USask
• Hip Hop artist, Eekwol, who uses music, and rhythm to tell a story
• David Neufeld, historian 
• Louise Halfe, Parliament’s Poet Laureate.
• Elders AJ and Patricia Felix
• Elder Mary Lee

After the stories wrapped up, Lafond invited guests to linger for an informal sharing of Bannock and muskeg tea.

Signalling a return for in-person events on campus, the 2022 annual English Honours Colloquium was held on February 4th in Shannon Library.  Spanning the entire day, thirteen graduating students presented some of the best work from the undergraduate Honours program in the Department of English in four panels. These panels include:

CROSSINGS: MEDIA, SPACES, PLACES

MORAL EXPLORATIONS

IDENTITY, INTERSECTIONALITY, POWER

SHIFTING WOMEN

This first, in-person event held on campus, was well attended by faculty and students and was enjoyed by all.

Trevor Herriot began his academic career at STM in 1976.  He earned both an undergraduate and honours degree.  Herriot was named STM College Distinguished Alumnus in 2018 and received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Saskatchewan in 2021.

STM was honoured to have Herriot as the guest lecturer for the 32nd Annual Michael Keenan Memorial Lecture, Thursday, November 4, 2021. The full lecture can be viewed at 2021 Keenan Memorial Lecture.

Trevor Herriot has written several award-winning books, several of which can be found at STM's Shannon Library, including:

	Grass, Sky, Song: promise and peril in the world of grassland birds
	Islands of Grass
	Jacob's Wound: a search for the spirit of wildness
	The Road is How: a prairie pilgrimage through nature, desire, and soul
	Towards a Prairie Atonement

Request a copy today

2020 Mohyla Lecture

Origins and Consequences of the Donbas War

Dr. Dominique Arel from the University of Ottawa

The PCUH and STM College were pleased to welcome Dr. Dominique Arel from the University of Ottawa on February 13, 2020. Dr. Arel presented on The Origins and Consequences of the Donbas War. He lectured on both the roots of the conflict within the 2014 Euromaidan movement and the continuing influence of the Russian government in stoking misinformation and contention.

The 51st Annual Sorokin Lecture 

Surveillance: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

From Occasional Encounters to Constant Immersion

Dr. David Lyon of Queen's University is the director of the Surveillance Studies Centre; Queen's Research Chair in Surveillance Studies, Professor of Sociology, and Law. On February 6, 2020, at STM library, Dr. Lyon lectured that surveillance is an unavoidable fact of everyday life for populations the world over. No longer an unusual occurrence, or the product of some malevolent Big Brother, surveillance is ongoing, automated, ubiquitous and immersive. Many are desensitized to it – ‘I have nothing to hide’, or ‘I know they have my data; they use it to offer better services’ – but surveillance today challenges much more than personal privacy. It is not only intrusive but also divisive, sorting us into categories for different treatments.

Dr. Lyon explored the massive changes taking place in surveillance worldwide and called for a reassertion of human judgement and democratic participation to challenge and to reshape surveillance.

Gotta Story! achimo! (tell a story)

This event, held on February 03, 2020, was the kick-off to the celebrations for Indigenous Achievement Week at the University of Saskatchewan. Indigenous storytellers shared how knowledge is transmitted through story, by giving participants pieces of their own histories. This unique event included a meal featuring local flavours and was presented by the STM Scholar in Indigenous Education and the Leslie and Irene Dubé Chair in Catholic Studies.

Behind the Wire:

Civilian Internment in the British Empire 1914-1919

A wine and cheese reception was held at Shannon Library on November 5, 2019. The event, hosted in conjunction with the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage was well attended and the exhibition art remained in the gallery until the end of December.

Behind the Wire is a travelling display marking the centenary end of the Great War. STM library hosted the opening reception of the exhibit dedicated to the memory of more than one million civilians who found themselves behind barbed wire during the First World War. Guest speaker, Stefan Manz, is Professor of German and Global History and Head of Languages and Translation Studies at Aston University.

Dr. Alan Reese Memorial Service

Held October 4, 2019

Dr. Reese was a member of the St. Thomas More College faculty, in the Department of History, for over thirty years. He lost his battle with cancer on June 3, 2019, at the age of 63 in the company of his wife, Trudy. Alan loved learning and teaching and he pursued these activities in earnest until the day he passed. After attaining multiple advanced degrees, Alan became a history professor at St. Thomas More College, where he enjoyed a meaningful career and developed life-long friendships.  The STM family celebrated Alan's life and his service to the College and our community with a memorial at Shannon Library held on October 4, 2019.

In 2019 the annual Faculty Book Launch/Research Achievement Celebration, was held April 1st in Shannon Library. The faculty and staff in attendance enjoyed a short presentation of each newly published book, given by its author followed by a wine and cheese reception.

The 1st Annual Exposition of Library Based Student Research was held in the Shannon Library, hosted by Dr. Donna Brockmeyer. The event featured an exposition of Ancient and Modern Worlds with displays of death masks, artifacts and project posters which were then explicated by the students who created them. It also featured aspects of the literary journal, In Medias Res, published once a year by its Editorial Board of STM students. The event was kicked of with a description of the Antiquities on permanent loan from the Museum of Antiquities, U of S.

Sorokin Lecture: A Professor Goes Internet Dating – and Learns About Entitlement and Sexual Market Value

Department of Sociology 50th Anniversary Sorokin Lecture and Wine and Cheese Reception

Held February 7, 2019 at 7:00 pm in Shannon Library Dr. Rima Wilkes said Sorokin wrote about love. In that tradition, Dr. Wilkes talked about her search for love through online dating. She described how, via her search for love, how she came to further understand what entitlement means, how she came to understand the ways that “sexual market value” is largely disconnected from one's accomplishments.  Dr. Wiles used autoethnography – the story and analysis of one’s own experience – to tell the story of the two years she spent online dating and the interactions she had on and offline with people met on Match.com, Tinder, and Bumble. 

One Hundred Years of Modern Ukrainian Statehood

Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage Mohyla Lecture Series 

21^st Annual Mohyla Lecture 

 February 15, 2018

A century ago the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) declared independence from Russia while establishing a modern democratic Ukrainian state. Prof. Serhy Yekelchyk explored questions like:

• Was this viewed as a continuation of the longer Ukrainian historical tradition of statehood?
• Did the proclamation and defeat of the UNR influence twentieth-century struggles for a free and independent Ukraine, which emerged in 1991?
• Is the current conflict with Russia a replay of the "hybrid war" the Bolsheviks conducted against the UNR in 1918?
• What are the lessons to be learned?

Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk
Professor
Departments of History and Germanic and Slavic Studies
University of Victoria

Born and educated in Ukraine, Professor Yekelchyk is author of six books on Ukrainian history and Ukrainian-Russian relations, including Stalin’s Citizens: Everyday Politics in the Wake of Total War, recipient of the best book award from the American Association of Ukrainian Studies.

Enemy Aliens Internment in Canada,
1914-1920, a travelling exhibition 

An opening reception held November 3, 2017

A travelling exhibit created by the Canadian War Museum made its way to Saskatoon and the STM Art Gallery on the University of Saskatchewan campus. The display featured photographs from the National Library and Archives of Canada as well as period artefacts from a private collection. On November 3, an opening reception was held at Shannon Library, which featured a guest speaker from the Canadian War Museum, Dr. Peter MacLeod, Director of Research, who spoke about the origin and genesis of the exhibit. Dr. Bohdan Kordan delivered remarks on the impact of internment and remembrance. This was followed by a selection of short readings, first-person accounts of the internment experience, presented by students from the University of Saskatchewan Ukrainian Students Association. This exhibit was hosted by the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH) in cooperation with the STM Art Gallery. Enemy Aliens, Internment in Canada, 1914-1920 is supported by a travel grant from the Canadian First World War lnternment Recognition Fund.

Dr. Thomas Deutscher Memorial Service

Held October 10, 2017

Dr. Tom Deutscher, who served 36 years at STM passed away on June 7, 2017.  He was loved and respected by faculty, staff and students.  The STM family celebrated Tom's life and his service to the College and our community with a memorial at Shannon Library held October 10, 2017.

Tom had been a student at STM, and it was here that he met his wife. After he was hired, his devotion to STM grew and he served the college as a professor, dean, faculty union president, and acting president of the College. As a Catholic Church historian, Tom was committed to teaching and research; he completed many publications on the Catholic Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, and considered his book, Punishment and Penance (2013), to be the culmination of his life's work. With the support of his wife, Tom was able to achieve these goals while remaining ever present to his children, who were clearly the centre of his life. He never ceased to have time to coach baseball, chaperone swimming, lead cub-scout packs as Akela, listen to piano practice, watch action movies, provide research assistance, and devise overly complex plans for routine events that involved the entire family and multiple vehicles.  He was gentle, patient, honest and compassionate, and always had a witticism prepared for even life's most stressful moments. He was a loyal friend, and bravely fought to stay with his family for as long as he possibly could. His Catholic faith provided him with a truth North that continues to serve as a guide for his friends and family. 

Anais Nin/Evelyn Hinz Masquerade Literary Salon

 Oct. 30, 2015

In celebration of the Nin/Hinz Literary Exhibition at the Shannon Library, the Masquerade Literary Salon was held in grand demi-gala style, with delicious hors d'oeuvres from Choices, festive décor, masks, and spectacular costumes. Guests were invited to dress as literary figures and bring a favourite quotation to share with others at the Salon. Celebrating the occasion, colourful literary characters of note were in attendance: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Charles Dicken's Miss Havisham, the Dowager from Downton Abbey, two characters from the Commedia Dell'Arte: Harlequin and Arlechino, and other masked guests who were incognito. Guests shared meaningful quotations and passages: President Downey read a piece describing a prairie experience written by Guy Vanderhaeghe, who had just won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. Donna Brockmeyer presented a paper based on her sabbatical research. Donor Dr. John Teunissesn read a section of Nin related correspondence, and other guests offered quotations and performances at the Open Mike. The Salon had two musical components performed by students who are library desk assistants. Veronica Kmiech played the violin, and sisters Monique and Nicole Mireau sang two songs in French. The Salon was emceed by Karen Massett, STM Development Officer. The event was well attended, with members of the Hinz and Teunissen families from Humboldt, Winnipeg and Calgary, as well as other donors, alumni, faculty, staff and students. It was a magical evening, much enjoyed!