Date: November 15, 2024

Time: 6-9 p.m.

Location: Garden Room, K. C. Irving Environmental Science Centre

On Friday, November 15, 2024, from 6-9 p.m. in the Garden Room of the K. C. Irving Environmental Science Centre, we will acknowledge 150 years of student journalism on campus. The evening will celebrate Free Press in a Changing World, not only honouring The Athenaeum, but also shedding light on the enduring importance of a free press in today's dynamic landscape.

The evening will feature a reception with appetizers, drinks, and a panel of special guests: rising star journalist covering threats to democracy Rachel Gilmore; Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership Dr. Alex Marland; and award-winning cartoonist for The Washington Post, Michael de Adder.

This event is generously supported by The Dr. Fred Gilbert Speaker Series, presented by the Acadia Alumni Association. The Dr. Fred Gilbert Speaker Series pays tribute to the work of Dr. Gilbert (’65), celebrating his academic and scholarly contributions to Canada’s post-secondary education sector as former President of Lakehead University and a Director on the Acadia Alumni Association Board. For more on Dr. Gilbert and his remarkable life and achievements, please visit the memorial page.

All spots for this event have been filled. Any questions can be directed to Colin Mitchell at 131403m@acadiau.ca

Suggested attire is semi-formal.

Panelist bios:

Rachel Gilmore, Investigative Report, Check My Ads Institute

Rachel Gilmore is a rising star in Canadian journalism, covering threats to democracy through her popular Instagram and TikTok accounts. Rachel is currently an Investigative Reporter with Check My Ads, a non-partisan advertising watchdog organization covering threats to democracy. Rachel previously worked at CTV's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa and producing CTV Power Play with Don Martin. She began writing for CTVNews.ca in January 2019, where you could find her running between Parliament Hill and the CTV office as she alternated between packed scrums, press conferences, and poring over piles of documents.

Born and raised in Ottawa – with a brief break to live in England – Rachel has been covering Parliament Hill since 2016. She started her journalistic career with an internship at APTN's Ottawa office before diving into political coverage head-first at CPAC. She was then hired at iPolitics, where she reported on Indigenous, energy and environmental issues before starting at CTV.

Rachel graduated with high honours from Carleton University in 2016 with a joint journalism and human rights degree. She speaks English, French and some Spanish.

Michael De Adder, Cartoonist, The Washington Post

Michael de Adder was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He studied art at Mount Allison University, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting. He began his career working for The Coast, a Halifax-based alternative weekly, drawing a popular comic strip called Walterworld, which lampooned the then-current mayor of Halifax, Walter Fitzgerald. This led to freelance jobs at The Chronicle-Herald and The Hill Times in Ottawa, Ontario.

After freelancing for a few years, de Adder landed his first full-time cartooning job at the Halifax Daily News. After the Daily News folded in 2008, he became the full-time freelance cartoonist at New Brunswick Publishing. He was let go for political views expressed through his work, including a cartoon depicting U.S. President Donald Trump’s border policies. He now freelances for the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, The Toronto Star, Ottawa Hill Times and Counterpoint in the USA. He has over a million readers per day and is considered the most read cartoonist in Canada.

Michael de Adder has won numerous awards for his work, including seven Atlantic Journalism Awards plus a Gold Innovation Award for news animation in 2008. He won the Association of Editorial Cartoonists' 2002 Golden Spike Award for best editorial cartoon spiked by an editor and the Association of Canadian Cartoonists 2014 Townsend Award. The National Cartoonists Society for the Reuben Award has shortlisted him in the Editorial Cartooning category. He is a past president of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists and spent 10 years on the board of the Cartoonists Rights Network.

Dr. Alex Marland, Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership, Acadia University

Alex Marland researches what goes on the backrooms of Canadian politics. He is trusted by politicians and political advisors to share their stories in an even-handed manner. A fierce consumer of Canadian political news and a frequent media commentator, he is the author or lead editor of over a dozen books including the award-winning Brand Command: Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control and Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada. As a Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership, he is actively developing programming to train the next generation of political leaders.

Dr. Marland has a PhD in Politics from Lancaster University, an MA in Political Science from Memorial University Newfoundland, and a BA (Honours) in Political Science from Carleton University.