English At 50 | University of Waterloo

Susan Mrs. Susan Howard-Azzeh (BA 1995) came to the University of Waterloo to experience its unique, innovative approach to the study of English. Originally an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto (where she had a class with respected Canadian literary critic and theorist Northrop Frye), she wanted more than the traditional approach to “reading English.” Waterloo, known for its progressive style of education, had an applied program that appealed to her. UW’s surrounding parks, petting zoo and community also gave her a healthy environment in which to raise her then-young family of four children.

Passion for the study of English always motivated Susan’s goals and dreams. In elementary school she decided to become a University Professor of English. However, “life took me down another path,” she says. Susan especially enjoyed a second year class called “Rhetoric and Critical Analysis” taught by Dr. Paul Beam. She found the course challenging, thus it inspired her to work hard, gave her an entirely new approach to literature, and confirmed her as a primary source researcher. As a result of her outstanding achievement in the course, Dr. Beam invited Susan to do her Masters with him. Torn between pursuing her Master’s degree and family and community obligations, she chose to devote her time to family and to supporting her community in a time of crisis.

Thus she founded organizations such as the Community Dialogue on Racism (1994), the St. Catharines Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations (1997), the Niagara Palestinian Association (2001), the Niagara Coalition for Peace (2003), Nidah Building a National Voice for Palestinian Canadians (2005) and is involved with Independent Jewish Voices Canada (2008), all while being actively involved with her children and their schools. She regrets not having earned her MA, as it would have given her work academic credibility. Ironically, in 2001 she wrote a well-regarded report on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance for the federal department of Canadian Heritage which she didn’t realize at the time could have been used as a thesis for a Masters degree.

UW taught Susan skills she uses every day in every aspect of her life – writing on-line political pieces, a newspaper column, an ESL blog, and creative writing begun under Dr. Gordon Slethaug; acting as a public speaker and radio host; teaching Human Rights, Anti-racism and ESL courses at Niagara College; organizing numerous conferences and workshops for youth, police, employers, school boards, labour and faith groups; publishing items such as a manual on “Symbols Used by the Organized White Supremacist and Neo-Nazi Movement,” articles such as “Palestine: Children Under Occupation” and others; recently mobilizing and writing for the Ontario Health Coalition.

UW also taught her to analyze the “tsunami of information” to which we are all constantly exposed, and to critically read through propaganda. Predominantly, UW taught Susan perseverance.

Currently, Susan lives with her family in “beautiful, agricultural Niagara Region.” Her work earned her the first ever Human Rights Award from the Ontario Federation of Labour (1995), the YMCA Canada Peace Medal (1998), recognition from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (1999), the Canadian Islamic Congress Canadian Service Award (2005), and the YWCA Award for Public Affairs and Communication sponsored by the St. Catharines Standard newspaper (2009). At this stage of life she finds herself “in a period of flux,” deciding whether to teach English in the Middle East, to write her first book, or to simply paint.

Her husband (MA 1988) and daughter (BA 2008) are also UW grads.