Staff

January 4, 2018 marked a historic moment for students, faculty and staff at UWindsor’s School of Creative Arts.

Over the last four years, the late-19^th-century Romanesque structure in the city’s downtown core reverberated with the frenzied sounds of construction.

But on Thursday, the notes from students practising piano and lectures by professors in classrooms drifted up to fill the lofty Windsor Armouries.

Nadia Azar enjoys concerts differently than you and me.

Packed into a music venue, swaying with the crowd, Dr. Azar narrows her focus on the musician at the back of the stage.

“What you’re supposed to be thinking about when you’re at a rock concert is what’s going on with the drummer’s back muscles, right?” Azar joked.

Azar, an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Windsor, has launched a study into the biomechanics and muscle activation patterns of drummers.

UWindsor’s Adapted Physical Exercise (APEX) Research Group in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Living Essex County kicked off the continuation of their exercise program on Wednesday.

The program, titled Fit Together, takes participants with autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability and trains them in two, 90-minute exercise sessions a week for 12 weeks.

The campus campaign for United Way has topped $80,000, officials report, while waiting on a number of donors who gave last year.

“Our faculty and staff have pledged more than $71,000 so far this year, with retirees accounting for an additional $11,000,” says co-chair Sheri Lowrie. “However, there is a large group of previous supporters who have not yet sent in a donation. We are hoping to encourage them with a last big push.”

She hopes that final push will come when UWindsor employees are reminded of the incentive draw slated for the appreciation event December 4.