The Athena Scholarship embodies the values of her chosen profession, says social worker Marianne Stoesser.

“It strives for the empowerment of people to develop to their full potential and become agents for positive change in the lives of individuals, families and the community,” says Stoesser (MSW 2012), who will receive the award at a luncheon Friday hosted by the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The award carries a cash value of $3,000 and recognizes community involvement, potential for leadership, demonstrated excellence and academic standing.

Stoesser was active in campus life, volunteering with the WalkSafe program, serving as a student representative on the MSW committee, and presenting her research at academic conferences. Her community involvement includes stints volunteering for the Hospice, Hiatus House, and Glengarda Child and Family Services.

She now works as a therapist for the Regional Children’s Centre.

Friday’s luncheon will also recognize Stoesser’s fellow recipients, St. Clair College journalism student Melissa Iarusso and Windsor native Suzanne Robinson, a Master’s candidate in clinical-developmental psychology at York University. Tickets for the event are $40 for adults and $25 for students, available from the Chamber at 519-966-3696.

An exhibition of installation and video work by MFA candidate Michael Dirisio will provide context for a discussion of financial precarity and alternative economies, Thursday, November 2, in the main gallery of Mackenzie Hall.

“The event will address the role that political art can play in engaging with the city and with each other, and how it can prompt a reconsideration of social norms and conventions,” says Dirisio.

He says the term “financial precarity” refers both to the tumultuous state of the global economy and the precariousness of labour, given the declining degree of job security.

Dirisio will screen a film he created and will moderate the discussion on causes of the global economic recession and how people can effect change, with panellists:

• philosophy professor Jeff Noonan on “The Cultural Contradictions of Neo-Liberalism,” and
• members of Broken City Lab on “The impact of neoliberalism on Windsor and what people are doing about it.”

He hopes the discussion proves constructive.

“That is one of the qualities that I appreciate in the arts, the ability to be creative and critical, the chance to rethink things,” Dirisio says. “Art can address these issues in unusual ways, and push or challenge boundaries that are often unquestioned.”

The event is free and open to the public, and starts at 7 p.m. The Mackenzie Hall Cultural centre is located at 3277 Sandwich Street.

A person’s vulnerability to a disease like HIV is more rooted in how they fit into a community and less on their individual behaviour – which might explain why youth from African, Caribbean and Black populations have higher rates of infection, according to a UWindsor sociology professor who is studying the problem.

“What we find in these communities is that people often feel like they don’t belong, and don’t feel like they have a future,” says Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, a Canada Research Chair in Social Justice and Sexual Health.

“When you don’t have hope for the future, you say ‘Why worry about the present? Why am I going to worry about this HIV thing? I’m just going to live and let live.’ So it’s not just the behaviour patterns, but it’s that whole social framework that surrounds them.”

According to statistics, African, Caribbean and Black people only account for about four per cent of Ontario's population, but heterosexual transmission in this population accounts for 29 per cent of new HIV cases. This burden extends beyond immigration from HIV-endemic countries. Anywhere from 20 to 60 per cent of infections occur after arrival in Canada, according to the 2011 Ontario Surveillance Report.

Maticka-Tyndale is part of a team of researchers that recently received about $375,000 in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to launch a program called Informing and Empowering African, Caribbean and Black Youth in Windsor.

The objective of the group is to mobilize the ACB community in Windsor-Essex, identify the factors that contribute to their increased vulnerability, and ultimately develop a risk reduction and prevention strategy that would lower the rates of infection.

Maticka-Tyndale will discuss the project when she appears today on Research Matters, a weekly talk show that airs every Thursday at 4:30 pm on CJAM 99.1 FM and showcases the work of University of Windsor researchers.

The campus community put its creativity on display as hundreds of University of Windsor faculty and staff haunted Winclare “A” Wednesday afternoon at the annual Hallowe'en social.

The Office of Public Affairs and Communications won first place in the group category and the prize of a pizza lunch for dressing up like sculptures in the riverfront sculpture park.

DailyNews offers a look at some of the other inventive costumes:

Provost Leo Groarke congratulates Carolin Lekic, whose Monopoly-inspired creation took top individual honours, winning her an extra day’s vacation.

This Star Wars-themed entry by the Faculty of Science won second place in the group category: a “fiesta break” from Catering Services.

Nursing professor Laurie Gibb won a special mention for her zombie Detroit Tiger. “There’s always next year!” she says.

Who is that masked man?

Bowman Denis Tetrault of earth and environmental sciences.

A pharaonic Jelena Magliaro.

Kinesiology professor Dave Andrews challenged students in his Wednesday morning class to join him in dressing up for Hallowe’en. Here are a few of their costumes:

Dr. Andrews went for a queen of the Nile look.

More muppety are Eric “Elmo” Leckie and Nicholas “Cookie Monster” Ouellette.

Speak no evil: Mimes Allison Torres and Corey Myslichuk take a silent approach.

And even with an NHL lockout, there’s no denying ice time to the Hanson brothers—Jon Woelk, Spencer Jean and Jason Clarke.

The International Student Centre will hold an information session on permanent immigration to Canada on Thursday, November 8, in room 102, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

The information sessions, held during fall and winter semesters, bring an officer from Canada Immigration and Citizenship to campus to explain the different application processes for permanent residence and citizenship in Canada.

Many international undergraduate and graduate students want to make the transition from temporary to permanent residence, and eventually to citizenship, says Enrique Chacon, international student advisor.

“The only way for students to get this information is online,” Chacon says. “There is no office to answer these questions, so it is a unique opportunity for an immigration officer to come to campus.”

The session, entitled “CIC - How to apply for Canadian PR”, runs from 1:30 to 3 p.m. All who are interested in the topic should attend, as the next session will be in 2013. Attendees are encouraged to first review the Immigration Canada Web site and prepare questions for clarification.

— by Chantelle Myers

Packianathan Chelladurai, a professor of sport and fitness management in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at Alabama’s Troy University, will deliver a free public lecture entitled “Manifestations of Sport and their Management,” at noon Friday, November 2, in room 145, Human Kinetics Building.

Dr. Chelladurai specializes in organizational theory and organizational behaviour in the context of sport. He is the former editor of the Journal of Sport Management and a current member of its editorial board. He is a founding member of the North American Society for Sport Management and the European Association for Sport Management.