An environmental education can give you the knowledge to:

• Identify problems such as climate change, acid mine drainage, contaminated drinking water, invasive species, industrial air pollution, and related health issues;
• Build solutions that are effective at controlling pollution, promote recovery and rehabilitation, and that meet the needs of different peoples, species, and ecosystems;
• Prevent recurrences through understanding the causes, setting public policy, and passing environmentally-friendly laws.

The UWindsor programs in earth and environmental sciences, environmental engineering and environmental studies present an opportunity to explore the possibilities during Careers in the Environment: Transform your world, an open forum with guests from government, private industry and academic institutions, starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, November 20, in the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation.

Find details on the event Web site.

What if you could help someone in need without making a real sacrifice?

That’s the assumption behind a charity collection drive organized by the campus Womyn’s Centre, which in addition to soliciting donations of canned goods and clothing to benefit clients of local women’s shelters, is hoping to collect toiletries and other personal care products.

“People tend to forget the stuff we use daily—hair brushes, elastics, make-up, deodorant, soap and shampoo, toothbrushes or razors,” says coordinator Tracy Huynh. “But the shelters see patrons come and go, and they all need these personal items to get their lives on track.”

The best part, she says, is that it doesn’t have to cost the giver anything.

“I noticed for so many occasions, women receive these elaborate gift baskets, filled with body lotions, bath beads, scented oils, and usually there is one product you want and the rest can go to waste,” she says. “Now we can offer people a place to bring all the unused stuff they have just sitting around.”

Besides gift baskets, there are other sources of “freebies,” Huynh notes: the complimentary samples collected during hotel stays, the extra items in a two-for-one sale offer, the giveaways bundled with the product you really needed.

She in no way means to understate the need for non-perishable food items and clothing. The centre, located on the second floor of the CAW Student Centre, will collect all donations through the month of November for delivery to the Blue House drop-in centre and the Well-Come Centre for Human Potential emergency shelter.

Senate approved “the School for Arts and Creative Innovation” as the name of the merged music, film production, visual arts and urban ecology programs at its meeting November 9.

“The new name recognizes the leadership of the arts in the digital economy and the evolution of a new culture,” says Cecil Houston, acting director of the new school. “Our graduates are creating the visual and sonic codes and designs that support the innumerable technical creations of our times.”

He says creative innovators are guiding society through an uncharted technical phase in human history and imagining new ways to organize human communities.

The change in name anticipates the re-organization and the 2014 relocation of the schools of music and visual arts to the renovated Armouries and bus depot buildings downtown.

Senate approves medical notes from nurse practitioners

Students will be able to request consideration for a missed academic responsibility due to medical reasons specified by nurse practitioners as well as doctors, under a policy change approved by Senate at its November 9 meeting.

Students must submit a Standard Medical Certificate form; previously, they required confirmation by a doctor. Now medical notes may be authorized by a doctor or a nurse practitioner.

Senate also asked its Academic Policy Committee to develop and bring forward a policy that will allow students to take advantage of a much broader range of health care professionals.

Kevin Laforet, president of Caesars Windsor, will deliver an address entitled “Beyond the glitz: Driving casino success through the service-profit chain” as the next instalment of the Odette School of Business Breakfast with Champions speaker series on Thursday, November 15.

Laforet, a UWindsor business grad (BComm 1981), has been in the unique position of opening four casino properties—the interim Casino Windsor facility in 1994, the Northern Belle Riverboat Casino in 1995, the permanent facility in 1998 and the expansion and rebranding to Caesars Windsor in 2008.

He has served as a member of the University of Windsor’s Board of Governors, a member of Windsor’s MRI Fund Raising Campaign, the board of directors for the United Way of Windsor-Essex County and the Windsor branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ontario. His employment experience before entering the gaming industry includes positions with Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, Union Gas Limited and Ernst & Young.

Thursday’s event will begin with a continental breakfast at 7:30 a.m., follow with the presentation and discussion at 8 a.m., and conclude by 9 a.m. at Caesars Windsor.

The Breakfast with Champions speaker series is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. RSVP on a first-come, first-served basis to Barbara Barone at 519-971-3678 or e-mail bbarone@uwindsor.ca.

Many athletes imagine victory as a method for motivating themselves, but picturing obstacles to success – and overcoming them – may be a better way to improve mental toughness and achieve their goals, according to a kinesiology researcher.

“It seems counterintuitive, but it works,” says Krista Chandler, a professor specializing in sport and exercise psychology who was recently quoted on the subject in an article in the popular magazine Men’s Health. “If you imagine you’re running a marathon, you picture what it’s like to get to the twenty second mile and not being able to continue, but then imagine yourself overcoming that adversity. That reinforces the same neural pathways as executing the behavior.”

Dr. Chandler was asked for her opinions on mental toughness after an article she co-authored about a research study on the subject appeared in the academic Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. The study involved surveying more than 150 varsity athletes to get a sense of the relationship between their use of imagery and mental toughness.

“Mental toughness is a term that’s often used in sports, but it’s such an elusive concept,” she said. “Research on the subject is still in its infancy, and only recently have some operational definitions been advanced. Until you have a definition, how can you have accurate measurement tools to assess someone’s mental toughness? That’s what coaches and athletes want. That’s the tangible aspect to it.”

Student athletes in such sports as hockey, football, basketball, volleyball, curling and track and field were asked to fill out the Sport Imagery Questionnaire, a 30-item inventory that assesses their frequency of imagery use. They were asked to grade their level of agreement with such statements as “I imagine myself successfully following my game/event plan,” “I imagine myself winning a medal,” and “I imagine myself being in control in difficult situations.”

After scoring their answers with a scale called the Mental Toughness Inventory, Chandler found that imagery use – especially motivational general-mastery (MG-M), which involves images of feeling confident and in control – is a strong and significant predictor of mental toughness.

“The more vivid the image is, the more effective it’s going to be at producing a desirable outcome,” Chandler added.

Understanding what types of imagery athletes use most effectively will help coaches and athletes nurture the skill and incorporate it into their training, and ultimately improve their results, Chandler said.

“There is increasing demand for strategies aimed at the development of mental toughness,” she said “so it’s essential to clarify precisely which techniques should be included in psychological skills training programs aimed at developing or enhancing this construct.”

The Graduate Studies Showcase, Wednesday in the CAW Student Centre Commons, is structured to provide a range of perspectives. Faculty members and current students will be on hand to answer questions about admissions, research, scholarships and other funding, program requirements and future job opportunities.

Each of the University’s master’s and doctoral programs will be represented at the event, which runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The International Wednesdays documentary series presents a screening of The Fog of War on Wednesday, November 14, at noon in the International Student Centre on the second floor of Laurier Hall.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is the sole focus of documentarian Errol Morris’ 2003 film, which not only analyzes McNamara’s controversial decisions during the first half of the Vietnam War, but also his childhood upbringing, his education at Berkeley and Harvard, his involvement in World War II, and his later years as president of the World Bank to illustrate 11 lessons:

1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There’s something beyond one’s self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can’t change human nature.

International Wednesdays screenings are free and open to the public.

Canadians usually learn about their history from the perspective of rulers—from the top down. Author Scott Neigh aims to explore the perspectives of ordinary people—from the bottom up.

“Whatever liberty and justice that communities, workplaces and individuals in Canada enjoy are due to the many struggles and social movements in our country’s history,” says Neigh. “Yet the stories and histories of those movements to overcome racism, sexism, and poverty, for example, remain largely untold, thanks to the single, simplistic national story taught to us in school.”

He will launch two books in a series entitled “Canadian History Through the Stories of Activists” with a free public talk on Wednesday, November 14, at 7 p.m. in Vanier Hall’s Katzman Lounge.

Gender and Sexuality unearths a diverse spectrum of struggle through the accounts of longstanding social movement participants. From indigenous women working against colonization and Christian women trying to end sexism and homophobia in their churches, to gay men opposing sexual oppression and women fighting against hostile employers and violence, the book reveals the ways that oppressions based on gender and sexuality—and the struggles against them—have shaped society.

In Resisting the State, Neigh details the histories of a broad range of social movements and provides readers with a richer understanding of the Canadian state and why so many people—including military draftees, welfare recipients, workers, indigenous people, psychiatric survivors, immigrants and refugees—have struggled, and continue to struggle, for equality and justice for all members of society.

The event is sponsored by OPIRG Windsor and the Centre for Studies in Social Justice. Learn more about these books and the project of which they are a part at http://talkingradical.ca/.

Complications from the flu can be very serious, but help is on the way.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit will administer free immunization at flu vaccine clinics in the CAW Student Centre's Ambassador Auditorium:

• Wednesday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Thursday, November 22, from noon to 8 p.m.

All Ontario residents are eligible for the free vaccine, including out-of-province and international students and their families. Just bring identification proving Ontario residency, such as a health card, student card, or driver's license. International students and their family members should be prepared to show a visa or passport.

For more information on the flu, the vaccine, or this clinic, contact the campus health promotion nurse at 519-253-3000, ext. 3260 or visit the Web site www.uwindsor.ca/health.

The University’s warehouse in the United States will close Thursday and Friday, November 22 and 23, to celebrate US Thanksgiving.

Anyone expecting perishable shipments to come through the facility at that time should take measures to ensure they arrive no later than Monday, November 19, to ensure they clear customs for delivery to campus before the weekend.

For more information, contact Evelyn St. Pierre at 519-253-3000, ext. 2083.