UWindsor president Alan Wildeman announced a restructuring plan yesterday for the University Advancement division intended to more clearly align the activities and services Advancement provides with the University’s overarching goals.

These include a commitment to greater communication and engagement with its key community partners, a closer alignment of fundraising within the faculties, and the need to see its financial and human resources aligned most effectively.

Key activities within University Advancement include alumni relations, donor relations and stewardship, finance and donor records, and fundraising. The changes announced yesterday will reposition these key activities differently within the University.

Click here for the full announcement.

Today—Friday, January 18—will mark the University’s first Screen Free Day: everyone is encouraged to turn off all devices that have a screen and use traditional methods instead of technology to get through the day.

Rev. Chris Valka of Campus Ministry says “Originally the event was going to be called ‘Turn off for Tolerance,’ but the name was changed when the event was made a part of Mental Health Awareness Week.”

Fourth-year concurrent education student J.C. Girard is also participating.

“It’s important to get in touch and re-connect with the people around us, in our immediate presence,” she says. “With the amount of technology we have access to, we get to a point where we are so connected that we’re disconnected.”

Girard says she belongs to the “immediate and entitled” generation.

“Everything is at your fingertips, so people expect to get what they want right now, no waiting,” she says. “Even saying please or thank you seems difficult because people are so busy with their technology that they forget the people that are physically there, right at the moment.”

She expects to struggle herself.

“I have to keep my phone turned off all day. Otherwise, if I get a call, I’ll start looking at my texts, then check my social networking apps, and probably end up playing games on my phone,” Girard admits. “I can’t have my phone near me at all if I do this.”

Participating students can get buttons which say “I’m turned off,” available free at the CAW Student Centre and the Toldo Health Education Centre. Valka also promises board games in the CAW Commons and free hot chocolate for students.

— article and photo by Komal Kundhal

The University’s commitment to environmental responsibility has won recognition from the Essex Region Conservation Authority. The authority conferred its 2012 Conservation Award for Environmental Achievement on the University at an awards ceremony held Thursday in Essex.

“We are very honoured to receive this award from ERCA, an organization that day in and day out, works to protect our environment and vital natural resources,” said UWindsor president Alan Wildeman. “The University has long held matters of the environment as a priority and will continue to provide education, research and community engagement to help our region be a leader in protecting our environment.”

In making the award, the authority cited:

• the University’s commitment to be a responsible steward of the environment as one of its core values;
• water quality research conducted at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research;
• the green roof and other environmental initiatives addressed in the construction of the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation;
• the University’s longstanding research partnerships with ERCA.

First-year student Lina Chaker received the Youth Conservation Award for her work to start a community composting program her South Windsor neighbourhood. Greening Kenilworth collects compostable materials from a network of neighbours and donates the compost to the community garden on Drouillard Road.

Chaker also heads the outreach subcommittee of the Windsor Islamic Association and has organized clean-up days at the mosque, and belongs to ERCA’s Youth Engagement Strategy (YES) Team.

Other honourees Thursday included Farm Award recipient John Fittler, Homestead Award recipient Essex County Carriage Club, Education Award recipient Bob Pettit, and the Town of Tecumseh for Municipal Environmental Achievement.

In addition to providing networking opportunities for students and graduates of the University of Windsor and St. Clair College, Tuesday’s job fair will give attendees the chance to have their resumes critiqued or to partake in a short mock interview.

The event, on the theme “A Partnership to the Future,” runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. January 22 in the Skyline Room, St. Clair Centre for the Arts. A free bus service will shuttle students from Vanier Circle to downtown every 30 minutes, starting at 9:30 a.m.

Find more information, including a list of attending companies, on the Centre for Career Education website.

Lancer men’s hockey captain Brett Vandehogan is known as “the Roadrunner” in Blenheim, where he starred on the Blenheim Blades junior team. Now an education student, he is working with local youth to pass on the skating skills that earned him that nickname.

Vandehogan and Lancer teammates Brett Oliphant, Spencer Pommells, Matt Renaud, D.J. Turner and Parker VanBuskirk—all involved in teaching and coaching—spent an hour on the ice with peewee players from the Blenheim area, Tuesday at Windsor Arena.

Eleven-year-old Seumas Hetherington saw first-hand how Vandehogan got his moniker.

“I can’t believe how fast those guys go!” he said. “I only hope I can be like that one day.”

Education professor Kara Smith said she appreciates seeing these young men find a way to repay some of the support they have received along the way.

“It is important that we remember and thank the communities and programs that made us,” she said. “I think providing free skills workshops, as these future teachers have done, is wonderful.”

Visual arts instructor Victor Romao (BFA 1991, BEd 1992, MFA 2010) and grad Pina Frabotta (BFA 1991) are two of four artists featured in “Telling Tales,” an exhibition opening this weekend at SB Contemporary Art.

The show focuses on drawings; all of the artists have been selected for the narrative quality of their work, says gallery owner Sarah Beveridge (BFA 1997).

“The new work of Victor Romao continues to be technically precise as he narrates a testosterone heavy subject matter that can be both shocking and humorous to the viewer at the same time,” she says.

Beveridge describes Frabotta’s art as “whimsical” and thought-provoking.

“There is a beautiful tension to Frabotta’s work that is fragile, vulnerable, but also so strong, honest and full of guts,” she says.

The exhibition also features works by artists Chris Down and Paula Cowan. A public reception will celebrate its opening Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. The show continues through February 23. SB Contemporary Art is located at 1017 Church Street, just south of Erie Street.

A workshop Saturday will provide an overview of the new environment created by social media and web 2.0 platforms.

Facilitator Eric Collard will lead a hands-on interactive workshop, “How to leverage social media and web 2.0 technologies to reach your stakeholders,” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. January 19, in room 144, Human Kinetics Building.

“We will look at different audiences, and the strategic use of time, and resources required to manage them effectively,” he promises. “You will also get exposed to successful collaboration and engagement principles.”

The event is organized by Leadership Advancement for Women in Sport but open to the public. The cost is $80 for students, $115 for LAWS members, and $150 for non-members. Find more information and an online registration form at www.l-a-w-s.org.

The Human Resources Department will send an e-mail to UWindsor faculty, staff and students to double-check its records in preparation for the distribution of T4 slips for the 2012 tax year.

The requests will use the hrprod@uwindsor.ca mailbox; the notice is a bona fide e-mail and is being sent to confirm that the University has an accurate mailing address on record. Directions for making address changes will be contained within the e-mail.

Direct any questions or concerns regarding this process directly to the hrprod@uwindsor.ca mailbox.