Two Lancer head coaches will receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal on Wednesday, January 23. Women’s basketball coach Chantal Vallée and cross-country and track coach Dennis Fairall—each of whom won Canadian Interuniversity championships in 2012—will be honoured for the outstanding leadership they provide varsity student-athletes.

The Canadian government created the medal to mark significant achievements in celebration of the jubilee year, marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s ascension to the throne.

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin will present Fairall with his medal in a private ceremony Wednesday evening at the Windsor Yacht Club. Fairall is the most decorated head coach in the history of Canadian university athletics, honoured a record 38 times as national or provincial coach of the year. His Lancer teams have won 24 national and 43 Ontario championships.

Brian Masse, MP for Windsor West, will present Vallée with her medal in a ceremony before the Lancers’ game against the McMaster Marauders at the St. Denis Centre. He cited her community outreach in calling her a “slam-dunk” as a Jubilee medal recipient.

“Her inspirational mentorship has motivated so many to push beyond their perceived limitations,” Masse said. “By instilling this determination and emphasizing positive community involvement, Coach Vallée is helping to create a new generation of role models for young people to admire and emulate.”

The ceremony is set to start at 5:55 p.m., with tip-off slated for 6:05 p.m. Wednesday’s basketball doubleheader will also air live locally on TV Cogeco and will be webcast on UStream.

The reigning two-time CIS champion women’s squad boasts an unblemished 13-0 record, putting them back on top of the national rankings. The Lancer men, who will play at 8 p.m., are fifth in the national rankings with a 10-3 record.

The University of Windsor is taking a lead role in trying to prevent sexual assaults on Canadian campuses, according to Charlene Senn.

“We are doing something truly unique here,” says Dr. Senn, a professor of psychology and women’s studies, who will deliver a talk on the subject this afternoon.

Senn was referring to the Bystander Initiative, a workshop that teaches both men and women about how to prevent sexual assaults before they occur. The three-hour workshop was taught to about 300 second-year psychology and criminology students last fall, while two upper-level, full-term courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences prepare potential facilitators on how to teach the workshop to others.

“We’re the only ones in North America building this into our curriculum,” says Senn. “We’re the first ones to bring this workshop into Canada, and the first ones to institutionalize it as part of our curriculum.”

The workshop, which will be offered again next fall, helps participants better understand the impact sexual assault has on victims, provides them with skills on how to effectively intervene, and helps them realize the consequences if they don’t take action to help prevent assaults from occurring. Senn credited colleague Anne Forrest, director of the women’s studies program, with being instrumental in getting the material incorporated into the university’s curriculum.

“This has the potential to create a lot of change, because it really affects everyone,” she said.

Besides offering the program, Senn and her colleagues are also concurrently conducting research on it in order to measure its effectiveness. Ultimately, she hopes it will reach a wider audience and reduce the number of assaults that occur on Canadian campuses.

According to a highly cited 2000 study by Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes for the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five women reported having been raped in their lifetime. The figure jumps to about one in four on university campuses, according to Senn, who attributed the increase to the fact there’s a higher concentration of women within the age group that are typically assaulted.

“The statistics here are about the same as any other Canadian campus,” she said.

As part of the Humanities Research Group’s 2012-13 Martin Wesley Series, Senn will deliver a public lecture called Sexual Assault is Happening Here: Research Translating Knowledge Into Campus Interventions. The talk will be held at 4 p.m. today in the McPherson Lounge at Alumni Hall. A reception will follow the lecture.

Two UWindsor music instructors headline a great line-up for a fundraising jazz concert at All Saints’ Anglican Church on Friday, January 25.

Vocalist Shahida Nurullah and guitarist Vaughn Klugh will lend their talents to an “Evening of Jazz” at 7:30 p.m. in the church’s Scott Hall, 330 City Hall Square. Alumnus Jeff Wilkinson on guitar and current students Dan Lankoff on piano and Keith Wilkinson on bass are also part of the ensemble, along with saxophonist Dave Belch, singer Leah Wilkinson, and drummers Justin Kersey, Kent McMillan and Jeff Simpson.

Admission is $10; only 100 tickets will be sold, available at the door or at the Music Building office.

Just hours after sending out an e-mail invitation for employees to participate in a questionnaire about their parking preferences, Parking Services received hundreds of responses.

“The initial message went out at around 3:15 Friday afternoon and by 5 p.m. there were over 400 respondents,” says Laurie Butler, manager of Campus Parking Services.

As of Tuesday, that number was more than 800.

It’s a good rate of return, but there’s still a long way to go, says Anna Kirby, executive director of Campus Services. She is hoping that every member of faculty and staff will reply by the January 31 deadline.

“We will use the results of the rankings to assign every permit available to faculty and staff,” she says. “It is imperative that we reach every one of our permit holders so they have a chance to express their parking preferences.”

The opening of a new parking structure at the corner of Wyandotte Street and Sunset Avenue in September 2013 and the closure of several surface parking lots has prompted the reorganization of all employee permits. The questionnaire was distributed Friday to all UWindsor employee e-mail accounts; a printed version is available to staff who do not have access to e-mail.

• Learn more about the parking permit reallocation process.
• Consult a map of changes to parking effective September 2013.
• Complete the ranking questionnaire to secure your top choices.

Leaving windows open in campus offices, classrooms and labs can be detrimental to buildings’ health, says Facility Services.

The reminder was prompted by an incident last weekend, when a window was left open, freezing water pipes which burst and caused a great deal of damage inside the building.

Although the cold weather this week should provide its own reminder to keep windows closed, freezing temperatures aren’t the only hazard, says administrative assistant Pat Roberts.

“When windows are left open and rooms are empty, we’ve had squirrels climb right in looking for warmth and food,” she says. “Of course that seems cute until the occupants return to find a wild animal on the loose, causing damage to their furniture, papers and electronics.”

She reminds anyone who does find a broken water pipe to immediately alert Maintenance Dispatch at 519-253-3000, ext. 2850.