While science and theology may remain at odds over what happens when we die, philosophers like Jeff Noonan are focused on getting the most out of life while they’re still here on earth.

“Socrates said that philosophy is preparation for death,” said Dr. Noonan, who will deliver a public lecture on the subject next week. “He didn’t mean that in a morbid way. He meant that through the process of reflection we hopefully live better.”

The head of the university’s Philosophy department, Noonan will deliver a talk on Jan. 30 in Alumni Hall’s McPherson Lounge called Atheism, Materialism and Love of Life. Part of the Humanities Research Group’s Martin Wesley lecture series, Noonan says the talk is a non-technical one he hopes will encourage members of the community to think about what he believes are “the most fundamentally important ideas that we all have to wrestle with as mortal human beings.”

“I want to try and present some fairly difficult ideas in a way that everyone can appreciate,” said Noonan, who will also appear on CJAM this afternoon to discuss some of the same subject matter. “I hope to get people to think about what they do while they’re here, rather than fear nothingness, or punishment, or whatever it is that people fear will happen after death.”

Noonan said the subject matter was partially inspired by a favourite quote from a character in Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain, who said, “We come out of the dark and we go into the dark again, and in between lies the experiences of our lives.”

“I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read,” said Noonan, who published a book last year called Materialistic Ethics and Life Value, which explores current patterns of global economic activity and provides a new way of understanding the universal conception of "the good life."

Noonan will appear today on Research Matters, a weekly talk show which focuses on the work of University of Windsor researchers and scholars and airs every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on CJAM 99.1 FM.

His free talk on Jan. 30 will begin at 4 p.m. Members of the public are welcome to attend, and a reception will follow the lecture.

Its new membership in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education will further the University of Windsor’s efforts toward building a healthy and just world, says Paul Henshaw, a professor of environmental engineering and the University’s environmental advocate.

The association enables higher education institutions to meet their sustainability goals by providing specialized resources, professional development, and a network of peer support. Membership covers every individual at an institution, so the entire campus community can take advantage of member benefits.

“We have now joined over 800 institutions in the USA and Canada in their journey toward sustainability,” says Dr. Henshaw. “Membership gives everyone in the university community access to information on best practices.”

The association hosts the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a comprehensive campus sustainability rating system that enables institutions to measure their progress and learn from others. With STARS as a roadmap, institutions can select meaningful and appropriate pathways to sustainability while conserving valuable resources, combating global warming, and building healthier communities. Its website offers extensive online resources and discussion forums for professional development and sharing knowledge.

Henshaw has provided links to the AASHE from the newly-launched UWindsor sustainability website: www.uwindsor.ca/sustainability.

The association’s executive director, Paul Rowland, welcomed new UWindsor members.

“We are delighted to have the University of Windsor on board and participating in the campus sustainability community,” he said. “This shows a real commitment to playing a leadership role in some of the biggest challenges of our time, and provides the campus community with access to thousands of examples of best practices in campus sustainability.”

UWindsor president Alan Wildeman will join Essex MP Jeff Watson and David Bogart, director of research programs and industry relations for the Ontario Brain Institute, for a media event Thursday showcasing two leading-edge research projects funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

The projects have the potential to

1. have an impact on the immediate assessment of patients at risk of sustaining brain injury; and
2. benefit the cognitive abilities of school-aged children.

The campus community is invited to today’s event, at noon January 24 in Katzman Lounge, Vanier Hall.

A plant is generally regarded as a biological entity that is rooted to a particular location, says Gunalan Nadarajan, but he aims to overturn this concept in his free public lecture “Moving Plants: Toward an Aesthetics of Phytodynamics,” Friday at 2 p.m. in room 1102, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

“Aristotle and his strict distinction of animals from plants by way of one’s capacity to move and the lack thereof in another, ensured that the botanical and related cultural discourses rarely discussed the sensitivity of plants seriously,” says Nadarajan, dean of the University of Michigan School of Art and Design. “The history of botany however is also riddled with experiments and observations on plant mobility and sensitivity that have systematically explained away such evidence as involuntary, inconsequential or anomalous.”

He will provide a genealogical account of this erasure through an annotated survey of the history of botany, and will follow that with a discussion of  botanists and scientists whose work has explored the neglected field of “phytodynamics,” the study of plant sensitivity and movement.

This event is presented by IN/TERMINUS: Media, Art, and Urban Ecologies, with support from the School for Arts and Creative Innovation and the Art Gallery of Windsor.

Nadarajan will also moderate a panel discussion at the Art Gallery of Windsor, titled “BorderTalk” and featuring artists Ed Pien, Leila Sujir, Lee Rodney, Mike Marcon and Sanaz Mazinani, at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 26. The gallery is located at 4021 Riverside Drive West.

Some members of UWindsor faculty and staff are extra-happy to have contributed to the 2012 campus campaign for United Way after winning prizes in a draw reserved for employee donors.

Among the prize winners are:

• A pass for one year free campus parking, courtesy of Campus Services
  Linda Patrick, Faculty of Nursing
• An extra vacation day, courtesy of the president’s office
  Mary Mitchell, Faculty of Law; Vicki Jay Leung, Law Library; Louise Pillon, Centre for English Language Development
• A ticket to each of three winter semester productions, courtesy of University Players
  Kerri Zold, Centre for Career Education; Arla Peters, Finance
• Two ticket passes to the concert of your choice, courtesy of the School of Music
  Laverne Jacobs, Faculty of Law; Tracy Schulz, Law Library; Stephen Fields, Public Affairs and Communications; Jeff Noonan, Department of Philosophy
• A year’s membership to the Forge Fitness Centre, courtesy of Athletics and Recreation Services
  Michael Boffa, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

The campaign plans to announce its 2012 fundraising totals at a wrap-up event in February.

Audrey Giles, associate professor in the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics, will deliver a free public lecture entitled “Why Culture Matters in Sport and Recreation: Applied Examples from Research with Aboriginal Communities,” at noon Friday, January 25, in room 145, Human Kinetics Building.

Dr. Giles is co-editor of the 2012 book Aboriginal Peoples and Sport in Canada: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Issues, which uses sport as a lens through which to examine issues such as individual and community health, gender and race relations, culture and colonialism, and self-determination and agency.

Her lecture Friday is part of the Human Kinetics Speakers Series.

Facility Services will begin a 10-month project next week to update the small-scale floor plans of buildings across campus.

Consultants from DiMaio Design Associates will survey and measure all areas—labs, classrooms, offices, mechanical rooms, janitorial closets—in each building. Facility Services will notify the occupants of each affected building as their turns approach.