A séance isn’t the only chance to speak with spirits this weekend—audience members will have a chance to engage the directors and actors of the University Players production of Blithe Spirit following Sunday’s matinee performance.

The show, a comedic tour de force by Noël Coward, opens tonight—Friday, October 23—and continues through November 8 in the Hatch Studio Theatre. The “Talk Back” discussion is set for Sunday, October 25.

Wednesday through Saturday performances are at 8 p.m. Sunday performances and a matinee on Saturday, October 31, are at 2 p.m. The Hatch Studio Theatre is located in the Jackman Dramatic Art Centre. Order tickets online at www.UniversityPlayers.com or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.

The University’s efforts toward workplace wellness received a boost Wednesday, with a “platinum level” award from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

The Healthy Workplace Award acknowledges the University’s leadership in “developing and implementing programs and policies that promote and support the health and well-being” of employees, retirees and their families. The campus was one of 29 local workplaces honoured.

“This achievement is the result of the work of many individuals and departments across campus,” says Marcela Ciampa, manager of employee engagement and development for the Department of Human Resources. “The award not only recognizes the work being carried out by the Department of Human Resources and the Workplace Wellness Committee, it also recognizes the health promotion activities and programs being performed by many individuals and departments across the University.”

The nomination submission highlighted:

• the Take the Stairs Campaign, launched in March 2015 to challenge employees to take the stairs rather than elevators during the workday;
• monthly Wellness e-digests and seminars; and
• the Weight Watchers on Campus group.

The Workplace Wellness Committee continues to seek ideas to improve the well-being of employees, Ciampa says. She invites submissions to the committee’s online suggestion box.

The final games of the season for football and soccer, the first games of the season for volleyball, and home games for hockey are all on the varsity schedule for this weekend.

Lancer football will host the Waterloo Warriors on Alumni Field at 1 p.m. Saturday, October 24. It will be the final game of the season for Windsor, as well as for fifth-year players Kuinton Elliott, David Flewelling, John Langley, Gilbert Stewart and Jeremy Veres. The team will also honour its graduating seniors: linemen Randy Beardy, Daniel Benson, Travis Durocher and Jeremy Rogers; linebackers Joe Iatzko and Frank Renaud; receivers Mark Carter and Scott McEwen; and running backs Nate O’Halloran and Tarrence Crawford.

The game is also Windsor’s contribution to the OUA Tackles Breast Cancer initiative. Athletes will wear pink in support of the month-long awareness campaign, and fans will be able to purchase pink Lancer toques and t-shirts.

Soccer will finish its regular season by hosting the Western Mustangs, Sunday on Alumni Field. The men’s team, leading Ontario University Athletics with 37 points, will play at 3:15 p.m. The women, who are also playoff-bound, will play the Mustangs at 1 p.m.

The men will celebrate the contributions of fifth-year athletes Derrick Amankwa, Tony Falkestajn, Akbal Gill and Michael Pio; and fourth-years Lyowuna Jumbo and Jack Sargent. The women will honour fifth-year player Laura Lecce and graduating seniors Cara Cirovski, Jaclyn Faraci and Meg Roberts.

The men’s volleyball team will open league play Friday with a rematch of last year’s OUA bronze medal game, playing the York Lions in Toronto. The squad will then travel to Nipissing to play the Lakers on Saturday. The Lancer women will open their season Saturday against Western in London, and play its first home game against the Brock Badgers, Sunday at 1 p.m. in the St. Denis Centre.

Both hockey programs return to South Windsor Arena, with the men hosting the UOIT Ridgebacks for games Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and the women facing off against the Toronto Varsity Blues at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The men’s basketball team is in St. Catharines for the Brock Classic tournament, while the women are in the Maritimes for pre-season contests against the University of New Brunswick and Saint Mary’s.

Season tickets for all Lancer sports are available at www.goLancers.ca/tickets.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport has selected Lancer football alumnus Austin Kennedy (BComm 2015) as one of its Top Eight Academic All-Canadians for the 2014-15 season.

Academic All-Canadians must achieve a minimum grade point average of 80 percent while competing in varsity sport. From their ranks, each of the four CIS regional associations selects one female and one male student-athlete to make up the top eight.

Kennedy, a Windsor native, is the sixth Lancer in the past 10 years to represent Ontario University Athletics in this group. Football head coach Joe D’Amore called him “a perfect example” of a student-athlete.

“He was not only a record-breaking star on the football field, but he held the highest GPA on our team for four years and showed an incredible work ethic in everything he did,” D’Amore said.

In five seasons playing quarterback for Windsor, Kennedy tied a provincial record with 79 career touchdown passes. He graduated as the Lancers’ all-time leader in most passing categories and was a three-time all-star, twice voted his team’s most valuable player.

His academic accomplishments include graduating with distinction from the Odette School of Business, where he majored in finance, qualifying for the dean’s list and the president’s honour roll.

Read the full story at goLancers.ca. Find a list of all 61 UWindsor student-athletes named Academic All-Canadians for the 2014-15 year.