The School of Creative Arts’ UWindsor Chamber Choir, directed by Bruce J. G. Kotowich, will take its songs on the road to perform for high school students in Windsor-Essex, London, Stratford and the Toronto area.

The tour will run April 21 to 27, and will include performances at two area elementary schools Friday.

In addition, Dr. Kotowich and choristers will give a choral conducting workshop for high school music teachers from both public and Catholic school boards Friday morning. Music education professor Janice Waldron will lead a workshop on band conducting Friday as well. 

The choir will reprise the program from its April 8 spring concert and perform new material on the tour:

• Thursday, April 21
  9:50 a.m. performance at Cardinal Carter Catholic High School, Leamington
  12:15 p.m. performance and workshop at Kingsville District High School, Kingsville
• Friday, April 22
  8:30 a.m. choral conducting workshop, Sandwich Secondary School
  11:40 a.m. performance at Sandwich West Public School
  1:30 p.m. performance at Bellewood Elementary School
• Monday, April 25
  8:45 a.m. performance for students at H.B. Beal and Catholic Central high schools at Dundas Street Centre United Church, London
  1:15 p.m. performance at Central Secondary School, London
• Tuesday, April 26
  9 a.m. performance and workshop at Stratford Central Secondary School, Stratford
  2 p.m. attend the Stratford Festival’s production of A Chorus Line
• Wednesday, April 27
  9 a.m. performance and workshop at Alexander Mackenzie High School, Richmond Hill
  12:40 p.m. performance and workshop at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, Toronto

Monday morning’s performance in London is open to the public. Find more information, including the full repertoire, in the tour schedule.

The Research Showcase, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at Devonshire Mall, will give the community an opportunity to engage with faculty and student researchers and see the impact of work taking place at UWindsor.

Exhibits geared to all age groups will cover such diverse topics as local French-Canadian history; cancer research; electric vehicle design; fish behaviour; 3D printing for manufacturing; and connecting science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics education to the cultures of Aboriginal Peoples.

The annual event is sponsored by the Office of Research and Innovation Services. Devonshire Mall is located at 3100 Howard Avenue.

An investment of nearly $400,000 in recycling stations over the past eight years has been a great leap forward in UWindsor’s efforts to be more environmentally responsible—though there is still one thing missing, according to John Regier, manager of environmental services.

“We just need people to sort their waste and put it in its proper place,” he says. “We have recycling stations in virtually every classroom and our collection rates could be even better if all users took a few seconds to consider how they use the bins.”

Regier says custodians do a great job of sorting the few stray items that find their way into the wrong container, but too many can mean that a bag of potential recyclables has to be thrown away as trash.

“We do an annual waste audit and our next project is to re-label our recycle stations to get better compliance,” he says. “We have a system that is comparable to most universities and in some areas we do better than others, but we are always looking for ways to improve.”

Where the university really shines, Regier says, is in its collection of 95 percent of such e-waste as computers and televisions, as well as construction debris and metal recycling from old office furniture.

“For example, if a lab is going to update all of their computers, the purchasing department is notified and IT can take the hard drives and wipe them. We are then notified of computers for disposal and we take these bulk items and ensure they are properly recycled and sell our e-waste to a company that will strip them and separate plastics from valuable metals.”

The campus community may also be surprised to know that environmental services composts its own yard waste in a designated lot near California and College avenues. A considerable amount of the compost is used on campus, with overflow transferred to the City of Windsor’s compost heap as necessary.

Regier says he also has an eye to establishing a clean, safe method of food composting with high student involvement.

“That’s our next project, but we’ve come a long way in just the past decade,” he says. “The university has a real interest in this and we are committed to recycling as much as we can, no matter what it is. There will always be room for improvement, but we are putting in a lot of effort and we are always game to try new things. If people have suggestions we are keen to hear them, and if possible we will make them happen.”

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles celebrating the University’s environmental stewardship, leading up to Earth Day, April 22.

“One of our sons is coming home,” provost Douglas Kneale said Tuesday in announcing the appointment of UWindsor alumnus Ryan Flannagan (BA political science 2000) as the University’s inaugural associate vice-president, student experience.

Flannagan, who will take up his new post July 1, has been director of student affairs at Carleton University since 2008. He had previously worked for nine years in the federal public service in the Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, the Privy Council Office, Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada and Health Canada, where he spent two years as national manager for addiction programs.

Dr. Kneale invited members of the campus community to offer Flannagan support as he returns to his alma mater to take on this important leadership role.

The short-listed candidate for the position of Dean of the Odette School of Business will make a public appearance during a visit to campus next week.

Members of the University community are invited to meet Darren Meister, review his curriculum vitae, and submit written comments on his suitability. Dr. Meister is an associate professor in Western University’s Richard Ivey School of Business, where he holds the John M. Thompson Chair in Engineering Leadership and Innovation.

He will make a presentation Monday, April 25, at 11 a.m. in room 123, Odette Building.

The candidate’s CV is available for viewing on http://www1.uwindsor.ca/provost/dean-of-business-search. Note: this page is password-protected and can be accessed only with a UWin ID and password.

The search committee invites written comments, submitted in confidence to Iva Gentcheva, ivag@uwindsor.ca, by April 29.