A free public reception Thursday, April 28, will launch new books of poetry by two professors in the UWindsor Department of English Language, Literature and Creative Writing.

The event will introduce Whelmed by Nicole Markotić and Throaty Wipes by Susan Holbrook.

Dr. Markotić is the author of the poetry books connect the dots, Minotaurs & Other Alphabets, Bent at the Spine, and the chapbooks widows & orphans, more excess, he & [he] and tracking the game. A collection of her critical essays, Disability in Film and Literature, is forthcoming from McFarland and Co.

Dr. Holbrook’s poetry books include Joy Is So Exhausting, Good Egg Bad Seed and misled. With Thomas Dilworth she edited The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson: Composition as Conversation. Her textbook How to Read (and Write About) Poetry was released in 2015.

Thursday’s event begins at 7 p.m. at Biblioasis, 1520 Wyandotte Street East.

Students from five local secondary schools—and one in Michigan—will meet on the UWindsor campus this weekend to debate, discuss and deliberate world issues. The University’s Model United Nations is hosting the high school conference Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30.

The teens will serve in a mock General Assembly exploring the topic of gender equality, a NATO committee discussing cyber-security, a Security Council debating approaches to the challenge of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and a crisis committee that will consider an alternate history in which the D-Day invasion of Nazi-held France failed. In addition, delegates may take on the role of journalists reporting on the proceedings in real time.

Participating schools include Windsor’s Assumption College, Catholic Central, St. Jospeh’s and Vincent Massey secondary schools, Tecumseh Vista Academy and Michigan’s Troy Athens High School.

Secretary-General Kirthana Sasitharan, a UWindsor drama student, says the international attendance is especially appropriate, given that the theme of the conference is “Border Culture.”

“We encourage our delegates to keep in mind the role that the border plays in affecting international relations,” she says. “Windsor, being known as a border city, plays an important role in the development of our relationship with the United States.”

Windsor West MP Brian Masse and Douglas George, Consul General of Canada in Detroit, will participate in the opening ceremonies Friday. The conference is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

MFA student Sarah van Sloten will showcase her artwork in a thesis exhibition through Saturday at SB Contemporary Art.

Combining text and symbols, the show promises pieces that are at once serious yet playful, odd, eclectic, awkward and sincere.

The public is invited to an opening reception, 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in the gallery at 1017 Church Street.

The Campus Bookstore will be open for any last-minute end-of-fiscal-year purchases from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, April 27 and 28, and from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, April 29.

It will close for year-end inventory for one-half day only, from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, April 29.

The Department of Human Resources is seeking staff to fill vacancies on the Training Advisory Committee, which provides guidance for the development and implementation of the annual professional development calendar.

The calendar is comprised of learning opportunities designed to enhance abilities, skills and knowledge for which there is immediate and practical on-the-job application.

Interested individuals are invited to complete the online Committee Interest Form by May 5. Learn more about the committee’s mandate on the Department of Human Resources website. For additional information, contact Marcela Ciampa, manager of employee engagement and development, at 519-253-3000, ext. 2060, or by e-mail at mciampa@uwindsor.ca.