A million-dollar donation by UWindsor professor emeritus and Faculty of Business alumnus David Wilson (B.Comm 1961), is the impetus behind groundbreaking on a new crossroads and gathering place in the heart of the University of Windsor's main campus.

At a naming event Friday, UWindsor president Alan Wildeman announced the David A. Wilson Campus Commons will replace a former parking lot on Sunset Avenue with a basketball court, performance stage, meeting and gathering spots, and new landscaping and lighting for the enjoyment of the entire campus community. Professor Wilson’s gift will also support scholarship and awards endowments.

Wilson, formerly chair of the Faculty of Business’s accounting area, has continued to keep close ties with the University since leaving to become chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, from which he retired as president in 2001. For his contributions to the University during and after his teaching years, he received the Clark Award in 2011.

“The University of Windsor is incredibly grateful for Professor Wilson’s support over the years and especially for this newest gift,” Dr. Wildeman said. “His contributions are all the more remarkable since he moved from Windsor many years ago and currently resides in Dublin, Ireland. He has never forgotten his community and the University of Windsor. By giving back, he is making both a better place.”

Wilson is widely recognized for his philanthropy, both at the University of Windsor and in the wider community. He was named Outstanding Philanthropist in 2015 by the Canada South Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in recognition of his support of such causes as both the Big Brothers/Big Sisters national organization, and the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters Windsor Essex agency.

In addition to several endowments and other gifts to Big Brothers/Big Sisters dating from the mid-1980s to 2014, Wilson sponsored the creation of the national body’s charitable foundation. In 2015, he committed the first $300,000 of a $500,000 donation to the Windsor Essex agency, about $150,000 of which was used to refurbish its Jefferson Avenue property, now called the David A. Wilson Park; the $350,000 balance funds an endowment in his name—its earnings will support in perpetuity the mentoring programs the agency provides to the Windsor-Essex community.

In addition to providing significant support toward the cost of developing the new David A. Wilson Campus Commons, a portion of Wilson’s new UWindsor gift will honour Allan Conway, retiring dean of the Odette School of Business, and will support the Professors Jack Freeman and David Wilson Excellence in Accounting Awards.

In addition, a significant portion of the funds will be added to the Isabel and David Wilson Nursing Scholarships Endowment. It, along with the Marilyn and Sandy Wilson Nursing Scholarship Endowment, were organized following his sister-in-law Marilyn’s death. Marilyn, as a student nurse, was assigned to Sandy and Dave’s mother and the two endowments honour the importance of the nurse-patient relationship.

“There is a clear, two-part philosophy behind my gifts to the University and other worthy causes,” Wilson says. “One is that to the extent you can do so, it’s a joy to give while you live. The other is that every gift is as important as any other gift, regardless of its size, as long as it is proportionate to the giver’s means. When people hear about organizations receiving large gifts, they may think that their gift is no longer needed. That will rarely if ever be the case. Good causes will always need broad, continuing support if they are to successfully serve the community.”

The Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network II (CAISN II) will finish its five-year term this week with its final conference hosted at the University of Windsor.

Its scientific director, Hugh MacIsaac, a professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), says the federal government originally established the network for a five-year term in 2006, with a goal of identifying and quantifying the pathways by which aquatic invasive species enter Canada.

“In the early 2000s, Canada was ill-prepared to address problems associated with invasive species,” Dr. MacIsaac says. “In response, the federal departments of Fisheries and Oceans, and Transport, created internal research groups and provided funding for external groups, while the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada provided network funding for the establishment of CAISN I.”

He says the network’s original goals included not only identifying and quantifying the ways invaders spread, but determining factors that affect their successful colonization and developing risk assessment models for potential and existing invasions.

In 2011, CAISN II followed up on this work over the next five years by focusing on new research themes of:

• Early detection;
• Rapid response;
• Invasive species as part of multiple aquatic stressors; and
• Reducing uncertainty in prediction and management of aquatic invasive species.

“Our networks dovetailed outstanding scientific research and problem characterization and resolution, while our federal and provincial partners played key roles in defining the problems addressed by CAISN networks and provided essential feedback,” MacIsaac says. “I’m often told by colleagues in other countries that they wished their own country took such an ordered and thorough approach to invasive species management.”

He says the conference is fortunate to host plenary talks by two of the world’s preeminent invasion scholars, James Carlton, professor emeritus of marine sciences at Williams College; and Daniel Simberloff, the Hunger Gore chair at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dr. Simberloff says he has followed the work of CAISN with increasing admiration since its inception and says its biggest impact has been to support a plethora of important projects by students and researchers, and to facilitate their interaction.

“This has generated a multiplier effect, as the researchers inspire and educate one another about new findings and approaches,” he says. “This has been a really great program. It’s too bad other nations don’t have analogous programs—the world would be a better place.”

Dr. Carlton says CAISN became a globally important project that demonstrated the value of a unified, nationally-driven effort to advance the scientific understanding of, and policy issues surrounding aquatic invasive species.

“The biggest contribution of CAISN has been to substantially contribute to and enhance our understanding of the ‘big picture’ of the history, science, and policy of bio-invasions by means of a very impressive record of publications and training,” he says.

As CAISN’s scientific director, MacIsaac says he is most proud of the training received by 94 graduate students, 25 postdoctoral fellows, and numerous undergraduate students who have collaborated in research and networking around the world.

“There has not been an international invasion conference over the past several years without a strong contingent of CAISN’s highly qualified personnel, and now that they are trained, they will carry the torch in academia and management long into the future,” he says.

The University of Windsor is well-represented among award winners from the Windsor Endowment for the Arts, with grads, faculty and students claiming major prizes.

Music professor emeritus Richard Householder received the Arts Leadership Award in Performing Arts for his work as founder of five choral groups in Windsor-Essex.

Grads Chris Rabideau, artistic director of Arts Collective Theatre, and filmmaker Asil Moussa received emerging artist grants in community and visual arts, respectively.

A grant for emerging artists in performing arts went to Spark Plug Players, a theatre ensemble that includes drama alumni Eric Branget, Brian Haight, Andrew Iles and Isaiah Kolundzic. The company is currently performing Martin McDonaugh’s The Pillowman in Florida at the Orlando Fringe Festival and plan a production in Windsor later this summer.

Drama professor Gina Lori Riley will use her arts infrastructure grant in performing arts to edit film footage of her latest dance production, I Am Here. Alumna Danah Beaulieu plans to develop programming with her arts infrastructure grant in community arts for Art InDeed – Wellness Through Creativity.

The Windsor International Film Festival, winner of an arts infrastructure grant in visual arts, has multiple connections to the University, including its executive director Vincent Georgie, a professor in the Odette School of Business.

Learn more about all the 2016 recipients of awards and grants from the endowment on its website.

UWindsor researchers Daniel Heath and Subba Rao Chaganti of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research were part of a delegation on Parliament Hill, Wednesday, May 18, to engage MPs, political staff and government officials in discussions of the value of their work to all Canadians.

The Council of Ontario Universities organized the Research Matters Pop-up Research Park to demonstrate the tangible, positive effects research is having on the economy, job creation, or societal benefits and to demonstrate accountability for government funding.

Drs. Heath and Chaganti presented their work in conservation genomics aimed at protecting Canada’s water resources through assessment of ballast water treatment for the control of invasive plankton.

“Dialogues between highly qualified personnel that we train and representatives of our government are important ‎as they directly show the impact of government support and funding, and showcase the outstanding next-generation scholars and researchers that are in the pipeline,” says K.W. Michael Siu, UWindsor vice-president, research and innovation.

MP Brian Masse, who represents the Windsor West riding which is home to the University of Windsor, was the formal champion of the event for the New Democratic Party.

The Student Success Centre invites all UWindsor staff and faculty to wear “Ask Me” buttons for the period of Head Start, making it easier for campus visitors to identify people who can provide them with a welcoming smile, directions or basic information.

Sessions of Head Start, the orientation program for students entering the University in September, run May 27, 28 and 30 for students of business, engineering, nursing and sciences; June 3, 4 and 5 for students of human kinetics, arts, humanities and social sciences.

Check-in, a welcome session and the parent program run each day will be held in the lobby of the Centre for Engineering Innovation. Other Head Start locations throughout the day include: Dillon Hall, the CAW Student Centre, the Toldo Health Education Centre and Leddy Library.

“Ask Me” buttons are white and sport the university’s official logo. To get yours, contact Shelby Marchand in the Student Success Centre at shelby@uwindsor.ca. She asks that wherever possible, departments coordinate their requests so that all of the buttons can be sent to one contact person for distribution.