People can tell you what to expect from a university education, but that is no substitute for direct experience, says Dany Meng.

Just finished her grade 11 year at Leamington District High School, she is one of 40 local secondary students on campus this week for Science Academy, an outreach program designed to engage them in activities in the Faculty of Science.

“I like the hands-on stuff,” Meng said. “I like when you get to experience the different fields of science.”

The students have been listening to lectures, working in laboratories and meeting current UWindsor students in every discipline—something appreciated by Mila Huhtala of Tecumseh Vista Academy.

“I enjoyed hearing the student perspectives,” she said, adding that attending Science Academy has made her more interested in pursuing studies at the University of Windsor. “I didn’t really know what the programs would have. Being here gives you an idea of each of the separate departments.”

Participants for the one-week program are selected by their respective secondary schools. This year’s group is the largest yet, with a record number of schools represented, says organizer Michelle Bondy.

During Wednesday’s lunch break, Meng’s classmate Shannon Fehr looked forward to the Amazing Science Race, which pits contestants against each other in a test of knowledge, wits and problem-solving skills.

“I’m pretty competitive, so I am very excited,” Fehr said.

Learn more on the program website.

Physics professor Roman Maev was at the centre of an international conference last month to discuss the future of non-invasive technologies in conservation of artworks and the detection of forgeries.

“Analysing Art: New Technologies – New Applications” brought scientists and art professionals to Canada House in London, May 19 and 20. The conference was jointly presented by Dr. Maev’s Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research, the High Commission of Canada to the UK, and the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing.

The conference posed a great challenge, Maev says, as a multi-disciplinary event which brought together art historians, restorers and conservation specialists, and physicists and chemists ready to respond to their needs and demands.

“It was not easy to make them communicate with each other in the same language, but it seems to have worked and we managed to initiate a comprehensive dialogue between all these professional groups,” he says. “Many of these specialists were happy to learn of each other’s existence and exchange experience and knowledge.”

Organizers plan to turn the conference into a regular event, held every two years. They aim to expand it into a platform where academics, art professionals and scientists will discuss the challenges posed by conservation and restoration of art, as well as the issues of connoisseurship, research, detection of forgeries, technological development, and the accompanying legal and commercial aspects.

The national director of Pro Bono Students Canada will come to Windsor Law to research and develop teaching tools for a new model of legal service delivery called “legal coaching.”

Nikki Gershbain will partner with professor Julie Macfarlane under a Community Leadership in Justice Fellowship awarded by the Law Foundation of Ontario. The fellowship gives senior‐level employees in nonprofit organizations the opportunity to spend all or part of an academic year at an Ontario law school, strengthening the bond between academia and the community.

Gershbain has extensive experience developing and overseeing programs that use law students to provide legal services without charge to people in need. During her time in Windsor, she will work with legal institutions to refine and promote the coaching model as part of the profession’s response to the increase in self‐represented litigants, which could have far‐reaching consequences for how a new generation of lawyers interact with clients and approach the practice of law.

Dr. Macfarlane is director of the National Self‐Represented Litigants Project, which emerged out of her ground‐breaking research to document the experiences of self‐represented litigants in Canada.

Gershbain’s is one of three fellowships awarded for the 2016‐2017 academic term.

Sarah Pole, executive director of Law in Action Within Schools, will be hosted by the Masters of Teaching program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education to research and build connections among the education, legal, and urban planning sectors. Brenda Young, community justice director for the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, will focus on the connection between international and domestic legal frameworks on the right to economic justice for Indigenous peoples at the Western University Faculty of Law.

Paul Schabas, chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario’s board, says it was impressed by these new fellows.

“Each of them has a proven capacity to serve clients and build programs in the nonprofit sector,” he says. “They have laid out clear plans to improve our understanding of critical access to justice issues. We’re excited to see what they achieve in their fellowships and how they’ll take what they learn back to the front line.”

Three UWindsor music instructors are among the members of an ensemble that will perform a free public concert on Windsor’s riverfront Sunday, July 10.

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra Woodwind Quintet features hornist Tim Lockwood, clarinetist Trevor Pittman and oboist Faith Scholfield of the School of Creative Arts, as well as flutist Jean-François Rompré and bassoonist Julie Shier.

Sunday’s one-hour program will highlight a wide range of music from classical to jazz, Broadway to the Beatles. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets, even a picnic dinner to enjoy beside the water. The show gets underway at 7 p.m. in Reaume Park, home to Coventry Gardens and the Peace Fountain. More details are available online.

The Summer Series on Teaching and Learning offers opportunities to explore the principles and practices of effective pedagogy.

Workshops run August 16 to 18 and include:

• Begin at the Beginning: Designing Effective Courses by Lorna de Witt
  This session will include guiding principles to achieve alignment: coordinating assessment, learning outcomes, and teaching methods.
• See the Universe Through the Eyes of Another: Culturally Aware Assessment by Emma Bourassa and Chris Busch
  This session will explore what may prevent students from producing high quality assignments—particularly differences in communication and cultural styles. Participants will also be able to analyze and revise one of their own assignments.
• Experiential Learning: Nothing Ever Becomes Real ’til it is Experienced by Marty Gervais and Roger Bryan
  This workshop will explore a partnership between English and business to offer an experiential learning opportunity to students and the ways others may foster similar initiatives.
• Assessing Student Learning: The End Precedes the Beginning by Erika Kustra and Jeremy Rawson
  This workshop will explore effective practices and foundational principles for good assessment: alignment with learning outcomes, considerations for the design, and balancing workload.
• Where Angels Fear to Tread: eAssessment by Erica Stevens Abbitt, Mark Lubrick, Tanya Noel, Lorna Stolarchuk, and Bill Wellington
  This workshop will review theory and best practices in eAssessment, including experiences and recommendations from faculty members using different tools.
• Engaging Students and Learning to Engage by Veronika Mogyorody
  This session will define the concepts and introduce the process for developing a course plan that actively engages students.
• Soup to Nuts: Supporting the Development of Student Core Skills by Tamsin Bolton Bacon, Anne Forrest, Dale Jacobs, Francine Schlosser, Jennifer Soutter, and Myra Tawfik
  These interactive roundtable discussions will focus on the many ways faculty can support student core skills: critical thinking, information literacy, leadership, numeracy, and writing.

Register for any of these sessions, as well as for a free barbecue at noon August 18, on the website of the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

A commitment to innovation, teaching and engineering at the University of Windsor landed nine engineering faculty and staff members medals of excellence at a ceremony on June 29.

Mehrdad Saif, the dean of engineering, handed out five medals as well as four honourable mentions at the engineering faculty’s 2016 Medals of Excellence Ceremony for outstanding faculty and staff performances in research, teaching and service.

“The Faculty of Engineering is blessed with many talented, hard-working individuals who are putting engineering at the University of Windsor on the map,” Dr. Saif said. “I’d like to congratulate this year’s recipients and thank them for their exceptional leadership and service. Their contributions are advancing Canadian innovation, shaping UWindsor engineering and impacting students’ lives.”

Professors Rupp Carriveau and Jeff Defoe were honoured for their innovative research in renewable energy and turbomachinery. Dr. Carriveau, the recipient of the senior research award, started his career at UWindsor in July 2004 in civil and environmental engineering. Now, as an associate professor, he works with several international industry and university partners to advance wind energy and energy storage technologies—research that led him to a UWindsor Outstanding Faculty Researcher Award in 2014.

In the past two years of his UWindsor career, Dr. Defoe, junior research award recipient and assistant professor in mechanical, automotive and materials engineering, has established the Turbomachinery and Unsteady Flows Research Group, secured an NSERC Discovery Grant and in addition to advising the SAE Aero Design team, received a 2016 Young Engineer Turbo Expo Participation Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ International Gas Turbine Institute.

Kemal Tepe, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received the teaching award for his dedication to student capstone projects and recruiting future students. Dr. Tepe’s outstanding teaching performance is also noted in his students’ course evaluation responses.

Matt St. Louis received the staff award for his success in managing several civil and environmental engineering laboratories. St. Louis, who started as an engineering technician in September 2005, is known for his lab expertise and willingness to help faculty, staff and students. He was praised as the “silent, unsung hero” who keeps the civil engineering department running smoothly.

Andrzej Sobiesiak, head of the Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering Department, received the faculty award for 18 years of dedicated service, including nine years at the helm of MAME. In 2014-15, Dr. Sobiesiak’s leadership helped the MAME programs secure the highest accreditation ratings available through the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board prior to facilitating the merger of the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering and MAME departments.

Sarah Cats, Zbigniew Pasek, Xiang Chen and Nader Zamani received honourable mentions. Recipients were chosen from nominations submitted by department heads and colleagues. This is the second annual engineering Medals of Excellence Ceremony.

View photos from the ceremony on the UWindsor Engineering Facebook page.

The Campus Bookstore is marking Boxing Day in July by marking down thousands of books, clothes and supplies on Thursday, July 7.

Prices will be reduced up to 50 percent on select items. The sale will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the CAW Student Centre Commons—the first 50 customers will receive a free candy cane!

Extreme temperatures and high humidity pose a significant health risk, but you can protect yourself, says the July edition of Workplace Wellness E-Digest.

The newsletter, published by the Department of Human Resources’ Office of Employee Engagement and Development, offers action to prevent heat-related illness, tips on avoiding and treating sunburn, info on beach water safety, and suggestions to reduce the risk of food poisoning.

Read the Workplace Wellness E-Digest.

Provost Douglas Kneale announced Tuesday the appointment of Christopher Busch as acting executive director of Co-op, Career and Employment Services for a two-year term.

Since 2013, Busch has served as director of the Centre for Executive and Professional Education, where he has been responsible for supporting academic partnership programs, expansion of continuing education offerings, and international recruitment.

In his new role he will oversee UWindsor’s recently enhanced initiatives in co-operative education and career development for students and new graduates, which includes a range of services to assist with employment readiness, work placements, volunteering opportunities, resume preparation, and interviewing skills, Dr. Kneale said.

He succeeds Mitch Fields, who has accepted the position of acting dean of the Odette School of Business.