The University of Windsor will confer degrees on 3,900 graduating students during 10 sessions of the University’s 109th Convocation ceremonies, May 28 through June 1, in the St. Denis Centre.

The University will also award honorary degrees to six individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the areas of sport, business, medicine, law, and journalism:

• pioneering athlete Angela James;
• medical researcher Francis Plummer;
• mining executive Donald Lindsay;
• businessman and philanthropist William Downe;
• retired Superior Court justice Mary Jo Nolan; and
• CTV national news anchor Lisa LaFlamme.

Angela James won four world championships during a 10-year career on the Canadian women’s hockey team, and was a member of the 1992 and 1994 Canadian women’s roller hockey team which won gold at the world championships. She was one of the first two women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and is also a member of the Black Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 10 a.m. Monday, May 28, session of Convocation.

Francis Plummer is a professor of medicine and medical microbiology at the University of Manitoba, and former scientific director general of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory. His research into infectious disease, notably HIV-AIDS, earned him the Order of Canada, the Royal Society of Canada’s McLaughlin Medal, and the Killam Prize. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 3 p.m. Monday, May 28, session of Convocation.

Donald Lindsay has been president of Teck, Canada’s largest diversified resources company, since 2005. He is currently a director of Manulife Financial Corporation, and was employed until 2004 by CIBC World Markets Inc., where he served as president, head of investment and corporate banking, and head of the Asia Pacific region. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 30, session of Convocation.

William Downe is a past CEO of BMO Financial Group, and held a number of positions in the organization since joining it in 1983. Now lead director of ManpowerGroup Inc., he also serves on the board of the Rush University Medical Center. His charitable endeavours include work with the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and United Way of Greater Toronto. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, session of Convocation.

Mary Jo Nolan was the first woman judge appointed to the Superior Court in Essex County when she took up the appointment in 2005. Retired from the bench since July 2014, she continues to work as an arbitrator and mediator and finds particular satisfaction in her work conducting settlement conferences for Legal Aid Ontario in family and child welfare cases. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 10 a.m. Thursday, May 31, session of Convocation.

Lisa LaFlamme is chief news anchor of CTV National News. She delivered live coverage during Nelson Mandela’s memorial service; from Vatican City during the election of Pope Francis; and from her Cairo hotel room during the February 2012 uprising, as protesters called for the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and address graduands during the 3 p.m. Friday, June 1, session of Convocation.

Convocation Schedule

• On Monday, May 28, at 10 a.m., graduands of the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Human Kinetics, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies; at 3 p.m., of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Graduate Studies will receive degrees.
• On Tuesday, May 29, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., graduands of the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Graduate Studies will receive degrees.
• On Wednesday, May 30, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., graduands of the Odette School of Business and the Faculty of Graduate Studies will receive degrees.
• On Thursday, May 31, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., graduands of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies will receive degrees.
• On Friday, June 1 at 10 a.m., graduands of the Faculty of Nursing and the Faculty of Graduate Studies; at 3 p.m., of the Faculty of Law will receive degrees.

The ceremonies will be webcast live by staff of Media and Educational Technologies.

Celebrants are invited to share images on social media using the hashtag #UWinClassof2018.

A collaborative study by the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA), and Ryerson University shows Essex County greenhouses might be producing a significant amount of nutrient-rich runoff relative to other types of agriculture.

Higher concentrations of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the watersheds can contribute to the growth of harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie. Toxins produced by the algae prevented residents on Pelee Island from being able to drink water from their wells in the summer, and were responsible for a tap water shutdown in Toledo, Ohio, in 2014. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for a 40 per cent reduction in these nutrients in order to minimize the risks caused by the algae blooms.

ERCA collected five years of water samples from 14 Essex County rivers in agriculturally-dominated watersheds in southwestern Ontario, with nine of the watersheds influenced by local greenhouses. The study found greenhouse influenced rivers were four to 28 times higher in nutrient concentrations, compared to non-influenced rivers. The concentrations did show a decreasing trend during the five-year study, which also accounted for environmental variables such as precipitation.

“These numbers aren’t surprising; the significance of this study is having quality data available in an accessible, peer-reviewed paper, so we can now work with governmental regulatory bodies, the greenhouse sector and others to make changes that will help reduce nutrient runoff,” says Katie Stammler, water quality scientist with ERCA.

“It is important to note that the Ontario’s greenhouse operators are already making significant changes by voluntarily adopting innovative best management practices to reduce the release of phosphorus and are also working to comply with new regulatory requirements.”

Dr. Stammler says this highlights the need for long-term monitoring of nutrients, river flows and collecting weather data in assessing these agricultural sectors.

“Technologies do exist, and need to be implemented, to ameliorate the nutrient loads of greenhouses, which will require cooperation between growers and regulators to ensure the vitality of the sector while limiting pollution in the watershed,” she says.

Scott Mundle, chemistry and biochemistry professor and GLIER researcher, says this is a mutually beneficial partnership.

“ERCA has world-class expertise focused on monitoring and collecting valuable data throughout the watershed. Academic researchers often don’t have the resources or funding to collect large, comprehensive, high quality datasets over a significant number of years,” says Dr. Mundle.

“Now we have a peer-reviewed study in a leading environmental journal that will help in the development of regulatory guidelines targeting nutrient sources on regional scales.”

ERCA started collecting the samples in 2012, after a 2011 study conducted by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change found elevated nutrient levels in greenhouse influenced streams in the Essex Region.

Stammler says the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement requires a reduction in load, and not concentration of nutrients, since load is what influences severity and size of algae blooms in Lake Erie.

“Our study monitored concentrations of nutrients, not load, so we’ve ramped up monitoring for the next step in the process, to calculate loads and understand how these inputs compare to other recognized sources in the Great Lakes.”

Tim Maguire, a UWindsor postdoctoral researcher in Mundle’s lab, was lead author on the collaboration with Stammler and Chris Wellen from Ryerson University. They published their paper, Increased Nutrient concentrations in Lake Erie tributaries influenced by greenhouse agriculture, in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

“The greenhouse sector is going to continue to grow and we need to work together to help develop strategies that minimize the environmental footprint of these important agricultural and industrial sectors in the region,” Mundle says.

This project has received funding support from the Government of Ontario. Such support does not indicate endorsement by the Government of Ontario of the contents of this material.

Sara Elliott

Alan Wildeman steps down as UWindsor president confident the institution is in good hands, he told more than 100 staff and faculty at an open house reception to bid him farewell, Thursday in the CAW Student Centre.

“I leave knowing that it is the collective efforts of all of you that will safeguard the University,” he said in a brief address.

As the University evolves, noted Dr. Wildeman, it is faculty and staff who turn challenges into opportunities and aspirations into reality: “You all contribute to the mission, and I would stack you up against your counterparts at any university in this country.”

He said he will use his new title of president emeritus to continue to advocate for the University of Windsor. Attendees signed a book of well wishes and offered personal congratulations to Wildeman on his retirement.

View a video from the event here.

UWindsor English professor Tom Dilworth’s masterwork, David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet, has been shortlisted for the 2018 Wales Book of the Year Award. It is one of three in contention in the creative non-fiction category.

Dr. Dilworth travelled to Aberystwyth, Wales, in April 2017 during the British launch of his book.

As a poet, visual artist, and essayist, David Jones was one of the great modernists. An extraordinary engraver, painter, and creator of painted inscriptions, he also belongs in the first rank of 20th-century poets.

Administered by Literature Wales, the Wales Book of the Year Award recognizes works of creative writing and literary criticism in three categories: poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Winners will be announced at an award ceremony in Cardiff on June 26.

A class Tuesday, June 12, will help staff and faculty responsible for maintaining UWindsor websites learn the basics of the Drupal content management system.

Website Basic Training will focus on teaching site editors how to create pages and events, upload graphics and use menus and blocks, says instructor Rob Aitkens, web development team lead in Public Affairs and Communications — with an emphasis on providing accessible sites that comply with UWindsor guidelines.

The class is aimed at employees with little previous experience with the system, for those upgrading their sites from version 6 to 7, or as a refresher. It will run 1:30 to 4 p.m. in room G101A, Leddy Library. Advance registration is required through this online form.