It will be easier for women fleeing abusive relationships to find emergency housing that makes provisions for pets, thanks to research underway at the University of Windsor.

UWindsor professors Betty Barrett, Amy Fitzgerald, and Patti Timmons Fritz, along with Rochelle Stevenson from B.C.’s Thompson Rivers University, are partnering with RedRover, a non-profit organization in the U.S. that has started a database of pet programs offered by domestic violence shelters.

The team has received a grant of nearly $25,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada with matching funds from RedRover to collect more comprehensive data on shelters across Canada and the United States. The information will become part of a public database searchable by location.

As part of the research project, the team will provide the shelters the information they need to update the database in the future.

The project also involves mapping the shelters, making it apparent to policy-makers where there are gaps in service.

The research will come out of UWindsor’s multi-disciplinary Animal and Interpersonal Abuse Research Group. AIRPARG has contributed to the research that shows men who are violent toward their intimate partners may also be violent toward animals. Women may stay in violent relationships to protect their pets.

Dr. Barrett tells the story of a Missouri woman whose boyfriend attacked her with a hammer in 2012, nearly beating her to death. During the assault, the woman’s dog laid on top of her to protect her. The dog suffered broken ribs and a broken hip.

At the police’s urging, the woman contacted a domestic violence shelter. When the shelter informed the woman it didn’t accept pets, she said she would sooner live in her car than leave her dog behind. The shelter changed its policy that day in 2012, becoming the first shelter in the region to accept pets.

Barrett said the research project will help increase awareness about the role of pets as a potential barrier to leaving the abusive relationships, and about grants available through RedRover to help shelters create pet programs.

Barrett said the research project is the first of its kind.

“The synergy it would facilitate would benefit both RedRover and AIPARG and those needing a quick way to access potentially life-saving information.”

—Sarah Sacheli

Kirsty Duncan, Canada’s minister of science and sport, joined interim UWindsor president Douglas Kneale and members of the campus community Wednesday for the official opening of the Essex Centre of Research (Essex CORe).

The 46,000 CORe Centre, which opened for use in December 2018 and is an addition to the existing Essex Hall, consists of three floors of open-concept lab space devoted to the following areas of research:

• Advanced materials, including nano-technology and biometrics;
• Transitional health, which brings discoveries from the laboratory to the bedside, with particular emphasis on cancer;
• Medical physics, including medical imagining and diagnostic technologies.

The project was announced in January 2017 during an event with UWindsor alumnus Navdeep Bains (MBA 2001), minister of innovation, science and economic development. It received $14.95 million in funding from the Government of Canada, $2.56 million from the province, and an addition commitment of $12.8 million from the University of Windsor.

“I’m honoured to be part of a government that is putting science and research front and centre,” said Minister Duncan. “This new, state-of-the-art energy-efficient science, research, and innovation facility is home to leading-edge research and development, which will create jobs in and around Windsor and help improve the lives of Canadians.”

Faculty of Science dean Chris Houser says the new spaces, dedicated to research, innovation, and industry collaboration, support both undergraduate and graduate research, which he calls “the most effective experience for students.”

In addition to research labs, the centre’s hub and meeting rooms are intended as collaborative spaces to advance research undertaken within and between academic and industrial partners.

“This facility is the outcome of a unique multilateral partnership at federal, provincial, and university levels,” said Dr. Kneale. “If I had to write out its equation for success, it would be: aesthetically stunning space + brilliant state-of-the-art functionality + human imaginativeness = unlimited research potential.”

A new field course this summer is a step towards establishing relations between the sciences at the University of Windsor and the Walpole Island community.

The course, titled “Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Environment,” offered students the opportunity to experience the amazing array of flora and fauna of Bkejwanong, or Walpole Island First Nation Territory, when the tallgrass prairies, savannas, grasses, and wildflowers were at their peak.

“This course is the culmination of two years of relationship building,” says Candy Donaldson, research associate in community and translation with the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER).

“We invited people from Walpole to come to the university campus, and to tour our space. We reciprocated by going out to Nindawaabjig, Walpole Island’s Heritage Centre. There was a lot of back and forth — building the course content as a team from the beginning.”

The students also had cultural training prior to their week-long trip to Walpole from June 2 to 7. They learned about residential schools, reconciliation, and how to properly conduct themselves on the island.

Clint Jacobs, heritage manager at the Walpole Island Heritage Centre, took on the role of instructor for the course.

“This was a grounded and mindful journey for the students,” says Jacobs. “Where they were able to learn how to be aware of and appreciate their place in nature. My wish is for the students to be able to come away from this course connecting the land with their heart.”

Donaldson notes there are many different ways of seeing place and nature; science is just one.

“This field course offers the student different ways of being in your environment. Place is where a way of knowing comes from, and we learn our science by observing our place,” she says. “By working with indigenous instructors, we were able to present this environmental perspective to the students.”

Several faculty from the University of Windsor were also involved in the field course, including GLIER professors Catherine Febria and Trevor Pitcher, and dean of science Chris Houser.

“Many faculty want to build these bridges and foster trust-based relationships that open up to possibilities in research,” says Dr. Febria. “We all have a very personal relationship with the Great Lakes, and some of us want to find ways to work together with Bkejwanong/Walpole Island because it is critical to restoring the vitality of the Great Lakes.”

—Darko Milenkovic

Offices and organizations offering opportunities for students to engage with campus life should sign up to host a booth during the Involvement Fair, says organizers of UWindsor Welcome Week.

Set for Tuesday, Sept. 3, from noon to 2 p.m. in the David Wilson Commons and River Commons on either side of Turtle Island Walk, the event is intended to introduce new students to the experiences available at the University.

“There are so many ways for our students to participate in our community,” says Amber Norman, student development specialist in the Student Success and Leadership Centre. “Whether it’s volunteer work or social gatherings, we want them to know they’re welcome.”

She encourages participants to get creative with their booths, providing activities or giveaways. Student associations will compete for a $250 prize, awarded for originality and enthusiasm.

Sign up by July 19 for an Involvement Fair display through the online form.