It’s been 40 years since the first issue of Rampike, a cutting-edge literary magazine, rolled out from the basement of Rivercrest Road near the Humber River, in Toronto’s west end.

In 1979, its unique format — 18 inches tall and 6 inches wide — stood out against other publications. It was available on five continents, and now, all 24 volumes are accessible anywhere with an internet connection.

“I was one of Marshall McLuhan’s last students and understood that ‘the medium is the message’,” said the magazine’s founder and editor, Karl Jirgens, a professor of English and creative writing. “In designing the magazine, I wanted it to stand out and make a statement about print-culture. With the archive, I ensured that all copyrights remained with contributing artists and writers.”

The journal certainly stood out. Within five years of its inception, Rampike gained international recognition, and contributors were sending in materials from around the globe.

The complete Rampike series, more than 4,000 pages dating from 1979 to 2016, is now available in an online archive provided by the Leddy Library’s Centre for Digital Scholarship (https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/rampike/about.html ). If you can’t remember the e-address, then just google “about Rampike,” click the “university” button and you’re in. In addition, Rampike’s print archive will be housed in the Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Jirgens, touted as a talent scout, founded the magazine to help launch a fresh generation of authors and artists alongside those with established careers. Throughout its 36-year run, Rampike featured prize-winning and ground-breaking international writers, artists, and theorists including Paul Auster, Iain Baxter&, George Elliott Clarke, Jacques Derrida, Susan Gold, Phil Hall, Tomson Highway, Linda Hutcheon, Thomas King, Julia Kristeva, Alistair MacLeod, Eugene McNamara, Norval Morrisseau, NourbeSe Philip, Brenda Pelkey, Nino Ricci, Anne Waldman, David Foster Wallace, and many others.

Among its contributors were UWindsor faculty and alumni, as well as such Windsor talents as Marty Gervais, Lucy Howe, Mark Laliberte, Zeke Moores, and Gustave Morin. Its record of diverse and vibrant local research-culture made Rampike a prime candidate for archival digitization at the Leddy Library.

The library built a team with collective knowledge ranging from archival concerns, systems expertise, scanning, and long-term digital preservation to organize files, develop metadata, and create the website where the publication is now preserved for future generations.

“Over the years I’ve learned that editors have to adapt quickly to changing technologies and mediums. I’m extremely grateful to team Leddy!” said Jirgens. “Sharing the entire collection online through the digital archive enhances accessibility and generates a second life for Rampike, and it’s already drawing a lot of interest from new readers and scholars.”

The Rampike archive took roughly six years to complete. Jirgens thanks the library’s experts, including Heidi Jacobs, Dave Johnston, and Marg McCaffery-Piche.

“Digital culture is increasingly important during this pandemic,” said Jirgens. “Sharing resources online builds collegiality between UWindsor and global students and scholars.”

A symposium to celebrate the digital archive, originally scheduled for spring 2021, has been postponed until the pandemic recedes. More news will follow about the symposium when safety is restored. In the meantime, the entire print-run of Rampike is available free online.

It’s not often that a book outlining the findings of a large body of research wins a consumer book award.

But that is exactly what happened when Magnificent Sex: Lessons from Extraordinary Lovers, co-authored by Peggy J. Kleinplatz of the University of Ottawa and UWindsor professor Dana Ménard won the 2021 Society for Sex Therapy and Research Consumer Book Award.

Magnificent Sex is based on the largest, in-depth interview study ever conducted with people who self-identify as having extraordinary sex. It gathers the nuggets of wisdom from the “experts,” distilling them into an attainable blueprint for ordinary lovers who want to make intimacy grow over the course of a lifetime. It explores such factors as individual and relational qualities, empathic communication, and the myths and realities of magnificent sex.

Dr. Ménard describes Dr. Kleinplatz as a “legendary” sex and sexuality researcher and educator.

“I’ve known Peggy since 2003, when I took her third-year ‘Sex and Sexuality’ course and then her grad course,“ Dr. Ménard explains. “I did my master’s thesis with her, and she oversaw my dissertation.”

Parts of the book are based on Ménard master’s and PhD dissertations. The pair started their research in 2005 and continued after Ménard completed her doctorate in 2013.

“This wonderful success has been seven years in the making,” she laughs. “Now I understand the saying ‘overnight success’.”

Since Ménard left Ottawa, the team’s main focus has been on running therapy groups using the principles that were identified during the previous two phases of research.

“Yes, we can help people using the principle findings of our research,” she says. “So, I started working on the book not long after I graduated.”

But when you have two people who are working full-time as clinical psychologists while writing a book together, the writing goes slowly.

“I would say that a draft of the book was finished in 2018, and it took a while to find a good publisher match, editing, and all the other details,” says Ménard. “So it was very strange to get calls from the Windsor Star and CBC to talk about this book that’s just out and is this wonderful success, that you know, has been seven years in the making. It’s exciting!”

The publisher recently emailed Kleinplatz and Ménard to say that their book is being translated into Spanish for the Latin American market.

As a faculty member in the Department of Psychology, Ménard’s currently focuses her research on ‘The Impostor Phenomenon’, academic lab safety, mental health and wellbeing in students, representations of sex and sexuality in the media, healthcare workers' mental health and support use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

—Susan McKee

Hope Forman wants to spread some cheer to Windsor-Essex — especially its seniors.

A teacher candidate in the Faculty of Education and music grad (BA 2019), she has devised a way for young artists to be able to connect with the community: a free children’s holiday concert available online starting at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.

“Since children cannot perform in person at retirement and long term care homes this year, I am editing and producing a virtual performance, which will provide them with a wonderful way to reach out and share their inner sparkle with everyone in the community,” says Forman.

This virtual concert will feature beloved holiday classics performed by talented children ranging in age from 8 to 16. The singers hail from Leamington, Kingsville, Harrow, Windsor and one all the way from Alberta.

“This magical creation is intended to be a fun sing-a-long which will have everyone bursting out spontaneously in song,” says Forman.

A performer, choreographer, and instructor in musical theatre, she has been putting together virtual performances since the onset of the pandemic featuring the talents of children she has taught over the years.

“The children were super excited right from the start, finding their holiday spirit early in October when they began recording their performances from the safety of their homes,” Forman says.

“During these most challenging and potentially very lonely times, the arts prove to be more essential than ever. The children’s inner sparkle and holiday spirit will prove to be contagious, showing us all that we can shine through whatever challenges may lie ahead for us this holiday season, and always.”

Jingle All the Way: a virtual holiday concert is accessible through Facebook or YouTube.

Information Technology Services has issued a statement of thanks to all campus community members who took up the challenge to test their cybersecurity prowess and completed the Cybersecurity Learning Modules and Self-Assessment.

Irene Schiller, secretary to the director of the School of Creative Arts, is the recipient of the $100 UWinCash prize. She was selected by random draw from the pool of participants who successfully completed the self-assessment.

Launched by IT Services to conclude Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020, the Cybersecurity Learning Modules and Self-Assessment is a means for faculty, staff, and students to reinforce and expand their own cybersecurity knowledge.

The Cybersecurity Learning Modules and Self-Assessment remains open and campus community members are encouraged to complete both. Additional cybersecurity resources can be found at www.uwindsor.ca/cybersecurity.

Campus partners are working to maintain a robust set of Knowledge Base Articles (KBAs).

The KBA team has compiled a digest of this week’s most-referenced KBAs to streamline student-focused questions to ask.UWindsor to support consistent communication with current and future students.

These are this week’s top-five referenced KBAs:

• How do I access and complete an online SET?
• How do I sign in to UWinsite Student?
• How do I view my offer of admission to an undergraduate program at UWindsor?
• I have accepted an offer of admission to UWindsor. How do I set up my multi-factor authentication options?
• How do I know when to register for classes?

Find Winter 2021 KBAs by clicking here.

Submit common questions to askkba@uwindsor.ca.