In what dean Mitch Fields describes as “an excellent showing,” 13 of 14 first-time writers from the Odette School of Business MBA-Professional Accounting Specialization (MBA-PAS) passed  the Common Final Exam to qualify as chartered public accountants, and two BComm grads were named to the national honour roll for finishing among the top 1 per cent across the country.

The exam is a three-day evaluation designed to assess candidates’ knowledge, judgement, and ethics. Only those who complete the entire qualification program — consisting of education, experience, and the examination — are entitled to use the CPA designation. 

CPA Canada honoured Christie Hall (BComm 2018) and Emily Poli (BComm 2018) for their achievement ranking among the top 1 per cent. A total of 6,371 candidates nationwide passed the September exam.

“In any year, the CFE is recognized as a rigorous and challenging examination. However, 2020 presented a unique obstacle with the presence of the ever-changing COVID-19 situation,” says Charles-Antoine St-Jean, president of CPA Canada. “Those who wrote the September 2020 CFE displayed impressive dedication and perseverance as they prepared for the exam while living through global health concerns and economic uncertainty.”

Dr. Fields called the results an “awesome day for Odette on the national stage.”

In addition to the honour roll awardees, he pointed to the pass rate of 93 per cent among candidates from the school’s MBA program with professional accounting specialization.

Program director Peter Savoni said the student successes reflect a team effort across the entire faculty.

“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the MBA-PAS administrative staff, course instructors and the entire Odette team,” he said. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had the monumental task of pivoting a professional program to online delivery, while maintaining the rigour and integrity of the program.”

While thousands of University of Windsor students, faculty, and staff are working remotely, the team in Facilities Planning, Renovation, and Construction Services is still working hard behind the scenes to improve campus buildings, especially when it comes to energy use.

The Facilities team and others met remotely with representatives from Enwin, Enbridge, and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) last week to express appreciation for their collaborative support and receive incentive cheques totalling more than $250,000 and representing annual energy savings of more than $420,000 for the University.

“Energy management is a big part of what we do,” said Danny Castellan, UWindsor manager of Facility Planning, Renovations & Construction.

“The University is one of the region’s largest consumers of energy, so it’s very important that we continuously look for new ways to create efficiencies and use it responsibly.”

Castellan says annual energy management incentive programs operated by Enbridge, Enwin, and IESO give the University an opportunity to make infrastructure improvements to its deferred maintenance projects.

With the support of the University’s energy partners, in 2019-20 the team invested in heat recovery units and insulation and condensate system upgrades with Enbridge for incentives of $71,319, resulting in annual energy savings of $121,097.

The incentive of $155,605, provided by Enwin under the IESO's Save on Energy program, funded lighting upgrades, pump replacements, and a highly efficient CORe building envelope, resulting in $288,122 annual energy savings.

IESO’s $23,734 incentives paid for lighting retrofits and funding for an energy manager performance contract, with annual energy savings of $12,623.

“These incentives and energy savings are used to fund future energy projects. We see the benefits immediately and know that these improvements continue to pay dividends going forward,” he said.

An online event Friday paid tribute to the academic achievements of UWindsor student-athletes.

A record number of Lancers — jut under 160 — earned grade-point averages over 80 per cent while competing at the varsity level in 2019-20. U Sports named 133 as Academic All-Canadians, while a further 26 met the same criteria playing a sport not sanctioned by the national body: baseball, golf, or fastpitch.

Friday’s virtual reception included an address by provost Douglas Kneale

Find the full list of honorees and more information at goLancers.ca.

The Campus Bookstore is offering 25 per cent off all regular-priced inventory storewide for its Pre-Boxing Day Sale.

“There’s something for everyone on your gift list!” enthuses general merchandise buyer Jackie Imeson. “Or maybe pick something up for yourself. No judgement. It has been a rough year.”

The sale runs until Dec. 16 and excludes textbooks, gift cards, and clearance items. No rainchecks — offer is good only while quantities last.

Place orders online and choose to receive your purchases by delivery or curbside pick-up.

Bruce Kotowich, associate professor and director of choirs, has been appointed acting director of the School of Creative Arts (SoCA) for a two-year term.

Dr. Kotowich succeeds Vincent Georgie, who was appointed as the University of Windsor's acting associate vice-president external for a two-year period, effective Nov. 1, 2020.

In addition to directing the University’s choral ensembles, Kotowich teaches conducting  and serves as chorus master for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Windsor Classic Chorale.

SoCA offers undergraduate degree programs in music, visual arts, the architecture program visual arts and the built environment (VABE), and film production, as well as graduate fine arts programs in visual arts, and film and media arts.

Lancer Gaming advises students in any program interested in representing the University of Windsor in esport competition that it will soon be holding tryouts for its League of Legends team.

Eligible students that make the squad and qualify will receive a financial award of $750 during the winter semester.

Sign up today at: www.uwindsor.ca/success/lancergaming/2021tryouts.

UWindsor faculty and staff will celebrate the end of the semester by gathering online Friday for a wine tasting and social.

Order now to take delivery of a package of three wines — a pinot grigio and the Lady in Red cabernet-merlot from Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery and a riesling from Dancing Swallows Vineyard

Then from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 11, join the winery owners and other participants for a real-time tasting and tour that allows for interactive video chat. Tickets are $50; find details at tinyurl.com/y4qrkbxw.

The Smartinis — Vincent Georgie, Patti Lauzon, John Rossi, Patti Weir, and Rose Zanutto — have pledged to host a third round of trivia in the new year after triumphing in competition Dec. 4.

The team beat out 10 rivals to finish atop an 80-question quiz on everything from television theme songs to holiday observances around the world.

It was the second in a series of online trivia nights initiated by human kinetics professors Patti Weir, Sarah Woodruff, and Paula van Wyk. Sarah Sacheli and Kevin Johnson hosted Friday’s event on Microsoft Teams.

“We hope everyone had fun in our version of a pub quiz,” Sacheli says. “Now we look forward to getting back to the other side of the screen, answering the questions rather than posing them.”

Johnson plans to run a series of quizzes in DailyNews as the year-end approaches.

“We had a lot of extra questions about the holidays we didn’t have a chance to use,” he says.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Lancer High School Boys Basketball Tournament has been postponed to 2021. It is the first time in the tournament’s 64-year history the event will not take place.

Chris Cheng, head coach of Lancer men’s basketball and president of the tournament’s organizing committee, called it a disappointing but unavoidable development.

“Our tournament has been a long-standing tradition for our program and the entire Windsor-Essex community,” said Cheng. “The entire committee and I were excited to get this year's tournament running but that excitement will have to wait one more year.”

Read the full story at goLancers.ca.