An engineering alumnus has been featured among Canada’s top 100 professionals in a publication that highlights top tier business leaders.

Md Mizanur Rahman (MASc 2003) was recognized for nearly two decades of diverse experience as a professional engineer in Redwood Media’s Top 100 Magazine.

Rahman not only serves as president and chief executive officer of MR Engineering Limited, he is the senior structural engineer for the company headquartered in Edmonton.

“The University of Windsor played a vital role in my engineering career in Canada,” says Rahman, a civil engineering grad. “I will never forget the extraordinary guidance, mentorship, and support of Dr. Faouzi Ghrib, Dr. Nihar Biswas and Dr. Tirupati Bolisetti.”

Founded in 2011, MR Engineering is an engineering, surveying, and material testing company that offers a variety of multidisciplinary professional services, such as design, engineering, procurement, and construction support.

The Top 100 Magazine is distributed in more than 90 countries and is the official publisher of Top 100 and Top 40 publications.

—Kristie Pearce

A lecture entitled “Healing with Cedar” will provide an introduction to Indigenous medicine on Thursday, Jan. 14. Ann Marie Proulx-White will be sharing her knowledge on the health and healing benefits of cedar from a traditional Ojibwe lens for a class of human kinetics students, with an invitation extended to the entire campus community to join.

Proulx-White, co-ordinator of the cultural harm reduction outreach team in Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, leads self-care workshops for individuals or groups using cedar as one of the main ingredients. Cedar has been used for generations in the practice of traditional medicine and has many healing and calming properties and applications.

She grew up with a strong traditional upbringing and is active in ceremonial and cultural practices, elders gatherings, and powwows, and says she views her role as a shkabewis — meaning natural helper — to her community.

“Through the workshop I hope to provide a greater understanding of self-care and foster connection through the use of traditional sacred medicines,” Proulx-White says. “I’m honoured and humbled that my name was brought forward as a knowledge keeper to present what I have learned.”

Krista Loughead, a naturopathic doctor and a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Human Kinetics, teaches a course on complementary and alternative medicine and saw the opportunity to encourage the sharing of Indigenous perspectives in a guest lecture by Proulx-White.

“The Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine course provides students with experiences to learn about medicines that are not considered part of Western medicine,” says Prof. Loughead. “It is a true gift to have Ann Marie share her knowledge, wisdom, and life experiences about ceremony, cultural practices, and medicine from an Ojibwe Nation’s perspective.”

The lecture is presented in co-operation with the Nanadagikenim: Seek to Know Grant, designed and moderated by the Centre for Teaching and Learning and funded by the Office of the Provost to support and promote Indigenous curriculum and pedagogy. The grant was created in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to take constructive action in healing relationships through action, education and the creation of more equitable and inclusive opportunities.

The Faculty of Human Kinetics Equity Committee is encouraging attendance at Thursday’s presentation.

“The Faculty of Human Kinetics is committed to Indigenizing aspects of our academic curriculum and non-academic programming in keeping with Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s calls to action to Indigenize education,” says committee member Sandra Ondracka. “We are excited about opportunities like this and the positive impact it will have on our faculty, students, and community.”

The lecture will be presented online Jan. 14 from 10 to 11:20 a.m. To register, visit the CTL registration page. Learn more about Proulx-White’s educational consulting practice on her Facebook page.

—Martin Vaughan

A virtual webchat hosted by the University of Windsor Alumni Association and TD Bank will provide insights on such financial planning topics as investing, retirement planning, and saving.

“We know Canadians need knowledge, tools, and advice to make confident financial decisions about their money,” says Patti Lauzon, director of alumni relations. “During this time, financial health is increasingly more important and top of mind for many.”

The one-hour event is set for noon Wednesday, Jan. 13, and is supported by the association’s affinity program partner, TD Insurance.

Facilitating are financial planners Preete Sharma and Hayko Kalktik, who combine for 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.

The free videoconference is open to UWindsor alumni and students. Registrants will receive an emailed link to the webinar and will be entered in a draw for a $50 Amazon gift card. Sign up today.

You can reduce suffering and increase happiness for yourself and others, says business professor Kent Walker. His new book teaches readers how by guiding them through a 21-day meditation challenge.

Director of the MBA program at the Odette School of Business, Dr. Walker is also a yoga instructor. His book offers lessons from his own meditation practice, applicable to beginners and advanced meditators alike.

“It is said that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, and my 21-day meditation challenge will help you create what could become the best habit of your life,” he says.

His book, entitled How to Reduce Suffering and Increase Happiness: A 21 Day Meditation Challenge, is available for free download in digital format from Amazon’s Kindle store. The paperback version will be available in a couple days, but it won't be free.

As part of the new Ontario Virtual Learning Strategy, the provincial government has announced $50 million in funding in 2021-22 to support virtual learning projects.

eCampus Ontario is responsible for managing the grant process, with a call for proposals released Jan. 6. Institutional applications can be made in one of four categories:

• Digital content ($25 million) for new online courses and programs, adopting or creating open educational resources, virtual reality/simulations/labs, creating wraparound resources for open educational resources such as homework systems, question banks, slides, etc.
• Digital fluency ($5 million) for shareable modules or courses supporting faculty and students to become fluent in digital technologies and online teaching and learning.
• Digital delivery ($1 million) for partnerships with Ontario-based educational technologies to pilot and test technologies to support online and virtual learning.
• Capacity-building collaborative projects ($1 million – requires six institutions collaborating) for collaborative marketing of Ontario programs, wraparound supports for online learners (technology, academic literacy, mental health, career advisory, and equity, diversity, decolonization, and inclusion supports), and other projects that build virtual learning capacity.

All applications must be submitted from one contact per institution and require the signature of the provost; individuals cannot apply directly to the fund. The Office of Open Learning will support the process internally and work with anyone from the UWindsor community interested in applying. Grants are open to faculty, staff, and students.

“This funding is an opportunity to access significant resources to enhance our online and digital teaching and learning experiences,” says Nick Baker, director of the Office of Open Learning. “We have all learned so much during our forced experiment with online learning over the past year, and I’m sure everyone has ideas on how the experience could be improved — this is an opportunity to address those issues.”

Baker says it is also an opportunity to explore the potential of future learning and teaching modalities, options for enhancing flexibility in existing programs, or to develop new programs and courses leveraging what has been learned during the pandemic.

The University of Windsor has been one of the most successful institutions in the province in accessing provincial funding supporting teaching and learning, he notes.

The internal deadline for completed applications is Monday, Feb. 1, with submissions due to eCampus Ontario by Feb. 3.

Anyone with questions or ideas for potential projects should contact Baker as soon as possible by email (nbaker@uwindsor.ca) or on Teams to discuss. The Office of Open Learning is also holding an online Community of Practice meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12 for interested faculty to ask questions, find out more information about the categories, and get feedback on ideas for projects. Register for the meeting at: https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/openlearning/workshops/23/#wkshp-287.

The Senate Student Caucus is a sounding board to bring student issues, concerns, and successful initiatives to the Senate or other appropriate University offices or bodies.

Under the leadership of co-chairs Linden Crain (representative of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance) and Phebe Lam (faculty member in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences), the caucus has launched a new online form to receive student feedback.

Its members encourage students to share their thoughts at uwindsor.ca/studentexperience/student-feedback.