Windsor Regional Hospital is partnering with the University of Windsor to establish space in downtown Windsor for a future vaccination site.

Windsor Hall, located at the corner of Pitt and Ferry streets, houses the School of Social Work and the Department of Continuing Education and is being transformed for vaccination needs.

Vaccinations will continue at the St. Clair College Sportsplex, where the hospital has inoculating individuals with the Pfizer vaccine as part of the province’s Phase 1 vaccination rollout plan. More than 8,000 staff from long-term care and retirement homes, hospitals, and congregate care settings have received initial vaccinations to date at the Sportsplex.

Windsor Hall allows for expanded capacity and will serve as a backup plan in the event the Sportsplex in south Windsor is required for use again as a field hospital for patients. Also, once Ontario enters subsequent phases of its vaccination rollout plan, including eventual vaccinations of the general public, Windsor Hall will be in place as one of several vaccination centres in the region.

The timing of its opening is unknown at this time and is dependent on further Pfizer vaccination supply in coming weeks.

“This project is part of the University of Windsor’s commitment to do as much as possible to help the community address the impact of COVID-19,” said University of Windsor president Robert Gordon. “We are proud to partner with Windsor Regional Hospital on these efforts to help our community move beyond the current pandemic.”

Windsor Regional Hospital president David Musyj thanked the University for its generosity in agreeing to provide use of the space to benefit the community in its fight against COVID-19.

The planned October unveiling of a sculpture honouring pioneering publisher Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) will be appropriate for several reasons, say members of the committee organizing the event.

The work by artist Donna Mayne (BA 1982) depicts the anti-slavery activist, journalist, teacher, and lawyer — the first woman in Canada and the first Black woman in all of North America to establish a newspaper, which she did right here in Windsor — holding a copy of The Provincial Freeman. The newspaper advocated equality, integration, and self-reliance for Black people in Canada and the United States.

If the unveiling ceremony is able to proceed in October, it will coincide with Women's History Month and Shadd Cary’s Oct. 9 birthday, notes committee member Irene Moore Davis (BA 1993), a historian and educator, president of the Essex County Black Historical Research Society, and a descendant of Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s younger sister Elizabeth Shadd Shreve.

Moore Davis calls the publisher, named a Person of National Historic Significance by the Canadian government in 1994, one of the most fascinating figures ever to have walked the streets of Windsor.

“Mary Ann Shadd Cary is well known to many of us who study, teach, or write about Black history all across North America, but she is not as well known in the broader community of Windsor as she should be,” she says. “It’s certainly my hope that Donna Mayne’s sculpture will help shine a light on this trailblazer, and that its placement at the downtown campus will make it easy for the public to access.”

The sculpture will be located outside Windsor Hall, formerly home to the Windsor Star newspaper. Moore Davis says many members of the family are looking forward to participating in the unveiling, either in person or virtually.

“There are many Shadd descendants living across Southwestern Ontario, Southeastern Michigan, and well beyond,” she says. “There’s a fairly vast network of descendants of Mary Ann’s siblings who keep in touch regularly with one another and with the community of historians who continue to research her.”

Details of a formal ceremony will be released as they are finalized.

Over the last few years, the Faculty of Science has been partnering with biochemistry alumnus Sameer Jafar (BSc 20-15) on videos that highlight the student experience in science. Their latest collaboration, entitled “What will You Put on your Resumé?” focuses on an array of research that undergraduate science students are engaged in.

During his student years, Jafar participated in undergraduate research at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research with professor Dan Heath and on computational genetics with professor James Gauld.

After graduating from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Jafar combined his experiences in science with his passion for media to launch a video production company, BlackCat Ltd. His work showcases the effect that science and technology have on the world, and the impact of students and researchers.

“I found myself in awe of the subject matter, happily perplexed and curious about the process behind the science. Having been drawn toward making home videos and the performing arts, it was natural for me to express my enthusiasm for science through a visual medium,” Jafar says. “The Faculty of Science gave me the freedom to find my stride. I’m confidently building a life for myself in the film industry, approaching projects with a scientist’s lens.”

Dora Cavallo-Medved, learning specialist in biomedical sciences and faculty advisor to the video production, calls Jafar an example of a science graduate who has found common ground between art and science.

“The skills he developed through his undergraduate experiences are versatile and his journey in science in unique,” says Dr. Cavallo-Medved. “And the fact that we are still working with Sameer years later also illustrates our deep commitment to our students well beyond graduation.”

The Faculty of Science supports student career development through the USci Network and in partnership with the Career Development and Experiential Learning Office. They host a Careers in Science Week filled with professional development workshops, a LinkedIn contest to help students build their online profiles and showcase alumni in a variety of science careers.

“It important for students to know that a science degree offers many diverse career opportunities, but it’s the experiences students have that will help them to stand out,” says Cavallo-Medved.

She cites the unprecedented opportunities to participate in undergraduate research and blend arts and sciences as one of the reasons that the faculty is the Destination Science program in Ontario.

A group of UWindsor students are planning an online panel discussion to address public concerns about receiving inoculation against COVID-19.

“As our region begins its roll out of the new COVID-19 vaccines, many in our community have expressed their hesitancies over the safety, efficacy and necessity of the vaccine” said lead organizer Zainab Taleb, a doctoral candidate in biomedical sciences. “A recent survey released by Statistics Canada suggests that less than 60 per cent of Canadians surveyed are confident in taking the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

In partnership with WE-Spark Health Institute, the students will host a live streamed discussion on Friday, Feb. 19.

“This event is the opportunity for the public to ask these questions directly to a panel of experts to learn more about how the new COVID-19 vaccines work, their ability to protect, and their overall safety,” says Taleb.

Panelists include UWindsor professors Phillip Karpowicz, Munir Rahim, and John Trant; Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health for the Windsor Essex County Health Unit; and Corinna Quan, head of infectious disease at Windsor Regional Hospital.

The event will be streamed live on WE-Spark Health Institute’s Facebook page starting at 6 p.m. Click here to register and to submit questions in advance.

Applications will open Feb. 18 for students to serve as leaders in each faculty during the Welcome Week orientation program.

The Faculty Leaders will mentor and guide first-year students through their initial few weeks of school, building campus community and pride. They’ll also lead teams in competitive rivalry activities.

Find more details on the UWindsor Welcome Week website.

A course in Assumption University’s “Learn for Life” series will chronicle the relationship between Catholics and Jews from the birth of Christianity to the Spanish Inquisition.

Principal John Cappucci will lead the class, “Rome and Jerusalem: Catholic-Jewish Relations I,” online via the Zoom teleconferencing platform.

It will run 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 6, with a noon-hour lunch break. Find more details and register by Friday, Feb. 26, on the Assumption website.

A pair of live chats will explore avenues to prevent sexual assault today — Thursday, Feb. 4 — on the Flip the Script UWindsor Facebook page.

Tune in to hear from:

• Psychology professor Charlene Senn, Canada Research Chair in Sexual Violence and creator of the Flip the Script sexual assault resistance program, at 10 a.m.
• Trainer Deb Chard, instructor for Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence, Canada’s longest-running women’s self defence organization, at 11 a.m.

An incorrect link was provided yesterday in DailyNews.