Can you run a hotel that operates in the green and the black? A competitive simulation will challenge faculty, staff, and students to find out.

The UWill Discover Sustainable Futures executive has teamed up with the UWindsor Sustainability Office to present a NetZero Simulation on Tuesday, March 19. During the text-based digital simulation, participants run a hotel that must cut its carbon emissions by 50 per cent within seven years — no offsets allowed — while ensuring that the business still makes a profit.

The event begins at 11:45 a.m. in Alumni Auditorium, CAW Student Centre, and promises registrants a free lunch. Sign up as an individual or a team of two or three people.

“The event is an excellent opportunity to learn about effective strategies to reduce carbon emissions in a fun and engaging atmosphere,” says the UWill Discover Conference project lead Tim Brunet. “We are thrilled to team up with the Sustainability Office to offer this wonderful event!”

Sign up today.

For other Sustainability Month activities, visit the website.

With final exams approaching and stress levels high, Student Health, Counselling & Wellness Services is encouraging course instructors to access materials for increasing student awareness of the free mental health and well-being resources available to them.

“Instructors hold an important role in students’ lives: they are mentors, leaders, educators, and role models,” says Katie Chauvin, mental health and wellness co-ordinator. “They are also important collaborators for our office when it comes to fostering a caring, compassionate, and connected campus community where mental health is championed and students know where they can turn for support. Talking about mental health in the classroom is one of the most powerful ways of reaching students and destigmatizing help-seeking.”

The wellness team is available through the rest of the semester to provide five-minute in-class mental health resource presentations.

The following times have been set aside for presentation requests:

• Mondays from 10 a.m. to noon
• Tuesdays from 1 to 3 p.m.

but additional timeslots can be created for instructors with classes outside these windows of availability.

Instructors may also take advantage of the updated materials available on the Student Health, Counselling & Wellness Services website that provide practical in-class tools for increasing student awareness of mental health supports and embedding mental health literacy in the curriculum.

“The wellness team is here to support instructors as key collaborators in building a psychologically safe and healthy campus, and we are always looking to build new connections and partnerships within faculties,” Chauvin says.

To request an in-class presentation or additional materials, reach out to wellness@uwindsor.ca.

Recipients of the 2024 EDI Awards are the guests of honour at a reception hosted by the Office of the Vice-President Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion on April 3.

These awards honour, celebrate, and shine a light on individuals and teams who have made significant contributions towards building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus community and who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to addressing the systemic barriers, contemporary and historical injustices, and inequities experienced by Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, racialized people, the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community, women, and other equity-deserving groups.

The OVPEDI and the EDI Awards Committee congratulate and commend all nominees whose outstanding contributions are advancing equity and justice on campus and in the community.

The award recipients include:

• Faculty Award - Anthony N. Ezeife, professor emeritus/adjunct, Faculty of Education
• Staff Award - John Hayward, research associate, Chemistry & Biochemistry
• Student Award - Willow Key, graduate student, History
• Alumni Award - Irene Moore Davis, author, educator, historian
• Aspire Award - Dusty Johnstone, director, Sexual Violence Prevention, Resistance and Support
• Committee/Team Award - Menstrual Equity Initiative Team: Shae Harasym, John Regier, Dave Schultz, Anmol Nagra, and Mariam Morra
• Community Award - Art Windsor-Essex (Waawiiatanong Forever photography and postcard project)

Awards will be presented at the EDI Awards Celebration to be held at 3 p.m. April 3 in Alumni Auditorium, CAW Student Centre. Individuals interested in joining the celebration are asked to RSVP before the deadline of March 27 at www.uwindsor.ca/vp-people-equity-inclusion/439/edi-awards-celebration-rsvp.

For more information email EDIawards@uwindsor.ca.

World Water Day is more than simply a commemoration, says civil and environmental engineering professor Tirupati Bolisetti: it’s a call to action, an opportunity to make a genuine impact in conservation and sustainability.

He is calling on students in any discipline to participate in a display of research posters on March 22. This year’s theme, “Water Peace,” highlights collaborative efforts to achieve harmony and sustainability in water management.

Posters should address one of these areas:

• Sustainable Development Goals
• Water resources and water quality
• Nutrient loading in the Great Lakes
• Water conflicts, economics, and public policy
• Urban stormwater management
• Climate change impacts and adaptation

“Your poster presentations have the potential to generate discussion, motivate action, and effect positive change in our communities and beyond,” Dr. Bolisetti says. “This is more than simply an academic exercise; it’s an opportunity to make a tangible difference.”

The event will run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Telus Atrium, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

To participate, submit an abstract by Friday, March 15.

Three faculties are coming together to help enhance students’ science communications skills through arts training. The Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science are collaborating on the Science Meets Art (SMArt) Communications initiative.

The project will offer masterclasses in the fields of creative ecologies, creative writing, drama, film, music, and visual arts where undergraduate and graduate science, engineering, and humanities students will learn communication skills and effective knowledge translation skills for disseminating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research to diverse populations.

The Connect Grant is a one-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) program.

“We’re really proud to see interdisciplinary research and how we can rethink the way in which we’re all utilizing research and creative methodologies,” says Jaclyn Meloche, project lead and instructor in the School of Creative Arts.

“The initiative will scaffold interdisciplinary scholarly exchanges between faculty and students in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to develop new and innovative methods for teaching, disseminating, decolonizing, and deracializing scientific research.”

In addition to Dr. Meloche, the project team includes Dora Cavallo-Medved, interim dean of the Faculty of Science; Jennifer Willet, director of the Incubator Art Lab; Lisa Salfi-Novena, learning specialist in the Faculty of Engineering; and experiential learning specialist Michelle Bondy from the Faculty of Science, along with four student research assistants.

“We’re excited about the opportunities for our students across campus to engage within the SMArt communication masterclasses. By working together across disciplines, we are hoping our students can build their skillsets through collaboration and the cross-pollination of ideas,” says Dr. Cavallo-Medved.

The three-phase strategy includes six masterclasses, having students present their creative research to academic and non-academic audiences, and finally to have team members present their research findings to academic audiences via conference presentations and journal articles.

“SMArt Communications will have both immediate and long-lasting impacts on the learning trajectories of student participants, featured faculty, and audience members, for all will have learned new ways for effectively communicating and translating research and knowledge,” Meloche says.

“By putting new communication tools into the hands of future researchers, this initiative will improve how future research is conducted and disseminated and how diverse audiences are engaged.”

Salfi-Novena says students in STEM and other disciplines across the university have ideas to share and work to showcase: “These masterclasses aim to help them develop the critical skill of translating their complex knowledge into a format that audiences with varying backgrounds can more easily and joyfully access.”

English professor Susan Holbrook will lead a masterclass in creative writing from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 21. Students can register on the SMArt Communications Masterclasses website or directly on the creative writing masterclass webpage.

The GATA Network will be hosting two free workshops as part of the GATA Network Series open to both new and experienced UWindsor graduate assistants and teaching assistants, as well as those interested in teaching and learning.

“Inclusive Pedagogy: Building a Community of Learners in your Classroom” is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in room 2104, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

“An Introduction to Creating a Teaching Dossier” is especially relevant for those interested in applying for academic awards. It will run 1 to 2:30 p.m. Monday, April 8, in room 1232, Centre for Teaching and Learning, 700 California Ave.

Find registration and more information on the GATA Network events page.

Beverly Jacobs’ tenure as Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Relations and Outreach has been extended for an additional year.

This decision reflects Dr. Jacobs’ significant contributions to the institution and aims to facilitate the completion of crucial projects and priorities under her guidance, said president Rob Gordon.

“Dr. Jacobs’ dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our University community,” Dr. Gordon said. “Her continued leadership will ensure the advancement of the inaugural Indigenous strategic plan and other important initiatives aligned with the University’s overarching strategic plan, Aspire.”

Appointed in January 2022, Jacobs holds the inaugural role, providing vision, leadership, advocacy, and outreach. Her work addresses systematic support for the ongoing and necessary work of Truth and Reconciliation, encompassing relationship improvement, Indigenous space development, improved decision-making processes, and Indigenization and decolonization efforts.

A memo from the finance department reminds researchers and financial constituents that all Tri-Council Research Grants (NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR) and numerous other research grants require financial reporting as of March 31. To aid in allowing financial transactions to be processed, a change in the UWinsite Finance General Ledger closing date has been extended.

All financial transactions — purchase receipts, expense reports, journal entries, invoice requests — for charges and services related to projects covering the period ending March 31 must be received for posting prior to the end of day April 12.

Direct any questions to resfinance@uwindsor.ca.

Applications close Wednesday, March 13, for the March 2024 disbursement of awards through the University Diversity, Indigeneity, and Anti-Racism Professional Development Funds.

Awards of up to $5,000 — and over, depending on availability — are open to UWindsor faculty and librarians.

Find more information, including eligibility and application instructions, on the Office of the Vice-President, People, Equity, & Inclusion website.

The University has declared an Apple iMac desktop computer for sale by bid as Disposal File 2045.

A 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, it boasts 5120-by-2880 pixel resolution but is unsuitable for use with UWindsor systems.

Click here for more information, including details on submitting bids.