The Spring 2012 edition of VIEW, the University of Windsor’s alumni magazine, is now available online by visiting www.uwindsor.ca/view. New for the online issue of VIEW is the addition of short videos that accompany selected stories. Look for the triangular “play” button to zoom in and watch the story unfold.

This issue features UWindsor’s new, first-year student support services that are offered as part of the strategic priority of providing an exceptional undergraduate experience. Discover how students like Olivia Greenhow are finding direction through courses and programs that are designed to help with the challenging transition from high school to university.

Executive editor Holly Ward promises that readers will also get to know an alumnus who made his dream come true by becoming Canada’s top weather geek, and a student who bravely travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help rebuild a community.

“We also celebrate the remarkable achievement of the first class to graduate from the Windsor program of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry,” says Ward, the University’s chief communications officer.

She invites staff, faculty, students and alumni to be proud ambassadors of the University of Windsor by forwarding this link to family and friends, helping to spread all the exciting news happening on campus.

Watch a video on programs for first-year success supported by the Strategic Priority Fund.

Emilie Cushman, a student at the Odette School of Business, received the 2012 Woman Leader of Tomorrow Award for central Canada from Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship at its regional exposition, March 12 in Toronto.

As the president of the Students in Free Enterprise team at the University of Windsor, Cushman has helped expand her team’s YOUTHrive project, which allows high school students to start and run a micro-business. This year, the project supported 87 students, who have generated a 100 per cent return on investment through their businesses.

Cushman also developed a partnership with the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry – Windsor Program to launch a clinic that will provide refugees with legal, medical, social work and financial services that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) is a national charitable organization; this award is designed to recognize, celebrate and honour female university and college students – on a regional and national level – who exemplify success and inspire their peers, community and country through entrepreneurial leadership.

Cushman is one of six regional award winners from across Canada who will travel to the 2012 ACE National Exposition taking place in Calgary in May.

“I’m so pleased to have been recognized for this award,” says Cushman. “I am looking forward to meeting many of my peers at the national exposition and continue to become inspired to be a strong woman leader in my community.”

The Windsor chapter of Students in Free Enterprise met every challenge at the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) regional exposition, March 12 in Toronto. Teams in three categories were named regional champions and will on to the national competition in Calgary, May 7 to 9.

“I am extremely proud of my team,” said Emilie Cushman, president of SIFE Windsor. “They all worked very hard and these are all volunteer projects.”

During the event, students showcase how their community outreach projects and business ventures are making a real impact in Canada and beyond. Through rounds of live, presentation-based competitions, business leaders judge the regional champions in:

• TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge, projects that that teach relevant entrepreneurship skills to others, empowering aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to improve their quality of life and standard of living, building a stronger Canadian economy.
• Scotiabank & SIFE Go Green Challenge, projects that teach and empower others to implement economically viable solutions to relevant environmental issues.
• Capital One SIFE Financial Education Challenge, projects that deliver relevant financial education to others in an effort to improve their audience’s ability to make informed and positive financial decisions.

Cushman, a student in the Odette School of Business, said the Windsor club has 112 members drawn from every faculty. She herself received a Woman Leader of Tomorrow Award for Central Canada.

Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship is a national, charitable organization that promotes entrepreneurial values in young people. Learn more on its Web site.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has named UWindsor drama grad Antoni Cimolino (BFA 1984, hon. PhD 2004) its next artistic director. He will take on the role once incumbent Des McAnuff vacates it at the end of the festival’s 2012 season.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has named UWindsor drama grad Antoni Cimolino its next artistic director.

“This is a day of enormous joy for me,” Cimolino said. “This great theatre changed my life as it has changed the lives of countless others in its almost 60 seasons. It has given me 25 years of growth as an artist and introduced me to wonderful people, great talents and a world of plays, characters and writing that have brought me as close as any man can be to heaven on earth.”

Cimolino first joined the festival -- North America’s largest classical repertory theatre -- as an actor in 1988. He has directed, co-directed or assistant directed 20 productions, while also fulfilling a series of leadership roles that culminated in his appointment as general director in 2006.

In that capacity, he administers an annual budget of $60 million and oversees 1,000 employees. He was instrumental in the formation of the festival’s Endowment Foundation (which has raised more than $50 million to date), the renovation of the Avon Theatre and the establishment of the Studio Theatre.

“Today I am being asked to make a new and deeper contribution to the Stratford Festival,” said Cimolino. “I’m thrilled and honoured.”

He acknowledged the contributions of his predecessors and said he goes in with his eyes open to both the joys and the challenges.

“While we face challenges, we also have an enormous abundance of talent, energy and creativity in our artists, as well as loyal audiences and generous donors,” he said. “I want to build on our current momentum to make the Stratford Shakespeare Festival the world’s leading theatre, presenting the world’s greatest plays performed to the highest standards, because I believe that the artist and the spoken word are the heart of our experience.”

The chair of the festival’s board, Lee Myers, praised Cimolino’s combination of enthusiasm, experience and new ideas.

“His artistic vision includes a deep commitment to Shakespeare and classical theatre, great enthusiasm for the development of large-scale new works, terrific ideas about artist training and audience outreach and an inspiring perspective on the festival’s role within the broader Canadian theatre landscape,” she said. “We have absolute confidence that he will … further the success of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.”

Several campus projects are using the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day to send a message – you don’t have to drink to excess to have a good time.

“St. Patrick’s Day is the biggest drinking day of the year for university students,” says Catherine Joyce, who works with Campus Police as student alcohol education coordinator. “It’s a nice target for us to get to them before the event.”

She organized an information fair in the CAW Student Centre Thursday, with booths on a variety of topics related to alcohol awareness.

“I believe that it essential to promote awareness on the dangers of binge drinking, drinking and driving, and the impact alcohol can have on your grades,” Joyce says.

Jacqueline Mellish, residence life coordinator in Macdonald and Electa halls, is an organizer of “I Clover Sober,” an annual campaign to educate students about responsible drinking.

“We understand in residence and off-campus that students might choose to drink,” says Mellish. “We want to make sure that if they make that choice, they have the knowledge on how to be safe.”

Residence Life staff will don distinctive green T-shirts to display banners and distribute giveaways along Wyandotte Street approaches to campus Friday. On Saturday, the program moves into residence halls, with activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day without alcohol.

“Each lobby will have a green theme – green food and activities,” says Mellish. “From karaoke in Alumni Hall to a movie marathon in Mac, from a mocktails party in Electa to a barbecue in the quad, we hope to reach as many students as we can and provide them with the chance to have a fun and safe St Patrick’s Day.”

Watch for members of the “I Clover Sober” crew on Wyandotte Street today. Standing: Jacqueline Mellish, Megan Nicol, Jillienne Simone; kneeling: Catherine Joyce, Sandra Tilo, Elyse O’Halloran.

A straight line from Melbourne to Windsor is about 16,000 km, but the route Camille Cameron has taken from the beginning of her legal career in Halifax to the University of Melbourne and now dean of Windsor Law is a much greater distance, says a profile in the February 2012 issue of the Ontario Bar Association’s publication, Briefly Speaking.

The article, by Windsor Law alumnus J. Andrew Sprague, describes Cameron’s journey from her Nova Scotia home through 20 years of teaching and consulting in Asia and Australia before returning to Canada to take up her current post in January.

Read the full article in the February 2012 issue of Briefly Speaking on the bar association’s Web site.

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s basketball championship tournament may be in Calgary, but that doesn’t mean Lancer fans have to miss their team’s title defense. SSN Canada will webcast every game live.

Saturday, March 17

• 2 p.m. Quarter-final #1: No. 7 McGill vs. No. 2 UBC
• 4 p.m. Quarter-final #2: No. 6 Saskatchewan vs. No. 3 Ottawa
• 7 p.m. Quarter-final #3: No. 5 Acadia vs. No. 4 Windsor
• 9 p.m. Quarter-final #4: No. 8 Calgary vs. No. 1 Regina

Sunday, March 18

• 2 p.m. Consolation #1: Loser QF #1 vs. Loser QF #2
• 4 p.m. Consolation #2: Loser QF #3 vs. Loser QF #4
• 7 p.m. Semifinal #1: Winner QF #1 vs. Winner QF #2
• 9 p.m. Semifinal #2: Winner QF #3 vs. Winner QF #4

Monday, March 19

• 3 p.m. 5th place
• 5 p.m. Bronze medal
• 9 p.m. Championship final

Watch at http://www.ssncanada.ca/games/. All times Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

John Powell said it was “truly an honour” to be recognized by the Organization of Part-time University Students at its 20th annual awards dinner Thursday, but that isn’t why he loves his job.

“I have the fortune to be able to play a role in telling the stories of students, faculty and staff across campus,” the University’s director of Web development said. “Certainly the work I do is reflected in efforts to advance the University.”

Powell was among the staff, students and faculty honoured for their outstanding contributions to the success of part-time students during the banquet, held at the Caboto Club. In addition to the awards presentations, the event included performances by the Hoa Sen dancers; two music students, the Jordan Sherman Duo; and poet Amina Abdulle reading original works.

This year’s OPUS award recipients are:

• Friend of Students Award: Gregory Marcotte, registrar
• Teacher of the Year Award: Stephen Brooks, political science
• Volunteer of the Year Award: Barbara Maitre
• Faculty Awards: Erica Stevens Abbitt, drama, and Randy Lippert, sociology
• Support Staff Awards: John Powell, public affairs and communications, and Joyce Pohjola, Catering Services
• Disability Campus Community Recognition Award: Rosemary Briscoe, Campus Police
• Student with Disability Achievement Award: Paul Cowan
• Alumni Association Academic Achievement Award: Mike Binder
• Alumni Association First Year Part-time Undergraduate Student Award: Brittany Lepera
• Wayne Girard Leadership Memorial Award: Ferial Bachir
• Ken Long Memorial Award: Lisa Milne
• Mary C. Schisler Award in Dramatic Art: Roberto Ercoli
• Dr. Kathleen McCrone Award: Helen Girgenti
• Appreciation Award: Vajo Stajic, OPUS Director at Large

Bernarda Camello-Doctor, a member of the OPUS board of directors and a UWindsor student since 1961, received a special award for Going the Extra Mile from Clayton Smith, vice-provost, students and international.

A group of visual arts students will utilize an unconventional space and alternative materials – including balloons and their own bodies – for a performance work entitled Hot Air, outside 1350 Ouellette Avenue on Saturday, March 17, at 7 p.m.

The collective: April Morris, Fatima Fakih, Elizabeth Lojewski, Michael Feiye Ngo and Victoria Symons will be in discussion with the literal space they occupy.

Volunteer International Students Assistance invites all interested to watch one of the world’s most heated sports rivalries, as India will face Pakistan in cricket’s Asia Cup on Sunday, March 18.

The live broadcast of the game will be screened in the CAW Student Centre Commons, starting at 4:30 a.m.

“These teams have the most intense rivalry in the world,” says coordinator Mahek Ajmera. “Come out and have fun!”