UWindsor Welcome Week isn’t just for students, says organizer Soula Serra.

“We hope that faculty and staff will get a chance to enjoy our activities, too,” says Serra, a student development specialist in the Student Success Centre. “Whether as participants, spectators or volunteers, there is plenty for everyone to do.”

She says the centrepiece of the week is the Welcoming Celebration on Wednesday, September 3, which caps a day of orientation sessions for every academic program.

“Welcoming Celebration is a tradition that gathers all first-year students to represent their programs,” she says. “Students sign their Class of 2018 banner and are welcomed by our president, Alan Wildeman. We invite all faculty and staff to attend and support Dr. Wildeman in welcoming the new students. Don’t miss the excitement!”

Serra encourages everyone to wear their Lancer gear to attend the event, which starts at 3 p.m. in the St. Denis Centre fieldhouse.

Highlights of the week’s activities include:

Sunday, August 31. Residence move-in day ends with a reception for parents at 3 p.m. Students will hang around for an interactive comedy show featuring Daryn Jones and Danielle Wade and close out the evening with an outdoor double film feature in the Residence Quad.

Monday, September 1. The University of Windsor Students’ Alliance and Campus Ministry are sponsoring a pancake breakfast; next up is a pep rally to gets fans ready for the Lancer football season opener at 1 p.m. on Alumni Field.

Tuesday, September 2. Get wet at the Lancer Nation Slip ’n’ Slide water balloon fight or enjoy free barbecue at the UWWW Beach Party. Or both!

Wednesday, September 3. Academic orientation sessions are mandatory for first-year students in all faculties and programs; the 3 p.m. Welcoming Celebration is a must for new students. The University of Windsor Students’ Alliance is hosting a pool party at the city’s new downtown water park, Adventure Bay.

Thursday, September 4. The first day of classes offers free grub at the Adrenaline Rush inflatable carnival, at a pasta buffet dinner, and at midnight: pancakes!

Friday, September 5. The Lancer Cup competition will wrap up with Crazy Olympics but if brain power is more your bag, check out the trivia extravaganza. End your week with a drive-in movie—no car necessary.

Saturday, September 6. Shine Day will see UWindsor students joining the largest post-secondary fundraiser in Canada, taking their shoe-shining skills to the streets of Windsor to benefit cystic fibrosis charities. Cheer on the blue and gold at the second Lancer football game of the season before heading out to the Coming Home Music Festival on Windsor’s riverfront.

Visit www.uwindsorwelcome.ca for a full list of events, locations and times, or grab the event guide from the Welcome Tent, located in the Student Courtyard between Dillon and Memorial halls from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 2 to 5.

A new campus-wide competition will combine several different categories of contest to build school spirit.

Although only in its first year, the Lancer Cup is designed to become a long-standing tradition, says coordinator Rob Crawford.

“We want to instill a sense of pride to students along with the idea that everyone at Windsor is a Lancer,” he says. “While it is important for us to welcome new students, our intention is to bridge a gap to bring upper-year and commuter students to inter-mix with the first years.”

The competition will field teams of six participants drawn from societies, clubs, groups, and faculties across campus in four contests:

• Tough Lancer, a 5km “fun-run” designed by fitness coordinator Frank Jenney to test students’ physical fitness and mental toughness;
• Bedracers, teams race against the clock—and each other—to push a bed on wheels carrying one of their members;
• Lancers Got Talent, performances that allow participants to show their creative sides;
• Crazy Olympics, testing teams on their problem-solving skills and ability to work together through 10 events.

When the dust settles and the points are tabulated, top teams will win prizes in UwinCASH—$1200, $600 and $300 for first, second and third place, respectively.

Sign up as an individual or a team of six through the online registration form.

When Jacqui Cardillo first began work at Ford some 30 years ago, she found an environment less than welcoming to women.

“There wasn’t a locker room, just an area of the production floor with lockers in it,” she recalls. “I had to turn my back so the men wouldn’t think I was watching them.”

Feeling uncomfortable changing in front of her co-workers, Cardillo simply pulled coveralls over her street clothes.

Although workplaces have improved since then, progress still remains before they can be called equitable, she told those gathered Tuesday in the Odette Building for a sneak preview of the 2014 Distinguished Visitors in Women’s Studies program.

Cardillo, a tool- and die-maker and 2014 grad of women’s studies, shared her experiences to help set the tone for this year’s theme, “Women’s Lives, What’s Working?” Events this fall will allow for a broad view of the topic, says organizer Renée Bondy.

“We all work, don’t we—whether it’s paid, underpaid or unpaid,” she says. “It’s a theme everyone has some investment in.”

Discussions will range from employment issues to volunteering, care-giving and activism: work that is essential to society but often unacknowledged.

“The way we think about work is changing in the 21st century,” Dr. Bondy says. “While there are so many more opportunities for women, it raises new questions.”

The centrepiece of this fall’s program is the community keynote event, October 29 at the WFCU Centre.

Titled “The Work of Feminist Activism,” it will feature Shari Graydon, founder of Informed Opinions, a social enterprise which works to build women’s leadership through media engagement, and Julie S. Lalonde, a social justice advocate working in the areas of sexual violence prevention and reproductive justice.

Working on computers all day can be dangerous to one’s health, says Eyob Woldemichael. That’s why the application programmer in Information Technology Services decided to challenge his co-workers to get more active.

“Working in IT is very sedentary; you’re just sitting all the time,” Woldemichael says. “I wanted to think of a way to promote more exercise.”

His solution: issuing a challenge for IT Service staff to bicycle to work this summer, with a total goal of 3,000 km. Once they got pedalling, they blew right past that goal, topping out at 3,600 km Wednesday.

“Bicycling is better for the environment and saves money, too,” Wolemichael says. “But the main motivation is health. Every time you bike in to work, it’s the start of a good day.”

Michael Kenney, with a 13-km commute each way, led the pack with a total of more than 700 km.

“I enjoy riding my bike when I can,” he says, especially after a record long, cold winter. “It’s a lot less stressful than fighting car traffic.”

He plans to continue riding to work, and now has an added boost as the winner of a $100 gift certificate from Ambassador Bicycles in a draw celebrating the conclusion of the ITS Bike to Work program.

Other winners included:

• Kevin Macnaughton, who won another $100 Ambassador Bicycles gift certificate sponsored by CUPE Local 1393, which represents most IT Services staff, and
• Armand Gaudette, who won two $50 gift certificates to Best Buy, courtesy of IT Services.

In addition to providing a prize, the department’s executive director Bala Kathiresan allowed participants to store their bikes in the University Computer Centre basement lab.

“Supporting staff members’ health and well-being will have a positive impact on their morale,” he said. “I fundamentally believe that staff who bike to work will improve their health, be productive and help improve our environment.”

He said he will be glad to allow other campus employees to park their bikes in the lab when it closes each summer.

Another key support came from the Lancer Green Fund administered by Paul Henshaw, the Univeristy’s environmental advocate. The fund paid for juice, water and cereal bars for riders each Wednesday.