The cul de sac on Sunset Avenue outside Chrysler Hall North will open for public use by the end of this week, reports Facility Services.

The area features a round-about for pick-up and drop-off, says executive director Susan Mark, and the gated entrance to the Education parking lot Q will be open for access to vehicles from Sunset Avenue. The gated entrance to the Leddy Library parking lot S will remain closed for regrading and is scheduled to be available on Monday, December 19. The existing entrance at the north end will be accessible until the regrading is complete.

“The completion of this part of the project will conclude the road work for the season,” Mark says. “No further zones will see construction until the weather is favourable for excavating and concrete work.”

She says her office will issue communications on the next zones to be completed as the schedule progresses.

Dr. Alan Wright has been appointed Acting Dean, Faculty of Education and Academic Development, for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2015. He will continue in his current role as Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, including oversight for the Office of Open Learning during this time. The search for a new permanent dean of the Faculty of Education and Academic Development has been put on hold while the faculty undertakes re-organization related to changes to Ontario faculties of education mandated by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. 

Dr. Wright’s career has spanned the educational spectrum. He began as an elementary school teacher and subsequently worked in curriculum development and teachers’ professional development at the board and provincial level for 15 years before making the transition to supporting and leading change in higher education. A past winner of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education's (STLHE) Chrisopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award,  Wright has a strong record in teaching, research and publication. As past chair of the STLHE Publications Committee, he was the chief editor and one of the founders of the widely used STLHE Green Guide series, producing nine monographs on post-secondary teaching and learning between 2001 and 2009. From 2001 to 2006, he was a co-investigator on a project studying the evolution of the teaching profession in Canada, supported by a $2.5 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant. Under his leadership, the University of Windsor team successfully competed for and completed five 2013-14 Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities' Productivity and Innovation Fund grants on teaching cultures, teaching evaluation, inter-institutional course development, large-class learning technologies, and educational leadership totalling $1.3 million. Wright is a graduate of Mount Allison University, New Brunswick (BA, English and French Literature); McGill University, Montreal (Education and MA degrees); and Université de Montréal (PhD in Foundations in Education).

A reminder to students that the university is closed on January 2, 2015 as part of the Holiday recess, and there will also be no classes that day. Law classes resume on January 5, 2015, and other classes begin on January 8, 2015. University offices reopen on January 5, 2015.

Lancer mascot Winston makes a great conversation piece, says Chris O’Gorman.

A student recruitment officer, he plans to use the stuffed miniature version he won in Monday’s DailyNews quiz contest as an ice breaker with prospective students.

“I’m going to keep him right here on my desk,” O’Gorman said. “I’ll eve n take him with me for school visits!”

O’Gorman’s entry was drawn from all those which came up with the correct responses in the trivia quiz on the lyrics to seasonal songs. For those playing at home:

• “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?” Auld Lang Syne, Robert Burns
• “You left me on the day after Christmas / There’s nothing left to say, and so goodnight” Boxing Day, Blink 182
• “He’ll come a-calling when the snow’s the most / When all you cats are sleeping warm as toast” Cool Yule, Steve Allen
• “I make toys, but I've got aspirations” Elf’s Lament, Ed Robertson
• “Amid the California flora I’ll be lighting my menorah” Hanukkah in Santa Monica, Tom Lehrer
• “Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow / What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned” Saint Stephen, the Grateful Dead
• “Maybe I’m crazy to suppose I’d ever be the one you chose” What are you doing New Year’s Eve? Frank Loesser

If you missed out on the prize, don’t despair—the Campus Bookstore is well-stocked in the figures, which make a great stocking stuffer and sell for just $22.95.