Several UWindsor varsity teams found playoff success this past weekend; others will begin their post-seasons in the week to come.

Men’s volleyball team qualifies for provincial final four tournament

The Lancer men’s volleyball team advanced to the Ontario University Athletics final four for the first time in over a decade, with a 3-1 victory over the Ryerson Rams, (27-25, 25-19, 13-25, 25-22) Saturday in Toronto.

The Lancers were the lowest-seeded team to qualify for post-season competition; Ryerson was seeded second and ranked ninth overall in Canada. The final four tournament is set for February 20 and 21 in Hamilton, hosted by the regular season champion McMaster Marauders.

Overtime win lifts men’s hockey into divisional semi-finals

 Kyle Hope scored an unassisted goal in overtime Sunday to lift the Lancer men’s hockey team to a 4-3 victory over the Brock Badgers in the decider of the best-of-three opening-round playoff series at South Windsor Arena. Julian Luciani scored two and Chad Shepley a single for Windsor in regulation.

The Lancers, defending OUA champions and ranked seventh in the country, had defeated Brock 4-2 Saturday to stave off elimination. Ryan Green, whose two goals included the game-winner, Matt Beaudoin and Spencer Pommells accounted for Windsor’s goals. The team will now take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the OUA West semi-finals.

Women’s hockey lacing up for rematch against Queen’s

The women’s hockey team will face off against a familiar opponent to open the playoffs. A 5-2 loss to the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday at South Windsor Arena means the squad finished the regular season in fifth place and will meet the fourth-place Gaels in the first round. Erin Noseworthy and Candace Kourounis scored Windsor’s goals Saturday.

Lancer athletics up to team challenge

The Lancer track and field took both the men’s and women’s team titles with a record 32-medal performance in the 26th annual Team Challenge, Friday and Saturday at the St. Denis Centre. Windsor athletes earned 12 gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals. Read a full recap at goLancers.ca.

Basketball teams sweep Algoma en route to season finale

The women’s basketball team notched a pair of wins over the Algoma Thunderbirds, 95-23 Friday and 74-38 Saturday. Guard Korissa Williams led all players Friday with 24 points; Emily Prevost scored a game-high 22 points Saturday.

The men’s squad proved equally dominating. Rotimi Osuntola Jr. notched 25 points and 10 rebounds for the only double-double in a 103-66 decision Friday. Saturday, Brad Parker and Marko Kovac led the way with 18 points each in a 98-60 victory.

Both teams will close out the regular season Wednesday at home against the Waterloo Warriors. The occasion will include ceremonies to honour graduating players: Williams, Jocelyn LaRocque, and Kristine Lalonde before the women’s 6 p.m. start and Alex Campbell, Khalid Abdel-Gabar, Evan Matthews, Osuntola and Parker following the men’s game, which starts at 8 p.m.

A new master’s program in economics, approved Friday by the UWindsor Senate, aims to provide students with skills in applying economic theory to policy decisions in industry and government.

The Master of Applied Economics and Policy will place a special emphasis on preparing graduates to utilize data to improve the efficacy of government policies and business projects. In proposing the program, economics faculty noted that the slow recovery since 2008 from recession continues to challenge policy makers.

“Economists have not been able to put forward effectively good economic policies to deal with these challenges and their theories are far behind our economic reality,” said the proposal brief submitted to Senate. “There is increasing need both from the private sector and the public sector—in particular, from the emerging economies—that requires professionals with a strong economic background and policy-making skills.”

The 16-month program will begin admitting students in fall 2105. See the entire document on the Senate website.

Women’s Studies renamed to reflect expand in focus

Senate approved a change in the name of the women’s studies program to “Women’s and Gender Studies.” The name change reflects a shift in the field and welcomes trans-identified students.

Dean of Engineering to represent Senate on Board of Governors

Senate elected Mehrdad Saif, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, to complete the term of Beth Daly as representative on the UWindsor Board of Governors. That tenure will end August 31.

In Microbial Life in Extreme Environments: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, UWindsor professor Christopher Weisener will discuss the underestimated importance of bacteria in a Science Café at Canada South Science City, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18. The session is designed for the general public, and there is no admission charge.

Extreme environments that harbour a vast diversity of microflora exist across our planet, from mine-waste sites to isolated deep crustal pockets. Bacteria are often underestimated in their ability to regulate the mass transport and toxicity of contaminants in their environment.

This lecture will provide an introduction to a range of what we consider to be extreme environments, with emphasis on the influence that bacteria have on the stability of elements in our terrestrial world. Dr. Weisener will present case studies that emphasize their role in contaminant cycling and their ability to adapt to their surroundings as essentially the “ultimate survivors.”

Weisener is an associate professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

As usual at Science Cafés, the talk is followed by discussion and refreshments. It is part of a series of Science Cafés—free discussions of important science research for the general public—held on the third Wednesday of each month in the café of Canada South Science City.

The series is sponsored by the Faculty of Science and the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Windsor. Canada South Science City is located at 930 Marion Avenue in Windsor.

Last week’s migration of a 28-member demonstration group from Lotus Notes to MS Outlook was a success, reports Steve Banyai, assistant director of Information Technology Services.

“We set up a special migration hotline, with dedicated support in the event we’d have issues related to the migration,” he says. “At the end of the day, we had approximately 12 calls, most of which were resolved before the end of business on Wednesday.”

The demonstration group will be in ‘test’ mode for another two weeks, Banyai says, working through daily usage and reporting any functionality issues so they can be resolved.

“We are also hoping to identify any application issues they may encounter so we can prepare for the larger campus wide migration in the coming weeks,” he says.