History professor Steven Palmer recently led his students and colleagues in a project to bring UWindsor expertise to a digital archives project that will preserve the memories of some pioneering local nurses.

The Former Metropolitan General Hospital School (MET) digital archives launch held this week at Windsor Regional Hospital has made the school’s yearbooks, documents and photos of a groundbreaking era in nursing education available to the public.

Dr. Palmer, Canada Research Chair in History of International Health, says MET was the first school of its kind in Canada and provided aspiring nurses with two years of academic and clinical instruction followed by a year of hospital work. This was a departure from previous nursing education which had students working in the hospital for the entire three years.

The school was established in 1954 where Windsor Regional Hospital’s Metropolitan Campus is currently located. Some of the program’s nurses were on hand for the event, which brought back beautiful and nostalgic memories of a long-ago time, thanks to the efforts of Kathleen Moderwell, the school’s director from 1958 to 1974.

Moderwell donated and organized countless pieces of school memorabilia which were then scanned in high-resolution by Palmer and his team for posting on the web.

View the digital archives on the Windsor Regional Hospital website. 

Read the Windsor Star article

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG), this week named Lancer Women’s Basketball star Korissa Williams to its list of eight finalists for the 23^rd annual BLG Award as CIS Female Athlete of the Year.

Williams helped lead her team to its fifth CIS national championship title this year and is in the running to receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship during a ceremony on May 4 at the Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary. All finalists will return home with a commemorative gold ring and a watch.

“Each year, as we follow the past winners and hear about their accomplishments or what they are involved in, we realize how important their university sports background has been to them,” said Doug Mitchell, National Co-Chair of BLG.

“We congratulate the universities who have provided the great education and athletic programs for these students to succeed in their careers.”

Although recipients will be determined by the Canadian Athletic Foundation the public is encouraged to vote as part as an online-voting pilot project on the websites below:

CIS

BLG Awards

Sportsnet

For more information including BLG Award Nominees and complete profiles, visit the Lancers webpage.

Spring may be a little late this year but the University of Windsor Alumni Association is inviting campus alumni to a special coffee break to celebrate its arrival, Wednesday, April 29, from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. or from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the CAW Student Centre’s Ambassador Auditorium.

There is no cost to attend, though guests are asked to pre-register by April 24 with their preferred attendance time. 

The first 250 attendees will receive a gift from the Alumni Association. 

A series of events to commemorate the 1994 Rwandan genocide in East Africa are being organized by the Rwandan Canadian Cultural Association of Windsor; the University of Windsor; MP Brian Masse; the T4Y and the Windsor SDA Church. Activities include:

•  A screening of the film, I'm Not Leaving, by Carl Wilkens, on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m., 5350 Haig Ave.
•  A message about forgiveness followed by a fellowship potluck, Saturday April 25, 11 a.m., SDA Church, 5350 Haig Ave.
• Main event with guest speakers Teresa and Carl Wilkens, Saturday April 25, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Ambassador Auditorium, University of Windsor.

For more information contact: Hiram Gahima: (519) 562-4899 or Francois Rugelinyange, (226) 246-5315

The 13th Annual Windsor Jewish Film Festival will take place this year starting Monday, April 27 at Devonshire Mall’s Cineplex Odeon Theatre.  

Organizer and Communications Studies Professor Emeritus Stuart Selby says the festival will present 10 Jewish-themed films from 10 countries in a variety of genres. Film themes range from drama and comedy to documentary and the Holocaust. Non-English offerings will include English language subtitles.

“After a happy career teaching film studies courses to a generation of Windsor students, this film festival is one of the volunteer activities that keeps me involved with my discipline,” he says

For more information, tickets and the complete program, visit the Windsor Jewish Federation website.

"Ontario universities accept the province’s decision to maintain funding per student at current levels because of fiscal constraints, but say future strategic reinvestment will be necessary to sustain excellence for students and to fully realize the power of universities to drive economic growth." says the Council of Ontario Universities in a press release responding to Thursday's provincial budget. 

“Ontario universities are committed to their role as the economic engines that deliver social and economic prosperity for individuals, communities, the province and the country,” says Max Blouw, Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) and President of Wilfrid Laurier University. 

“Strategic government investment in such critically important areas as the province’s best minds is essential to maintain Ontario’s competitive advantage and to truly mobilize universities as key players in fuelling the economic gains that are so vital for everyone.” 

Students will benefit from extensive changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), including the indexing of Ontario student aid levels to inflation and an end to a requirement that students report their vehicle as an asset when being assessed for aid. 

Also of benefit to students is the renewal of the Ontario Youth Jobs Strategy with an additional $250 million over two years, including an extra $5 million in funding for the Postsecondary Education Fund for Aboriginal Learners and $13.8 million for new on-campus accelerators in 2015-16. 

Ontario universities are facing ongoing financial pressures, including declining operating grants per student, which have been for years at the lowest per-student rate in the country. 

“For universities to maintain the best possible quality of education for students, and indeed improve it in order to be nationally and internationally competitive, increased government investment in university education in the near future is crucial,” says Bonnie M. Patterson, President and CEO of COU, which represents Ontario’s 21 publicly funded universities. 

“Universities realize that increasing funding for universities isn’t possible in the government’s current fiscal reality, but they will be looking to the province for strategic reinvestment in the sector as Ontario’s books are balanced,” Patterson says. 

Universities will continue to work collaboratively with the province to review the current university funding formula to ensure stability, flexibility and predictability, along with ongoing adjustments for cost increases. 

Quick Facts: 

• Ontario universities are proud of their efficiency in educating more students withless funding per student than any jurisdiction in Canada.
• University graduates have higher employment rates, and higher income than anyother level of education.

According to Research Infosource Inc., seven Ontario universities are among theTop-15 research institutions in Canada, and 18 are placed in the Top-50.

Ontario universities provided $840 million in 2013-14 to students in non-repayable bursaries and scholarships, up from $278 million in 2000-01.

The Council of Ontario Universities is the voice of Ontario’s universities, promoting the value of education, research and innovation that leads to social, cultural and economic success. 

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