A University of Windsor alumnus and his spouse were recognized Monday for their dedication to the research taking place at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), and for their financial support of renovations to a conference room that is the site of countless academic gatherings and public events.

The Alex S. Davidson Conference Centre for Environmental Excellence was named to honour Alex Davidson (BComm 1966) and his wife Audrey, whose donation supported upgrades to the room’s windows, lighting, flooring, furniture, and Great Lakes themed decorative paneling.

“This generous donation provides a critical boost to the infrastructure of GLIER,” said UWindsor interim president Douglas Kneale. “The Davidsons’ gift recognizes the importance of creating a human, discursive space where new ideas will be forged in the heat of intellectual debate and discovery.”

Alex Davidson, who was born and raised in Windsor, spent 30 years in the start-up, ownership, and management of more than a dozen companies in the manufacturing and resource sectors, followed by a post-retirement career with CJ Clark Ltd., a Toronto-based wealth manager, where he worked as a senior advisor and portfolio manager until 2017.

He currently serves as a chancellor for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as well as a director of the foundation’s affiliated Canadian Clinical Trials Network. He has also been involved in Great Lakes environmental concerns through his work with the Georgian Bay Association and related organizations.

Davidson has been a benefactor and supporter of GLIER for many years. In addition to the conference centre, he established the Alex Davidson Great Lakes Stewardship Award in 2011, which each year provides an $8,000 award to students whose graduate research supports the conservation of the Great Lakes.

“The Alex S. Davidson Conference Centre has become the academic heart of GLIER,” said Christina Semeniuk, associate professor and the institute’s graduate co-ordinator. “It is integral to the students’ pursuit of protecting our Great Lakes resource.”

Davidson said his UWindsor history, a time of “study and fun,” motivated him to contribute to GLIER: “For all my life, the Great Lakes has been the repository of all of my peace and recreation… it’s also been a source of long-standing worry that this resource could be depleted. GLIER is working to ensure future generations can enjoy the lakes as I have.”

UWinsite Student, the University of Windsor’s new student information platform, is set to launch November 26, advise project organizers. The system will replace the current Student Information System (SIS), including myUWindsor.ca and uwindsor.ca/sis.

UWinsite Student is built on Campus Solutions, an Oracle PeopleSoft product used at post-secondary institutions across North America and beyond. It includes modules for student records, admissions, academic advising, convocation, student financials and financial aid, as well as self-service functionality for students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

“The new platform will be the technological foundation supporting the University’s commitment to an exceptional student experience,” says Alice Miller, university registrar and UWinsite Student stream lead. “We kept students front and centre during design while also ensuring the solution is best-practice driven, scalable, sustainable, and aligns with the University’s future direction.”

Miller says UWinsite Student will move the University closer to paperless by moving processes such as undergraduate grade appeals, the signing of undergraduate students into courses, and the review of applications for re-admission online.

In addition, faculty and staff will be able to see a student’s view of the system, helping make it easier to understand questions and provide relevant responses. New academic advising functionality has also been well-received during early design sessions and walkthroughs with faculties and departments across campus.

“We recognize that with the introduction of a system the size and scope of UWinsite Student, there will be some bumps along the road as we all adjust,” says Miller. “During the transition, there will be a variety of supports in place to assist faculty and staff members as well as students.”

In addition, UWinsite Student training will be delivered for five weeks starting October 22. Further details about training will be shared next week in DailyNews followed shortly by training invitations.

The introduction of UWinsite Student follows the launch of UWinsite Finance in February 2018 and UWinsite Service and UWinsite Engage in August 2018. It marks the third and final milestone in the campus-wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project.

Email any questions or concerns to uwinsite@uwindsor.ca.

Providing a venue for local food producers, craftspeople, and entrepreneurs, the farmersʼ market returns to campus Wednesday, September 19, in the Student Courtyard.

Find fresh fruits and vegetables, hand-crafted goods, and specialty foods Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The market will operate through October 31, excepting only fall reading week, October 10.

The Student Courtyard is located between Memorial and Dillon halls, outside the east entrance to the CAW Student Centre.

The University of Windsor Faculty of Law welcomed its first class in 1968, a small group of students at Canada’s newest law school. Fifty years later, Windsor Law has earned distinction among law schools for its emphases on access to justice, community service, clinical and experiential learning, and transnational law. It is home to more than 7,000 alumni who have become leaders in the legal profession across Canada and around the world.

To celebrate this milestone, Windsor Law has partnered with literary press Biblioasis to create a book, Bridging the Law: Fifty Years of Windsor Law, commemorating 50 years of teaching, research advocacy, and service.

The publication is a collection of short articles and profiles based on essential themes that characterize Windsor Law’s history and values: people-centred, community engaged, justice-seeking, dynamic, and inclusive.

“Windsor was meant to be a different kind of law school from the start,” says dean of law Christopher Waters. “From our modest beginnings — with a few dozen students in 1968 — to where we are today, with over 7,000 graduates, we’ve changed in size and reach. But we remain the people’s law school that we started off as 50 years ago. This book tells that story.”

Contributors include professional authors, journalists, and past and present Windsor Law faculty, staff, and alumni.

Bridging the Law: Fifty Years of Windsor Law is available for purchase at the Campus Bookstore in the student centre or from Biblioasis, 1520 Wyandotte Street East.

The law school is hosting a gala Thursday, September 20, at Caesars Windsor to mark this milestone; more than 400 alumni have confirmed their attendance. To join the celebration, find details and an online registration form on the event website. A portion of every gala ticket will go towards the establishment of the Windsor Law 50th Anniversary Scholarship.

Catering Services hopes to satisfy the demand for economical lunches for the campus community, allowing for a minimum of 10 people as a requirement for wider menu offerings.

It is introducing two premium hot lunch options and signature pizzas on its express menu. The premium collections provide multi-course lunches from soups to dessert.

Other new items include:

• Taco bar of chicken, beef, or black beans with flour tortillas and Spanish rice, and choice of toppings: cheese, sour cream, salsa, and green onions.
• Mashed potato bar serving garlic whipped potatoes with diner’s choice of toppings: gravy, cheese, bacon, and green onions.
• Chicken wings and burgers are now available as express lunch options.

Items on the express menu are available 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday to Friday; view it on the catering website. To place an order, phone Catering Services at 519-253-3000, ext. 3276 or 3277.

UWindsor creative writing grad Emilia Danielewska (BA 2012, MA 2015) will launch her debut book of prose-poetry, Paper Caskets, with a reading and signing Wednesday, September 19, at Biblioasis.

Divided into four parts, Paper Caskets proposes a poetics of the box — as coffin, as prose parameters of the page, as photograph, and as state of mind and body in the face of death. Danielewska (pictured at left) looks beyond grief to see the dead as dynamic places where memory and body collide, where flesh rots and fluid seeps and we de/compose prose-poetry.

Wednesday’s event is free and open to the public and will also feature a guest poet, UWindsor professor Nicole Markotić, reading from her own works. It will get underway at 7 p.m. in the bookstore, located at 1520 Wyandotte Street East.

There may no such thing as a free lunch, but all diners will have to spend is a little time to enjoy the campus community barbecue on the River Commons at noon today — Tuesday, September 18.

The complimentary event welcomes students, faculty, and staff to the start of the school year and offers entertainment along with halal chicken or beef sausages, apples, potato chips, and a meatless option for vegetarians.

Lunch is served while supplies last and will proceed rain or shine in the green space, located along Turtle Island Walk between Lambton Tower and Chrysler Hall. It is hosted by the Office of the President with the support of Food and Catering Services and the alumni association.