The final show of the University Players season, Love and Information, has an extremely loose structure, says director Marc Bondy.

Playwright Caryl Churchill provides text without any context, he notes: “There is very little punctuation and even gender has not been assigned to characters. It’s like being given some specific paint colours and brushes and a huge empty blank canvas. You can fill the canvas however you wish, but you must use the materials provided.”

The production opens March 22 and runs through March 31 in the Essex Hall Theatre.

The play is a series of vignettes, variations on themes of love and information. Only 13 actors will perform more than 100 characters and 50 scenes, scrolling by as quickly as a social media news feed, bringing to life ordinary moments that immerse the audience in the richness and depth of the human experience.

“It’s going to be fun to see what we come up with when all of our creative forces come together,” Bondy says.

Wednesday through Saturday performances are at 8 p.m. and matinées Saturday and Sunday are at 2 p.m. On Sunday, March 24, a “Talk Back” discussion with the actors will follow the performance. Order tickets online at www.UniversityPlayers.com or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.

A referendum Wednesday and Thursday, March 20 and 21, will give full-time undergraduate students a chance to decide whether to continue the universal bus pass (U-Pass) on a permanent basis.

The program offers unlimited access to Transit Windsor bus service at a reduced cost. It was instituted on a trial basis in 2016.

Find more information about the service and the referendum on the website of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance.

Students who belong to the Organization of Part-time University Students or the Graduate Student Society will vote March 28 and 29.

The six University of Windsor science students participating in a graduate student video contest are in the final stretch as only one week remains in the voting.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) graduate video contest — Science Action! — will close voting March 27, and the top 25 videos will advance to the final competition.

“The UWindsor community can help our students advance simply by watching their research videos,” says Dan Mennill, associate dean of graduate studies and research for the Faculty of Science. “A vote is counted each time one of the videos is viewed online, and by viewing our students’ videos this will help them enter the 25 finalists.”

• Patrick Jagielski’s polar bear video: https://youtu.be/oRk1XZu_K0YE
• Sara Mechael’s stretchable electronics video: https://youtu.be/a0cYrq130rI
• Ian Thomas’ sparrow song video: https://youtu.be/HRhTNANBA0M
• Sarah Tran’s auditory neuroscience video: https://youtu.be/5-egiBP1Epg
• Katrina Switzer’s yellow toad video: https://youtu.be/SkUh_ZCct5M
• Erica Geldart’s eider duck video: https://youtu.be/kRwnygZQTLE

—Darko Milenkovic

The student centre hopes to brighten up the pre-exam period with a carnival of fun Thursday, March 21.

Featuring free carnival games, carnival prizes, and carnival snacks, the event runs 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Commons area.

“Come get some cotton candy,” says Sandra Riccio-Muglia, director of programming for the student centre. “You know you want to!”

Demands for greater national control over and benefit from development have been at the heart of social and economic debates in southern Africa.

A panel will discuss the politics and dynamics of this resurgent resource nationalism in a free public event on Thursday, March 21.

“The Return of Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa” will feature panellists:

• Jesse Salah Ovadia, a UWindsor professor and the author of The Petro-Developmental State in Africa: Making Oil Work in Angola, Nigeria, and the Gulf of Guinea;
• Richard Saunders, professor at York University whose most recent book is the edited collection Facets of Power: Politics, Profits, and People in the Making of Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds; and
• Alex Caramento, a PhD candidate at York University whose dissertation research focuses on indigenous capital formation among Zambian mine suppliers and contractors.

Thursday’s event, sponsored by the Department of Political Science, will begin at 2 p.m. in room 355, Dillon Hall.

Marta de Menezes will explore the possibilities modern biology offers to artists in a free public presentation in the Performance Hall, SoCA Armouries, at noon on Thursday, March 21.

Entitled “The Self and the Non-Self: Losing yourself through immortality and rejection,” the talk will focus on her use of biology and biotechnology as new art media, using research laboratories as her art studio.

De Menezes’ practice demonstrates that new biological technologies, DNA, proteins, and live organisms can be used as an art medium. Learn more on the event website.

Economists generally agree that climate change is best addressed by putting a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels, whether by taxing carbon, cap-and-trade systems, or other methods. But do political realities render carbon pricing impracticable?

University of Michigan professor Barry Rabe will draw on real-world attempts to price carbon to analyze its feasibility and sustainability in a free public lecture Thursday, March 21.

Titled “Can We Price Carbon?” the event is set for 2:30 p.m. in room 200, Toldo Health Education Centre. It is part of the Distinguished Speakers Series on Global Environmental Governance, sponsored by the UWindsor departments of political science and earth and environmental sciences.

Dr. Rabe is the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy and director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and Arthur Thurnau Professor of Environmental Policy. He is the first social scientist to receive a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Award for his use of scholarship to advance policymaking.

MIT Press published his book Can We Price Carbon? in spring 2018.

A week’s worth of activities are giving UWindsor students the opportunity to celebrate co-operative education and work-integrated learning.

Professional and career advancement, along with prizes and treats, are on the menu for events organized by the Office of Co-op & Workplace Partnerships for National Co-op and WIL Week, March 18 to 22.

Remaining on the calendar are:

• Picture Day, offering students a chance to have professional photos taken for their LinkedIn accounts, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, in room 2139 Erie Hall.
• Practice your Pitch, giving a turn at spinning the prize wheel from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in the CAW Student Centre Commons.
• Employer Appreciation Day invites students to tag their employers on social media Friday, March 22.

Students can win gift cards worth $20 or $50 by engaging on social media with @CCES_UWindsor.

Campus employers of co-op and internship students who complete daily challenges using the hashtag #HireStudents across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, qualify for a chance to win $250 donated to the charity of their choice.

Find more details on the co-op office website.

Sarah Columbus, a student in the concurrent Bachelor of Education program, knows too well the devastating effect that cancer has on Canadians. She felt compelled to become involved in UWindsor’s Relay for Life because she’s about to celebrate being 16 years cancer-free.

At five years of age, Columbus was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and after experiencing symptoms of pain in her right ankle that made it unbearable to walk, she had surgery to insert a Port-A-Cath in order to receive 25 months of chemotherapy. She lost all her hair due to the chemo, endured many finger pokes, leg needles, lumbar punctures, and bone marrow biopsies to name a few.

In May 2005, at seven years old, she finished her last chemotherapy treatment. She feels very fortunate today never to have had a reoccurrence.

Relay for Life is a party with a purpose that brings the University of Windsor community closer together and empowers students to be leaders in the fight against cancer, says staff advisor Cindy Crump, director of the Student Success and Leadership Centre.

“Every step we take helps fund promising cancer research, local support services, and other important work that helps people right here in Windsor,” Crump says.

The student organizers have raised more than $25,000 in support of the Relay for Life event, which will run through 12 hours overnight starting at 7 p.m. Friday, March 21.

Crump anticipates the event may become the largest student fundraiser in UWindsor’s history in only its first year. To contribute, go to the website relayforlife.ca/uwindsor and click “donate.”