Staff

Reading promises a few laughs to make the season bright

Seven women from the UWindsor faculty, alumni and broader community will read from David Sedaris’ seasonal masterpiece Santaland Diaries Friday in support of the Windsor Youth Centre.

“This is a very adult story,” says University photographer Tory James, who organizes the annual benefit event, “and quite possibly the funniest 33 pages ever written in English.”

The staged reading will start at 7:30 p.m. December 7 at Lefty’s Underground, 89 University Avenue West. The doors open at 6 p.m.; admission is by donation.

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Math students brave world’s toughest test

It takes a brave student to write the annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, says math and stats professor Myron Hlynka.

“The questions are extremely difficult and grading is strict,” he says. “The total number of points possible is 120. Typically, the median score is zero.”

A courageous group of 17 UWindsor undergraduate students—most, but not all, math majors—gathered Saturday to join an estimated 4,000 competitors across North America in writing the test, offered annually since 1938 by the Mathematical Association of America.

Engineering students hear from parkway designer

Students in Amr ElRagaby’s graduate course in bridge engineering really dug deep Thursday, as guest lecturer Biljana Rajlic discussed her work as the lead structural engineer and design team project manager of the Right Honourable Herb Gray Parkway.

The 11-kilometre, $1.4 billion project will connect Highway 401 to Interstate 75 in Michigan via a new bridge across the Detroit River.

Rajlic discussed the parkway’s design challenges, providing an overview of the roadways, utilities, geotechnical, structural, traffic management, landscaping and environmental design.

Library project digitizing Indonesian newspaper collection

The Leddy Library is a lead participant in a project to make a large Indonesian newspaper collection available online.

The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of newspaper pages collected for the Violent Conflict in Indonesia Study is carried out at night using grid processing techniques and library workstations.

The study was conducted by the World Bank Conflict and Development team, and used local newspaper monitoring to track incidents of violence. More than 1,000,000 newspaper pages undergo OCR to make the text captured in the page images searchable and reusable.

Newsletter offers suggestions for safety when dealing with electricity

There are many safe practices to follow which can prevent electrical hazards and injuries, says the December issue of Safety in Mind, the UWindsor health and safety newsletter.

“Even changing a light bulb in a lamp without unplugging it first can be hazardous,” says the lead article. “Coming in contact with the live part of the socket could be fatal.”

The publication lists common injuries resulting from contact with electrical current, including shock or electrocution, burns, and falls. It offers these tips to avoid injury:

Reminder: employee pension meeting Wednesday

Faculty, staff, and retired members of the University of Windsor retirement pension plans are invited to attend the annual open pension meeting tomorrow—Wednesday, December 5—at 3 p.m. in room 104, Odette Building.

Representatives from the university’s actuarial firm, Mercer, and the investment management firms will make presentations on the university’s retirement pension funds.

Workshops to offer professional development to UWindsor staff

Two workshops offered by the Office of Employee Engagement and Development this month promise skills and education in the areas of communications and copyright.

Communication: It’s not just about e-mail
Wednesday, December 5, 9 a.m. to noon in Oak Room, Vanier Hall

Facilitator John Powell of public affairs and communications will explore the pros and cons of e-mail, websites, apps, direct messaging, portals and social media. Participants will learn how to better reach their target audiences with the appropriate communication vehicle.

The gift of life warms any recipient

It makes the perfect gift. You don’t have to worry about size or colour, and it’s always just what the recipient wanted most. Unfortunately, it’s not available in stores.

A blood donation is the gift that saves lives.

As the holidays approach, with all the travel—and consequent injuries—giving blood is more important than ever. Canadian Blood Services will hold a full blood donor clinic on Tuesday, December 4, in Ambassador Auditorium in the CAW Student Centre from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Events encourage remembrance of murder victims

Events this week will mark the December 6 National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women to honour the 14 female engineering students who were murdered at Montreal’s École Polytechnique on that date in 1989.

The Womyn’s Centre will host a screening of the 2009 film Polytechnique in the Oak Room, Vanier Hall, on Tuesday, December 4, at 6:30 p.m.