A program that’s run by the School of Social Work and has a proven track record of bettering conditions in community housing neighbourhoods is perfectly positioned to help improve the troubled situation at a downtown Windsor high-rise, according to one of its administrators.

Cheryl Taggart.

“We have the skills, the know-how and the values for really moving that kind of agenda ahead,” said Cheryl Taggart, a project manager for the school’s award-winning Community-University Partnership program. “We know what works and we’re going to be able to use our resources and our strategies at 920 Ouellette to work with the residents and community partners.”

A recent stabbing at the Windsor-Essex Community Housing Corporation building is just the latest in a string of problems that have plagued the building in the last few years. Residents have had to deal with fires, property damage, violence, drug activity, and prostitution. Since January, Windsor police have been called there 107 times, but after the knifing incident, city officials vowed to crack down and make the building safe again.

A critical component in achieving that goal will be the Community-University Partnership, Taggart said. Until now, the program’s presence in the building has been part-time, but a recent social work graduate has been hired and will be located there all summer, along with a student in the master’s program. The Windsor-Essex Community Housing Corporation, the building’s owners, have provided a ground-floor apartment for the two workers to set up an office, which will establish greater visibility in the building and allow them to provide more accessible one-on-one counselling services, Taggart said.

“People are literally afraid to come out of their apartments there, so you can’t help them if you can’t reach them,” she said. “This will give us increased capacity to help the residents.”

In the fall, a new cohort of about eight students from both social work and nursing will be in the building, replicating a lot of the successful programming that has been implemented at the Glengarry housing project since 2005, Taggart said. Those programs have included drop-in centres, libraries, after school homework programs, diabetes awareness sessions, adult literacy programs, cooking and nutrition lessons, law clinics, resume writing lessons and neighbourhood watch programs to cut down on crime.

Residents in the Glengarry project have said they believe the programming there has had very positive effects and has helped contribute to a notable reduction in crime. Last year the program received the 10th Annual Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Award for making “significant contributions to community resilience, neighbourhood revitalization and civic engagement in the City of Windsor,” according to CCPH executive director Sarena Seifer.

Since it began at the Glengarry housing project Community-University Partnership—which originated in the school’s field education program—has expanded to include six social housing neighbourhoods and broadened the range of disciplines involved to include business, geography, law, and nursing.

Last fall, Mary Medcalf earned an Excellence in Education Award during a National Housing Day celebration for her role in the program as the school’s coordinator of field education programs. The award honours outstanding educational contributions to sustainable practices, and recipients are selected based on their efforts to integrate sustainable concepts in housing and community development into the academic curriculum. Medcalf has played a lead role in the partnership, placing more than 150 students to work on the complex challenges faced by individuals in low-income social housing neighbourhoods in Windsor.

The International Sculpture Center has conferred upon recent UWindsor grad Teresa Carlesimo (BFA 2011) its Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award for 2012.

The annual award recognizes young sculptors to encourage their continued commitment to the field. It also draws attention to the sculpture programs of the participating art schools.

“I was very flattered and very thankful,” says Carlesimo, who notes her interest in examining the idealism of twentieth century architecture and planning as well as related political, social and economic issues.

“My primary subjects are space, place and the urban built environment, and I most often work in the expanded field of sculpture and installation,” she says. “I typically use common building and construction materials that have a sense of familiarity yet I often use these materials in subversive ways, with interventions or manipulations of a public space, or constructing fictional spaces that seem to replicate actual places.”

Carlesimo was nominated for her project 58hrs, part of the December 2011 graduation exhibition. She says she is grateful for the help of School of Visual Arts instructors Zeke Moore and Lucy Howe.

“The sculpture department is very lucky to have two incredibly devoted and talented artists,” she says. “They have not only been motivating, but also supportive, available and influential.”

As one of 12 award winners, Carlesimo will participate in the Grounds for Sculpture fall/winter exhibition, October 2012 to April 2013 in Hamilton, New Jersey, adjacent to the centre’s headquarters, and her work will be featured in the October 2012 issue of its publication, Sculpture magazine.

Campus Police special constable Kevin Jarvis’ CD “Beautifully Gloomy,” featuring the song Summer Moon, is the inspiration for today’s DailyNews quiz, and is the prize awaiting its winner.

The album is available at the University Bookstore and other retailers for just $15.

The winner will be randomly selected from all correct responses received by 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 17. To be eligible, just complete the lyrics to each of these classic songs celebrating the season:

1. According to George Gershwin, in Summertime the livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’ and what is high?
   a) the corn
   b) the cotton
   c) the prices
   d) the sun
   e) Cheech and Chong
   .
2. Which line follows Summertime, Summertime in the chorus of the 1958 doo-wop hit for the Jamies?
   a) fun fun summertime
   b) I love summertime
   c) sum sum summertime
   d) sun shining summertime
   e) there is no dumber time
   .
3. What reason did Eddie Cochran’s congressman give for refusing to help him with his Summertime Blues?
   a) “Everybody gets the blues.”
   b) “I ain’t your father, son.”
   c) “No dice son, you gotta work late.”
   d) “Son, you gotta make some money.”
   e) “You’re too young to vote.”
   .
4. Nat King Cole rolled out Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer with thoughts of what comestibles?
   a) hamburgers, hot dogs and beer
   b) hot dogs and pretzels and beer
   c) peanuts and hot dogs and beer
   d) popcorn and peanuts and Coke
   e) soda and pretzels and beer
   .
5. Guess who sighs his lullabies, through nights that never end, to Frank Sinatra.
   a) bartender Joe
   b) the boys of summer
   c) his fickle friend, the summer wind
   d) his huckleberry friend, moon river
   e) the wind beneath his wings
   .
6. According to the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Summer in the City, how should a cool cat find a kitty?
   a) keep the back of your neck feeling dirty and gritty
   b) look in every corner of the city
   c) roll out the rhymes, keep it witty
   d) run up the stairs to meet her on the rooftop
   e) stand around a bus stop
   .
7. In Hot Fun in the Summertime, Sly & the Family Stone claimed this was when they had most of their fun.
   a) back in the day
   b) in the good old summertime
   c) in the summer of ’69
   d) them summer days, those summer days
   e) walking my baby back home
   .
8. What did Mungo Jerry, in his song In the Summertime, say was the appropriate way to treat a date if her daddy is rich?
   a) argue politics and keep it real
   b) dress to impress like you’re making a deal
   c) let her pay for her share
   d) open doors and take the wheel
   e) take her out for a meal
   .
9. In the single Summer Nights from the musical Grease, which line immediately follows “Summer lovin’ had me a blast”?
   a) “Met a girl crazy for me”
   b) “Summer lovin’ all in the past”
   c) “Summer lovin’ happened so fast”
   d) “Summer lovin’ just couldn’t last”
   e) “Tell me more, tell me more”
   .
10. How does Bryan Adams describe the Summer of ’69?
    a) “Those were the best days of my life.”
    b) “We had joy, we had fun.”
    c) “We had fun under the boardwalk.”
    d) “We thought they’d never end.”
    e) “We were young and wild and free.”

Contest is open to all readers of the DailyNews. Send an e-mail with your responses to uofwnews@uwindsor.ca. One entry per contestant, please. Note: the decision of the judge in determining the most correct response is inviolable.

The athletics department invites the campus and the broader community to extend best wishes to Lancer alumna Melissa Bishop as she sets off to compete for Canada in the London Olympics.

A public reception starts at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, July 20, in the multi-purpose room, St. Denis Centre. Bishop will leave for Europe the next day in preparation for her competition in the 800m event.

Fellow grad Andrea Steen (BHK 1979, honorary LLD 2002), a hurdler at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games, is scheduled to speak at Friday’s reception.

Human Kinetics student Kaela McLellan is hoping to increase some golf interest again this summer.

As part of the organizing committee for the Windsor Roseland Charity Classic, she is seeking to recruit people to help revive the event after a 21-year break. McLellan describes the event as an excellent opportunity to generate interest in the sport of golf as well as generate funds for many Windsor charities that increase the community’s quality of life.

“Events like this require many volunteers to make it spectacular, memorable, and functional,” says McLellan, who has played on the Lancer varsity golf team. “We are looking for people interested in volunteering in a variety of aspects. This includes admissions, caddying, scoring, marshalling, parking, entertainment and hospitality. We are also looking for people to help with the set-up and take down of the event.”

The Jamieson WFCU Windsor Roseland Charity Classic, organized by the Canadian Tour and Roseland Golf & Curling Club, runs from Monday to Sunday, August 13 to 19. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, e-mail volunteer coordinator Jason Kennedy at nitefly@golden.net or check out the event Web site at www.wrcccantour.ca.

A free public reception Thursday, July 19, will mark the closing of a student’s exhibition in the LeBel Building’s SoVA Projects Gallery.

MFA candidate Nic De Cosson’s latest project, Vessel, a project-mapped video sculpture, is already on exhibition. He will host a closing reception in the gallery Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Renovations to the washrooms and shower areas in Electa Hall will affect services in that building starting today and continuing through August 24. For details of this and other work in Electa Hall, visit the Web site of Facility Services.

Contractors restoring the concrete façade of Lambton Tower have erected fencing on the pedestrian deck surrounding it and Erie Hall, but access to both buildings will remain unobstructed.

The work will begin on Monday, July 23, and will be completed by December 31. For more information, consult the Web site of Facility Services.