Andrea Landry’s tiny, remote aboriginal community in Northern Ontario isn’t immune to the challenges that plague so many similar places, but regardless of the problems and the external perceptions of her people, she’s still filled with a great sense of optimism for their future.

“When people come to our communities, they see high levels of poverty, substance abuse and suicide, but they don’t see how connected we are to our culture,” says the graduate student from Pays-Plat Ontario, a First Nations community of about 60 people located three hours east of Thunder Bay.

“Even when I go back now, just being connected to my community and seeing the cultures and traditions, and how alive they are within my community, it’s quite substantial to who we are as indigenous peoples,” she says. “We’re rich in culture, but poor in the eyes of western society. We know our traditions and we know our culture, and we practice it every day. We need to go back to our traditional ways.”

It’s that connectedness to tradition, and her hope for the future, which governs both her research and the advocacy work that fills up the rest of her extremely busy schedule. A master’s student in Communications and Social Justice, she’s working on a thesis based on a critical discourse analysis of Bill C-45, the omnibus bill which spawned the Idle No More movement.

“You basically deconstruct it,” she said of her work, which includes looking through amendments to specific acts included in the bill for instances where the federal government failed to sufficiently consult with indigenous people directly impacted by those changes.

“I’m looking at the areas where they could have, and should have, consulted with us better,” she said. “Their idea of consultation is speaking with one chief, when there are more than 600 chiefs across Canada.”

In between her grad school work, she maintains an intense travel schedule, which has included a private meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, meetings in New York with the United Nations’ Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, and a recent trip to New Zealand where she led Idle No More teach-ins with members of the Maori community. She has participated in 10 Idle No More protests and helped organize a handful of them, and sits on an executive committee of the National Association of Friendship Centres. She’ll soon travel to Ottawa for meetings with Amnesty International, and has also applied for a fellowship at the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

“It’s been pretty busy, but it’s really making the semester fly by,” said Landry, who earned an undergraduate degree in child youth care and social work from Vancouver Island University.

Landry will appear today on Research Matters, a weekly talk show that focuses on the work of University of Windsor researchers and airs every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on CJAM 99.1 FM.

A mother-daughter act featuring the University of Windsor’s own Elsie Inselman will perform works by composer Richard Hundley in a program titled “American Art Songs – Delights through the Decades,” Friday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Assumption University Chapel.

Elsie Inselman, an adjunct associate professor of voice at the University of Windsor, will take to the piano to accompany her daughter Rachel Inselman, a soprano who teaches voice at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The recital will survey Hundley’s career from his 1962 settings of works by William Shakespeare and Robert Louis Stevenson through the Canadian premiere of a 2011 composition for Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Music, When Soft Voices Die.

Tickets are $15, $5 for students, available at the door or in advance by phone at 519-253-3000 ext. 4212, or online. Find more information, including performer biographies and a full program, on the music website.

Rachel Inselman will also lead a voice masterclass at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in room 126, Music Building. The public is invited to attend.

A classic car show on campus during the UWindsor 50th anniversary kick-off weekend, September 19 to 22, will encourage visitors to stroll down memory lane.

More particularly, they will be able to stroll down Sunset Avenue, viewing automotive history and leading to history in the making: the Centre for Engineering Innovation, where students will display new and developing technologies.

The show will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 21. Organizers are looking for cars representing five periods—up to 1949, the 1950s, the 1960s and ’70s, the 1980s and ’90s, and the 2000s.

For more information on how to participate, contact Katherine Simon at 519-253-3000, ext. 4052.

A new online application allowing registrants of tomorrow’s UWindsor Open House to schedule their activities for the day will help them to set their own priorities, says Zora Savic.

Events coordinator in the Office of Liaison and Student Recruitment, she is “thrilled” with the program. The day is jam-packed with dozens of activities across the campus dealing with academic programs, admissions, scholarships and services.

“It is so difficult for students, who want to attend everything,” Savic says. “This scheduler is so straightforward, it will help our visitors to pre-plan so they don’t miss any sessions.”

The work of Graham Fawcett, an application program in the Centre for Teaching and Learning, the tool allows users to specify which sessions they wish to attend, and produces an individualized itinerary with event descriptions, locations and times.

It’s just one of the contributions that faculty, staff and students are making to ensure the success of the open house, which provides information to applicants making final decisions about their post-secondary careers.

Savic offers the example of Food Services, which came up with an innovative solution to the challenge of serving thousands of extra patrons their lunches.

“We physically cannot feed everybody at once in the Marketplace, so Dean Kissner and Dave McEwen suggested we offer a barbecue menu,” says Savic. “Knowing that may not be practical during a Canadian winter, they are opening Winclare A, Katzman Lounge and the Oak Room in Vanier Hall to our guests.”

She expects tours of the Centre for Engineering Innovation at 3 p.m. and its labs through the afternoon will also prove a highlight of the day. The March 8 open house will offer opportunities for individual discussion with instructors and current students. Find details, including a full schedule of events, on the open house website.

Diaspora studies is not just for students of African descent, says Akin Taiwo. Most immigrant communities carry memories of an ancestral homeland to which members wish to maintain a connection.

 “We live in a multi-ethnic society and the issue of identity is always tricky,” Taiwo says. “Understanding cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds can help you to relate to people.”

A doctoral student in social work, Taiwo touts diaspora studies as a suitable addition to many disciplines. He has been visiting high schools and community events, encouraging prospective students to consider the program.

“I am just trying to create awareness that we offer these courses and they make a valuable minor or combined major,” he says. “The demographic make-up of Canada is changing along with our immigration patterns. Understanding will be necessary for our future if we are to build an effective community.”

He hopes advisors will keep the program in mind as they provide counsel to incoming students.

Available as a minor or major within a combined honours degree, it requires courses from five different departments: political science, sociology, English, history and communication, media and film. Learn more on the program description page.

If the Lancer women win a fifth straight team banner at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport track and field championship tournament opening today in Edmonton, the feat would tie a record—their own.

The Windsor women claimed five consecutive national titles from 1992 to 1996.

Head coach Dennis Fairall admits his team will be hard-pressed to repeat that accomplishment, after a fourth-place finish at the Ontario University Athletics meet.

“We are looking for a podium finish and that would be considered a success,” Fairall says. “That said, anything can happen at the nationals as our women captured the title last year and that wasn’t expected.”

On the men’s side, reigning CIS and OUA track MVP Matt Walters will look to defend his gold medals in the 1500- and 3000-metre runs. The Windsor men’s team finished third in the final standings last year.

Find more information, including a complete schedule of the three-day meet, on the CIS website.

Miah-Marie Langlois captured two major awards in Ontario University Athletics west division women’s basketball, and is joined by two teammates on its all-star team. Langlois, a guard, and forward Jessica Clemençon are first-team all-stars; Korissa Williams was named to the second team and Caitlyn Longmuir joins the all-rookie team.

Langlois is the OUA West Defensive Player of the Year on the strength of a league high 3.2 steals and 6.3 rebounds per game. She also receives the Joy Bellinger Award in recognition of outstanding service to the sport and to the advancement of university athletics.

The fourth-year business student maintains an A average and leads the team’s community involvement efforts.

Clemençon is a first team all-star for the fourth time in as many years. Finishing second in league scoring with 17.9 points per game, she is a key piece of the Lancer team that went 21-0 on the season. The six-foot-three forward shot 57 per cent from the floor, the highest among qualifying athletes, and added 7.3 rebounds per game.

After being named to the all-rookie team in 2011, Williams becomes an all-star for the first time after a season in which she averaged 15.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Longmuir averaged 3.0 points per game in her rookie season.

Read the full story, “Langlois earns two OUA major awards; four Lancers honoured.”

The Lancers will host the Carleton Ravens for the OUA Championship on Saturday, March 9. Read a preview at goLancers.ca.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Wednesday it had named Lancer power forward Lien Phillip a men’s basketball second team all-Canadian.

Head coach Chris Oliver praised Phillip’s contributions.

“This season, Lien became our leader and the best player on our nationally-ranked team. The level of excellence and the consistency at which he has scored and rebounded this year in my mind puts him on par with any player in the country,” he said. “Additionally, Lien is a tremendous presence on defence where he blocks, rebounds and changes shots with his activity and length.”

Over the 2012/13 season, Phillip averaged 15 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, helping Windsor finish in first place in the Ontario University Athletics west division. He was named the division’s player of the year and a first team all-star.

Read the full story at goLancers.ca.

When the people who run CBC Windsor’s morning radio show The Early Shift decided they wanted to reshape the program in an attempt to broaden the audience, they turned to the expertise of an upper level marketing course in the Odette School of Business for some fresh ideas.

As part of a class assignment, the dozen or so students in professor Vincent Georgie’s advertising management course were told to listen to the full two-and-a-half hour program every morning for several weeks and come up with some suggestions for improvement.

Yesterday, they met with CBC Windsor managing editor Shawna Kelly, Early shift producer Robin Brown and Tony Doucette, the show’s host, who said he was encouraged by the session.

“It went very well,” he said. “It’s always nice to hear unvarnished views of what you’re doing. We told the students that our skin was thick and we asked them to be honest, and they gave us some very constructive criticism.”

Brown said the trio heard some very good suggestions.

“We’re going to meet with them again, and we’re going to implement some of the ideas we talked about,” she said.

“They’re super smart,” Kelly said of the students. “They seemed very excited about the assignment, and they definitely asked the kinds of questions I would expect future marketers would ask, especially around demographics and trends.”

You can hear The Early Shift from 6 to 8:30 a.m. on CBC Radio One at 97.5 FM.

The global economic crisis that began in August 2007 has shaken the belief that financial crises belong only to the past, says Robert Dimand.

“At every moment in the evolution of economics, you could find people who were convinced that the way things were is how they would always be,” he says.

A professor of economics at Brock University, Dimand will explore the value of teaching economic history in his free public presentation “What to tell a Graduate Course in Macroeconomics about Keynes,” at 10 a.m. Friday, March 8, in room 1163, Chrysler Hall North.

“Most economists do not learn about the history of their subject anymore, so when the topics of interest change—as they have since the onset of the current recession—economists no longer have the background in how members of their profession used to think,” says Dimand.

He attributes the decreasing interest in economic history to the academic emphasis on mathematics. Grad students fear that pursuing history or political science will get them branded as unable to do the math.

“There is a tendency to concentrate on questions that have answers,” Dimand says. “Those aren’t necessarily all the questions that matter for the world.”

The author of the book The Origins of the Keynesian Revolution, he says that non-specialists are showing renewed interest in the work of John Maynard Keynes, who published his general theory of employment in 1936.

Dimand says that making sure students have a basic understanding of the history of their discipline will make them better economists. His seminar Friday will have appeal to students of other fields as well: history, political science, sociology and philosophy.

Acting chair of Brock’s economics department and co-coordinator of its international political economy program, Dimand serves as president of the History of Economics Society and as secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Economics Association.

Friday’s event is one in a series sponsored by the Department of Economics to promote education in the history of economic thought.