With a theme of “UWill,” new advertising promoting the University of Windsor plays up the possibilities generated by learning and living on the school’s campus.

Print advertisements appearing in publications across southwestern Ontario join commercials in movie theatres, posters in shopping malls, and radio spots sharing messages that promise an exceptional experience for students.

The ads incorporate the new UWindsor logo to form the letter “W” in the heading “UWill,” followed by a list of phrases such as Learn, Discover, Grow, Achieve Your Goals, Work Hard and Succeed.

Putting the new imagery front and centre represents both the University’s past and its future during its 50th anniversary year, says chief communications officer Holly Ward.

“The UWill campaign reflects our mission of enabling others to make a better world, of empowering people to pursue their dreams and goals and achieve success in the many forms that takes in one’s life,” she says Holly Ward. “It is an active message that suits not only an enrolment campaign, but can be re-purposed for fundraising, community partnership, alumni engagement and a multitude of other communication uses.”

Find examples of the advertising, including the theatre and radio commercials, on the Public Affairs and Communications website.

Workers install a banner celebrating the University’s 50th anniversary outside the Toldo Health Education Centre. The large-scale signs, bearing images drawn from 50 years of history, are appearing on buildings across campus.

Making new friends, new intellectual challenges, and an opportunity to live away from home for the first time are an exciting part of the university experience, though for many students, university life is also accompanied by new and unfamiliar levels of anxiety, financial strain and loneliness.

The University’s Student Counselling Centre http://www1.uwindsor.ca/scc/ wants to remind students that they are not alone in their experiences and that professional help is available to them 24 hours a day.

“Every student at one time or another feels overwhelmed by their workload, their performance in school, the loss or changing of friendships, family problems or a host of other issues,” said Brooke White, executive director, Student Affairs. “It’s important that students and those who care about them know that the University’s Student Counselling Centre offers help in many forms , including crisis intervention, brief therapy, group sessions, case management and workshops.”

She said the Peer Support Centre is also available on a drop-in basis from noon to 8 p.m. every non-holiday weekday during fall and winter semesters. The PSC is an initiative of the University of Windsor Students' Alliance in cooperation with the Student Counselling Centre and is a safe and inclusive space staffed by trained peer support volunteers. The centre is located in room 208 of the CAW Student Centre, 519-253-3000 ext. 4551, psc@uwindsor.ca.

White said it is also important for faculty, staff, and others who have contact with students to watch for signs that they may need help and be prepared to refer them to campus counselling resources.

“Faculty and staff are certainly not expected to provide psychological counselling, but when a student appears to need assistance there are steps they can take to encourage the student to seek it.”

She recommends members of the UWindsor community familiarize themselves with counselling resources on campus and that they be caring but firm in approaching students whom they believe may need help.

“You should be clear and concrete regarding the reason for your concern and let them know you believe counselling will be useful.”

For those concerned about a student, but unsure about the appropriateness of a referral, she recommends calling ext. 4616 and asking for a consultation with a counsellor.

White also says that Good2Talk, Ontario’s Postsecondary Student Helpline, 1-866-925-5454, is always available, entirely confidential, and available in both English and French.

“This is the time of year when things are very challenging for students,” White said. “Whether you are a student, faculty or staff member or parent, it is important to know that we have the resources in place to help.”

Following last week’s bye, the Lancer football team—ranked 10th in the country—will travel to Ottawa to take on the Gee-Gees on Saturday in the final game of the regular season for both squads.

The result will help to determine playoff rankings in Ontario University Athletics, as Windsor’s 4-3 record ties it with Ottawa and McMaster for fourth place heading into the weekend.

Kick-off is at 1 p.m.; the game will be webcast live by SSN Canada. Read a game preview, Lancers take on Gee-Gees in regular season finale, at goLancers.ca.

In other varsity action, the women’s volleyball team will open its 2013/14 campaign Friday and Saturday in Thunder Bay for a weekend series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. With a mix of youth and experience on the roster, the Lancers are looking to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since they won the OUA banner in 2006.

Head coach Lucas Hodgson is pleased with his team’s 8-4 record in pre-season play.

“We not only got positive results, but were able to get a full view of our roster with that amount of playing time we spread around,” he said.

Read Lancers open conference schedule in Thunder Bay on the Lancers website. Windsor will return to the St. Denis Centre next weekend to take on McMaster in the volleyball home opener on Friday, October 25, and Waterloo the following evening. Both games will begin at 6 p.m.

Not on the road, but not quite at home, the women’s hockey team will host two games this weekend away from its usual venue, South Windsor Arena. Friday at 7:30 p.m., the Lancers will meet the Nipissing Lakers at the WFCU Centre; on Saturday at 4 p.m., it’s off to Tecumseh Arena for a game against the Laurentian Voyageurs.

The men’s hockey team is on the road for a pair of games in Waterloo, Friday against the Waterloo Warriors and Saturday against the Laurier Golden Hawks.

The OUA championship in golf is also in Waterloo this weekend.

Lancer soccer will hit the pitch for games against the York Lions on Saturday and the UOIT Ridgebacks on Sunday. The women play at 1 p.m. and the men at 3:15 p.m. both days.

The women’s basketball team will compete in the Panda Invitational tournament in Edmonton.

You can get more than books from the Leddy Library, a pair of students learned as winners of a prize draw held to promote start-of-semester tours of the library’s facilities.

Masters of Management student Xi Yan won a hooded sweatshirt emblazoned with the Leddy name and fourth-year sociology major Jenn Mathewson won a $50 gift card for the University Bookstore. The two entered the draw by taking a 20-minute tour in September through the Leddy Main and West buildings, stopping at service points for explanations of library borrowing policies, collections and help services.

Library staff organize the drop-in tours each September and January. To arrange a general or specialized group tour of the library at any time, please contact the Information Services Department at 519-253-3000, ext. 3180.

People seeking inclusivity usually take an anti-discrimination approach, focusing on marginalized or disadvantaged communities, says Patricia Hughes. However, it may be time to consider a model based on factors that cut across the experience of particular groups.

Dr. Hughes, executive director of the Law Commission of Ontario, will discuss these issues in a free public lecture “Is it time for a new model of inclusivity for achieving access to justice?” Monday, October 21, at noon in the Farmers Conference Room, Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

Those designing ways to improve access to the legal system have focused on Aboriginal communities, racialized persons, women, the LGBTQ communities, persons with disabilities, older adults and others, she says.

“This approach has reflected important links between the characteristics or life circumstances of members of particular groups and their difficulties in … achieving justice,” says Hughes.

However, she is interested in an approach that favours functional disadvantages rather than recognition of exclusion on traditional grounds.

“For example, some members, although not all, of several of these communities may have low literacy skills,” Hughes says. “Understanding how low literacy skills affect access to justice—and perhaps more importantly—how proposals to improve access leave persons with low literacy skills at a disadvantage may allow us to focus on ways of increasing access to justice that the anti-discrimination approach alone does not.”

Hughes’ academic career spans more than 35 years. She has taught at various Canadian universities and written extensively in the areas of constitutional law, dispute resolution and feminist legal theories, as well as in administrative law, labour law and legal education and access to justice. Her lecture is presented by the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.