Observances over three days will commemorate the 1989 Montreal Massacre of 14 women at l’École Polytechnique, most of whom were engineering students.

The Engineering Student Society invites faculty, staff and students to a commemoration Thursday, December 4, at 4 p.m. in room 1101, Centre for Engineering Innovation. Read a message from the Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering and the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering.

On Friday, December 5, at 11 a.m., members of the campus community are invited to observe a minute of silence for the women killed in the Montreal Massacre. The Canadian government has designated December 6 the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in commemoration of the 14 victims gunned down at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1989.

The Womyn’s Centre is hosting a memorial and reception on Saturday, December 6. The event will start at 4:30 p.m. with a candlelight vigil at the Memorial of Hope, located between Dillon and Essex halls, followed by a reception in Vanier Hall’s Katzman Lounge at approximately 5:00 p.m. The centre encourages anyone who has purchased a purple scarf from the Shine the Light Campaign to wear them in symbolic awareness of domestic violence and violence against women.

The 2013-14 annual report provides dozens of stories illustrating how the University of Windsor is addressing its strategic priorities, as well as the figures and facts of key performance indicators.

President Alan Wildeman calls the document “the baseline on which our future will be measured,” acknowledging that it is a snapshot of a point in time.

“This is a chance for you to see some of the ways in which the University of Windsor is changing,” he says. “It is a chance for you to learn more about what we are doing and a chance for us to share some of the excitement about what we see lying ahead.”

View the annual report online.

Looking for a holiday gift? The Campus Bookstore has something for every taste, says marketing coordinator Martin Deck.

“I am always happy to recommend works by local authors,” he says. “We carry a great selection that should please any reader.”

Deck has pulled four books from the shelves that offer a view of the past:

Patrick Brode’s The River & the Land: A History of Windsor to 1900 is the first volume of a comprehensive history of Windsor—the first to be published since Neil Morrison’s 1954 Garden Gateway to Canada. Brode, a lawyer, historian and UWindsor alum (BA 1972, LLB 1975), has already written several books of local history, making him the perfect choice to write such a book, says Deck: “It’s not just a collection of dates, names and facts, but a real history that tells a story and offers analysis and perspective.”

Remembrance: A Story is the last published work by late UWindsor professor Alistair MacLeod. It tells the story of David MacDonald, a WWII veteran, who recollects his experiences in Italy and Holland during the war one Remembrance Day morning. It was originally published as a limited edition chapbook by the Vancouver Writers Fest in 2011, then again as an e-book only in 2013, and now for the first time in a beautiful little hardcover volume.

David Newman’s Postcards from Essex County, a new book from the collector and author of Postcards from Windsor, is a companion book: 300 pages full of old postcards with brief descriptions that shed new light on the history of this county—everywhere except the city of Windsor!

Craig Pearson (MA 1995) and Daniel Wells scoured the archives of the Windsor Star to produce From the Vault: A Photo History of Windsor. Pearson and Wells arrange the photos thematically, and provide introductions and captions that explain the significance, and in many cases the locations, of the picture. The book starts with a collection of pictures of Assumption College, predecessor of the University of Windsor.

A selection of student favourites will grace the lunch menu of the Marketplace food court in the CAW Student Centre on Thursday, December 4, marking the start of exam season.

The Homestyle station will serve a diner’s choice of: samosas, Sicilian rice fritters, chicken parmesan, or cheese tortellini with pesto cream and garlic bread. Chef Paolo Vasapolli invites patrons to get them while they’re hot!

Today is the final day to be guaranteed a ticket to the annual faculty and staff holiday luncheon, Tuesday, December 9, in Vanier Hall’s Winclare Room A.

With a theme of “Winter Wonderland,” the event will run noon to 2 p.m. and feature festive food stations serving hors d’oeuvres, pasta, sushi, poutine, candy and hot chocolate, as well as door prizes and the company of friends and colleagues.

Admission is $12, which includes tax and a glass of wine. To order your ticket, phone 519-253-3000, ext. 3277. Catering Services invites attendees to bring a canned good or other non-perishable item for donation to the student food bank in Iona College.

The results of the Ithaka S+R Local Faculty Survey, which closed November 30, will offer invaluable feedback from UWindsor faculty on teaching and research needs in an increasingly digital environment, says Gwen Ebbett, dean of the library.

“I wish to thank all the faculty members who took the time to participate in this important effort,” Ebbett says. “The Leddy Library will make use of this data to shape the ways in which library collections and services can continue to effectively support campus activities.”

The survey generated a “respectable” 21 percent response rate, she says.

Mathematics professor Rick Caron won a $500 draw for survey participants, and the library will forward a cheque in excess of $1100 to the Iona College Student Food Bank, reflecting donations generated at a rate of $5 per completed survey.

The library will provide post-survey feedback based on survey responses to the campus in the new year through the Scholarship at uWindsor repository.

Music professor emeritus Richard Householder will conduct and voice instructors Peggy Dwyer and Steven Henrikson are among the soloists as Detroit’s Fort Street Chorale and Orchestra perform George Frideric Handel’s Messiah this weekend.

Dwyer is a soprano; Henrikson sings bass. This 1741 oratorio is one of Handel’s masterworks and a seasonal favourite.

The chorale will perform at Fort Street Presbyterian Church, 631 West Fort Street in downtown Detroit at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, December 6, and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, December 7. Admission is $20 at the door.