Lori Lewis and trained therapeutic dog Morty offer stress relief to students Angelica Belano, Reizelle Valerio and Luisa Siino.Lori Lewis and trained therapeutic dog Morty offer stress relief to students Angelica Belano, Reizelle Valerio and Luisa Siino.

Puppy petting helps calm students’ pre-exam stress

You can’t cuddle with birds, observes criminology major Yumna Kashif. That’s why she made a point of stopping in to visit with the certified stress-relieving dogs of Therapeutic Paws of Canada, Monday in the CAW Student Centre.

Kashif owns four budgies, but says they can’t compete with canines for combatting pre-exam jitters.

“This is a great way for me to socialize with animals and make new friends,” she said as she held Mya, a small Pomeranian mix. “It is very relaxing.”

Students lined up outside the door waiting for their turns taking a “Paws from Stress” during the first of two campus appearances this week by the volunteers—both two- and four-legged. They will return Wednesday, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Salon A of the Ambassador Auditorium, on the second floor of the CAW Student Centre.

Alan Wildeman and Igbekele Amos AjibefunUWindsor president Alan Wildeman and Igbekele Amos Ajibefun, vice-chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba, sign a memorandum of understanding linking the two schools.

Agreement to pave path between Nigerian university and UWindsor

An agreement signed Monday will open a path to cooperation between the University of Windsor and an institution in south-west Nigeria.

Igbekele Amos Ajibefun, vice-chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba, was on campus to meet with Windsor officials and sign a formal agreement that will enable its students to pursue studies here.

“My university is interested in collaborating with leading universities so our students will have a global experience,” says Dr. Ajibefun.

It’s a very nice fit for UWindsor, says Ram Balachandar, vice-provost for international development.

“Our programs match up nicely in science, the social sciences and business,” he says. “We are creating an opportunity for students to spend two years there and two years here. Hopefully in time, we can have our students go there.”

Dr. Balachandar says the agreement will open discussion to further collaboration and more specific accords in the future.

Music professor Sally BickMusic professor Sally Bick will discuss the career of film composer Hanns Eisler in a free public lecture Wednesday.

Lecture to examine intersection of music and politics during Second World War

UWindsor’s Humanities Research Group will present “Made in Hollywood: Negotiating the Musical Voice of a Communist,” a lecture by Humanities Research Group Fellow and UWindsor musicology professor Sally Bick, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in Vanier Hall’s Katzman Lounge.

Dr. Bick, 2015 recipient of the Virgil Thompson Fellowship from the Society of American Music, will discuss the musical career of German Marxist composer Hanns Eisler, who was actively engaged in writing film music to support his Communist cause before immigrating to the United States in 1938.

Once in the U.S., Eisler conformed to Hollywood’s political expectations, though events during the Second World War provided the composer opportunities to integrate some of his political viewpoints within his film scores without appearing to conflict with American mainstream political values.

The lecture is part of the Martin Wesley series. For more information, visit uwindsor.ca/hrg; phone 519-253-3000, ext. 3508; or e-mail hrgmail@uwindsor.ca.

penne with tomato sauceStudent governments are serving free pasta for lunch and dinner today.

Pasta to feed students today for free

A pasta lunch and dinner today in the CAW Student Centre is free for all UWindsor students, thanks to its sponsorship by the Organization of Part-time University Students, Graduate Student Society, and University of Windsor Students’ Alliance.

The “Students United” pasta day is intended as a good-luck wish for final exams, say organizers. It offers choice of tomato or meat sauce, with sides of salad and rolls.

Lunch is served from noon to 2 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 5, in the CAW Student Centre Commons. Learn more on the event website.

Lori-Anne Dolloff of the University of TorontoMusic professor Lori-Anne Dolloff of the University of Toronto will draw on her experiences in the Canadian Arctic for a workshop and a research talk Wednesday.

Arctic teaching experience brought to bear in Wednesday workshop and lecture

The relationship of Canada with its Indigenous peoples is fraught with misappropriation, abuse and cultural genocide, says Lori-Anne Dolloff.

Professor of music at the University of Toronto, she will make two appearances at the University of Windsor on Wednesday, April 6.

First, she will draw on her travels to Nunavut over the past seven years in a workshop entitled “Singing, Drumming, Dancing: A Qallunaat Teacher in the Arctic.” It is set for 11:30 a.m. in the Education Gym.

At 4 p.m. in room 1121, Education Building, she will deliver a free public lecture “Decolonizing the Teacher: a Canadian Experience of Teaching in the Arctic.” This research talk will follow a narrative approach, using stories from her visits to teach in the schools and community of Iqaluit.

“In Conversation.”Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid of “In Conversation,” a 2015 installation of ink and gouache on wall at the Latchman Gallery in Stouffville, Ontario.

Artist to speak on abstract practice

Colette Laliberté’s idea-based practice of abstraction encompasses drawings, paintings, projections and site-specific interventions. In a free public presentation Wednesday, she will discuss her artwork, which examines how technology, place and space contribute to shaping the environment and affecting our ways of thinking and behaving.

An associate professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, Laliberté is the recipient of visual grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Art Council and Toronto Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Her presentation, hosted by the School of Creative Arts, begins at 2 p.m. April 6 in room 115, LeBel Building.

Dalhousie law professor Joanna ErdmanDalhousie law professor Joanna Erdman will discuss “The Politics of Global Abortion Rights” in a free public lecture Wednesday.

Politics of abortion rights subject of law lecture

A law professor from Dalhousie University will deliver a free public lecture entitled “The Politics of Global Abortion Rights” on Wednesday, April 6, on the UWindsor campus.

Joanna Erdman holds the MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy at the Schulich School of Law. Her talk will begin at noon in the Farmer Conference Room, Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

It is part of the Borders, Boundaries and Intersections speakers’ series of the Transnational Law and Justice Network.