This Halloween, UWindsor’s Native Student Alliance is reminding students and the community to be mindful when choosing a costume, through the Culture Not a Costume campaign.

The campaign is an educational initiative to raise awareness and discussion about cultural appropriation during the Halloween season. Halloween costumes based on race, ethnicity, religion, or culture can promote stereotypes and racism, and the Alliance is reminding revelers that costumes are not harmless and have negative impacts on targeted groups.

The Alliance wants to spread the message that although often sold in Halloween costume stores or promoted on such do-it-yourself websites as Pinterest,  these types of costumes continue to be a form of oppression against people of marginalized groups.

A Culture Not a Costume Awareness Fair will be held in the CAW Student Centre on Thursday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Find more information at www.uwindsor.ca/aec/culture-not-a-costume.

Seminars on Thursday, October 26, will provide information on the Alternative Spring Break program, which offers UWindsor students a new way to engage in community service.

Co-ordinator Simon du Toit of the Student Success and Leadership Centre bills it as an opportunity to give back.

“Alternative Spring Break is an intense and rewarding leadership opportunity you will not forget,” he says. “I am thrilled to be able to offer this to students.”

Teams will take part in one of two five-day projects:

• visiting the Walpole Island First Nation west of Wallaceburg, or
• integrating a dramatic performance into the Coldest Night fundraiser for the Downtown Mission.

These experiences will involve a volunteer commitment starting in November, but the peak of the experience will occur during February’s Reading Week, Dr. du Toit says.

Attendees may choose one of four one-hour seminars Thursday in the Oak Room, Vanier Hall, at 2, 3, 4, or 5 p.m. Learn more on the program website.

The School of Creative Arts presents guitarist Tariq Harb in recital Friday, October 27, at the Capitol Theatre.

Dr. Harb has produced four solo albums name to date: From Bach to Barrios (2012), A Guitar Through the Eras (2013), Harb Plays Sor Studies (2015), and Copla (2017). Chosen as CBC Radio’s NEXT! guitarist in 2013, he was celebrated as “Canada’s next classical guitar superstar” and was showcased performing at the Glenn Gould studios.

Among his awards are both the First Prize and the Audience Choice Award in the Barrios WorldWideWeb Competition, the First Prize in the Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition, and the “Governor of Tokyo” prize in the Tokyo International Classical Guitar Competition.

Harb joined the faculty of Concordia University’s music department in 2015. He will follow a residency this month at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity with his Carnegie Hall debut in March 2018.

Admission to Friday’s recital is $20; $5 for students. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at the theatre, located at 121 University Avenue West. More details are available on the concert webpage.

Harb will also conduct a masterclass for guitar students from the studio of UWindsor music Steven Dearing. The public is invited to attend on Saturday, October 28, at 2 p.m. in the Music Building.

Eighty-six Lancer student-athletes achieved grade-point averages of at least 80 per cent last year while competing in varsity sports — earning honours as Academic All-Canadians.

“The accomplishment of excellence in both academics and athletics epitomizes what Canadian university athletics stands for,” UWindsor provost Douglas Kneale said Tuesday at a breakfast recognizing their achievements.

Find a full list of Windsor’s 2016-17 Academic All-Canadians at goLancers.ca.

Provost Douglas Kneale and athletics director Mike Havey congratulate Lancer Academic All-Canadians at a breakfast in their honour Tuesday.

The Lancer men’s soccer team earned a hard-fought draw against the Guelph Gryphons on Sunday to clinch a spot in the Ontario University Athletics post-season.

The Lancers are headed back to Guelph today — Wednesday, October 25 — for a rematch with the Gryphons in the opening round of the playoffs. Game time is set for 6 p.m. Watch a live webcast on OUA.tv.

Making Windsor a stop on a national tour of cinema by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit filmmakers will initiate and inspire conversations on identity, family, community, and nationhood, say organizers.

“Showcasing Indigenous stories through film is an exciting project for us,” says Kathryn Pasquach, UWindsor Aboriginal outreach co-ordinator. “The work we do towards reconciliation comes in many forms and this series of films is just one way to broaden the public’s understanding of culture and issues within our communities.”

The Aboriginal Education Centre and the Arts Council Windsor and Region are the local hosts of five free public screenings in the National Film Board of Canada’s Aabiziingwashi Wide Awake film series.

The first is set for Thursday, October 26, at 7 p.m. in room 104, Odette Building: the documentary Trick or Treaty by Alanis Obomsawin profiles Indigenous leaders in their quest for justice as they seek to establish dialogue with the Canadian government. By tracing the history of their ancestors since the signing of Treaty No. 9, these leaders aim to raise awareness about issues vital to First Nations in Canada.

Additional screenings are planned for:

• November 30 – Angry Inuk
• January 25 – We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice
• February 15 – Souvenir | This River
• March 22 – Birth of a Family

The Research Ethics Board is working on enhancing communication with researchers, says Suzanne McMurphy, and the first step is a restructured web presence.

Dr. McMurphy, REB chair and an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, says the new site is organized into tabs that allow users to enter as faculty/staff/students, research participants, or community partners.

“We wanted to make it easier to find information on the website,” she says. “Each tab will bring them directly to the resources most relevant for them.”

Links to the current Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans and its tutorial Course on Research Ethics are also on the main page for easy access.

A new tab on the website represents a second effort to streamline the review process for researchers through a new partnership with Windsor Regional Hospital’s REB. For faculty and students conducting research at Windsor Regional Hospital, the UWindsor REB now accepts applications on the Windsor Regional Hospital’s forms.

“Requests will still need to go through both boards, but we’re trying to eliminate the duplication of two separate sets of paperwork and also assist our researchers in preparing for review by Windsor Regional Hospital’s REB,” says McMurphy.

Information under the Windsor Regional Hospital tab provides researchers with the WRH forms and process for review.

The University’s REB also provides oversight for research conducted at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, and the Windsor Cardiac Centre. Information for these community partnerships are organized under separate tabs on the website.

“I would like to encourage researchers to let us know how our changes are working for them.” says Dr. McMurphy. “The focus on improving communication is critical because building good relationships helps us all work together in the ethical conduct of research.”

See the new website at uwindsor.ca/REB.

When Vancouver-based lawyer Sameer Kamboj (JD 2014) decided to propose marriage to fellow Windsor Law grad Cynthia Lam (JD 2014), nowhere made more sense than the city where they met on the first day of law school.

He enlisted career services co-ordinator Anna DeCia Gualteri in a ploy to get Lam to travel across the country for the occasion.

“We created a fake invitation to a mentoring event for students interested in pursuing law careers in the West Coast and sent it to Cynthia explaining that we had invited some of our alumni who were practicing out West to speak as mentors,” says DeCia Gualteri. “The best part was when I sent the invitation to Cynthia, she contacted me to ask if Sameer could come along!”

Read the happy conclusion in the full story, No objections to this proposal, on the Windsor Law website.

A class Wednesday, November 8, will help staff and faculty responsible for maintaining UWindsor websites learn the basics of the Drupal content management system.

Drupal 7 - Basic Training will focus on teaching site editors how to create pages and events, upload graphics and use menus and blocks, says instructor Rob Aitkens, web development team lead in Public Affairs and Communications.

The class is aimed at employees with little previous experience with the system, for those upgrading their sites from version 6 to 7, or as a refresher. It will run 1:30 to 4 p.m. and is limited to 16 participants. Registration is required through this online form.