“Seventy-five years old and I’m finally sitting in a classroom at the University of Windsor. How awesome is that? And it was all because of what my thoughtful grandson made me do.”

Joyce Garvey’s foray into academia last week has also meant a brush with online fame for the grandmother of four thanks to a tweet send out by her grandson, 19-year-old Odette School of Business student Josh Galasso.

“It started with her asking a couple of questions on how the university experience actually was, and what my professors were like, and how the class structure works, and how big the classes were. So the only way to answer those questions was to bring her along for the day,” Galasso says.

“I just asked her if she'd like to come and we had lunch right before class — I gave her a little tour of the University, our Leddy library, and CAW Centre, and then we actually went to class after that.”

The student snapped photos as his Mimi took notes in a marketing class, posed in front of the Odette Building, and mugged beside a Campus Police vehicle — later posting them online to an overwhelming response.

So far the tweet has received more than 5,100 likes and was retweeted more than 550 times — all to the amazement and delight of Garvey.

Calling herself, “not a computer person,” she said she was thrilled that so many people were able to share her special day through Twitter.

“I never expected in a million years the kind of reaction that we got,” says Galasso. “It was very, very positive on social media and everybody was very nice about it. I think it kind of made a couple people’s day — I actually got a couple messages saying it made their week which is really nice.”

Garvey says she was most taken with the University’s architecture and was a big fan of Leddy Library.

“That was my favorite building. All those floors — books, student workstations, computers, everything a student would need,” she says. “I thought, ‘isn't that fabulous, they have this learning ability where so many don't have that chance.’”

The pair have always been close, they say, Galasso adding that their day on campus was a unique way to spend time together.

“I decided to bring her because you can’t just describe the sort of environment that might be at the university over a couple of words,” he says.

“My first reaction was just to bring her along; there are always open seats. I knew it wouldn’t be a problem with the professors and I really wanted to show her what it was really like. I thought we were just going to show her the university — it was going to be just a day and done, but it was actually a very good bonding experience and very great learning experience for her — a very nice day overall.”

A mid-day session entitled “Caring for your Aging Parents” will feature an interactive discussion with Ryan and Colleen Jershy, proprietors of Home Instead Senior Care, on Wednesday, January 31.

The one-hour presentation will cover:

• Dealing with sibling conflict
• Caregiver stress
• Preventing hospitalization
• End of life

The Windsor University Faculty Association invites attendees to bring a lunch to the event, which begins at noon in McPherson Lounge, Alumni Hall.

To ensure adequate seating, RSVP by Thursday January 25, by emailing wufa@uwindsor.ca or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 3365.

Do you dream of producing films? Industry professional Tasso Lakas will share his experience in the field of film and television production in a free public presentation in Lambton Tower’s Studio A at 2 p.m. Wednesday, January 24.

Lakas is co-ordinator of Toronto Indie Production program of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the union representing performers in the film, radio, television, and new media industries.

The program cultivates and supports new and emerging filmmakers, providing them with the essential ingredients for getting started in the industry. In his role, Lakas assists producers through the steps to bring Canadian stories to screens — his program has 535 films to its credit.

He will discuss every aspect of developing a project; a question-and-answer discussion will follow his talk. The event is sponsored by the Humanities Research Group.

Giving blood is one of the most direct ways you can help someone, and the entire process — from the moment donors walk through the door to the moment they finish a cookie and leave — takes about an hour.

Canadian Blood Services will conduct a donor clinic on Tuesday, January 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the CAW Student Centre’s Alumni Auditorium.

Walk-in donors are welcome, but appointments will better accommodate donors’ working schedules. To book an appointment, call 1-888-2DONATE (1-888-236-6283).

As with previous clinics, the Department of Human Resources encourages all eligible employees to participate in this worthwhile process and asks any employees who wish to donate to make the necessary arrangements with their supervisors regarding the possibility of extended lunch or break periods.

Provost Douglas Kneale’s latest Question of the Month addresses residence life at the University of Windsor.

Most of the University’s hundreds of students living in on-campus residences are first-year students from outside Windsor-Essex. Many local students forgo residence life in favour of staying at home with their parents.

While a number of factors make this a reasonable lifestyle decision, Dr. Kneale says, students who choose to live in residence immerse themselves in the full university experience.

“They enjoy a greater level of independence, meet interesting new people, form a stronger bond with the University, and even set themselves up better for academic success,” he says.

A growing body of scholarship suggests that students who live in residence in first year have a greater sense of “belonging, engagement, and openness to diversity” (NSSE). They also have a higher first-year grade point average, a higher retention rate from first year to second, and a higher graduation rate (Academica Group 2017).

Perhaps, Kneale suggests, attending UWindsor and living on campus in first year represents the best of both words for local students.

So, the Provost’s Question of the Month for January 2018 follows:

If you are/were a first-year local student in residence, why did you choose to live on campus?

And if you wanted to encourage someone else to do what you did, what would be your top three selling points?

A free workshop this week will explore the computer-assisted design program Fusion 360.

The introductory series will engage participants in free-form modelling and rendering techniques and is open to those at all levels of experience. The host UWin 3D Print Club promises an introduction for those new to three-dimensional modelling and a refresher for those skilled in the application.

It will run 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 24, and 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, January 27, in room 1133, Centre for Engineering Innovation. Find more information on the club’s website.

More than 120 employers are expected for Job Fair 2018 in the St. Denis Centre on Wednesday, January 24 — making it the largest in its 19-year history.

Admission is free to students and recent graduates of the University of Windsor and St. Clair College. Whether you’re looking for a full-time, part-time, summer, co-op, or volunteer job, it’s a great opportunity to network in-person with employers eager to hire.

Visit www.uwindsor.ca/jobfair for a list of employers and tips on how to prepare.