Updated designs for the new Lancer Sport and Recreation Centre will be displayed during an informal open house Wednesday, February 28, from 2 to 7 p.m. in the CAW Student Centre’s Alumni Auditorium.

The $73 million centre will offer a modern space to foster athletic excellence and support quality recreational services and social spaces for students and the community at large, including:

• a fitness area triple the size of the current facility;
• a new eight-lane pool;
• refurbished soccer fields, cricket pitch, and a perimeter walking path;
• an outdoor artificial turf field;
• a gymnasium with seating for more than 2,500;
• multipurpose areas and social spaces.

Representatives from CS&P Architects and Colliers Project Leaders, as well as University staff involved in the project, will be present at the open house.

UWindsor students will contribute to the project’s capital cost as a result of the successful referendums held by the University of Windsor Students Alliance, the Graduate Student Society, and the Organization of Part-time Undergraduate Students.

University Players will host Mingle, Munch, and Meet Brad Fraser, an evening of craft beer, local pizza, and discussion with playwright Brad Fraser, author of the theatre company’s upcoming show, Love and Human Remains.

The event is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at the Walkerville Brewery, 525 Argyle Road. The $20 admission includes pizza and beer as well as an opportunity to mix and mingle with other University Players patrons.

Reservations are required and can be made online or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.

Fraser will address the subject matter of the play — themes of love, sex and violence, set within the backdrop of a large Canadian city. Originally produced in 1989 as Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, the play and was named one of Time magazine’s 10 best plays of 1992 and adapted to become a movie in 1993.

Love and Human Remains opens Friday, March 2, at the Hatch Studio Theatre in the Jackman Dramatic Art Centre, and runs through March 11. Tickets are available online at www.UniversityPlayers.com or by calling 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.

A synthetic skating surface in the Student Courtyard is at the centre of “Skate the Date,” a three-day festival celebrating winter continuing through Thursday, March 1.

The 20x10m rink, located outside the student centre, will open each day at noon, and there’s plenty more on offer, says organizer Sandra Riccio-Muglia, director of events and programming for the CAW Student Centre.

“We have three days of fun planned,” she says. “No skates? No worries, we have them for you. Don’t know how to skate? Our Lancer Rec team is here to teach you.”

Stations will serve free hot chocolate, s’mores, and maple syrup taffy. Bowls of soup are available for purchase at $2.

Attendees can hit the ice for $2 and rent skates for $3, with additional activities varying each day. Note: the rink is sometimes reserved for specified groups. Check out the full schedule on the event Facebook page.

An exhibition opening Thursday in the SoCA Armouries Gallery brings together works by students, faculty, alumni, and staff over the 50-year history of visual arts instruction at the University of Windsor.

A free public reception will celebrate the opening of “A Line Through Time, 1967 | 2017,” at 4 p.m. March 1 in the gallery, located at 37 University Avenue East.

“The exhibition offers a view though our shared history, a line connecting past, present and future,” says Lee Rodney, professor of media art history and visual culture. “We hope this exhibition will inspire and ignite new creative directions as we grow and diversify in the 21st century.”

Current students, inspired by the school’s collection of prints produced by students dating back to the 19702, curated new works from artists, architects and media artists within the UWindsor community to showcase the evolution of intermedia and interdisciplinary practices that are emerging in the School of Creative Arts.

Kindness never goes out of fashion, says Ashley Doung, a student of family and social relations, so she and the executives of WE Charity have organized a Clothing Swap that will allow students to exchange or donate items they no longer love.

“As spring is right around the corner, what better way to do a little early spring cleaning and add some new pieces to your closet?” Doung asks.

Participants bring gently used clothes they no longer wear and leave with items that better fit their needs, she says.

The event is set for Thursday, March 1, in the Rose Room, Vanier Hall. Doung asks that swappers drop off their goods at 11:30 a.m. The swap will run from noon to 4 p.m.

Leftover clothing will be donated to the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women, along with any donated feminine hygiene products, toiletries, and canned goods.

A problem in the DailyNews database fouled its distribution Monday and Tuesday and so, in an effort to best serve readers, today’s edition contains the most relevant content from those issues.

Information Technology Services and the Office of Public Affairs and Communications extend apologies to subscribers for any inconvenience.

Lancer men’s and women’s basketball teams will both face the Carleton Ravens in Ontario University Athletics semi-finals Wednesday in Ottawa.

It’s the fifth trip in six years to the final four for the Windsor men, and the 11th straight for the women.

The women qualified with a 66-54 home win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday and will tip off against the Ravens at 6 p.m.

The men advanced after defeating the Western Mustangs 89-72 Saturday in London. They will play Carleton at 8 p.m.

Both games will be webcast live at OUA.tv. Fans hoping to cheer on their teams in person will find tickets on the Carleton athletics website.

The Lancer track and field teams reached the podium on both men’s and women’s side of the competition at the Ontario University Athletics championship meet over the weekend in the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse.

The Lancer women placed second overall to claim silver, while Windsor’s men brought home bronze with a third-place finish. The Guelph Gryphons swept the team titles while the Western Mustangs placed second overall on the men’s side and the Toronto Varsity Blues women captured bronze.

Windsor women won nine medals — including six gold — and the men totalled seven medals.

Lancer gold medallists included:

• runner Kelsey Balkwill in the 300m and 600m races;
• thrower Sarah Mitton in shot put and weight throw;
• pole vaulter Rachel Wolfs;
• pentathlete Oonagh Webster; and
• the men’s 4x200m relay team of Jaiden Brown, Tyler Hopkins, Matt McKeegan, and Seasan Akerewusi.

Winning silver for the blue and gold were:

• the women’s 4x200m relay team of Courtney Rivait, Kelly Hodgins, Jermeka Castello, and Emma Floris;
• the women’s 4x400m squad of Rivait, Kelly Hodgins, Kristy Hodgins, and Stephanie Shaw;
• high jumper Trevor Way;
• the men’s 4x400m team of Brown, McKeegan, Jarrod Cullen, and Tanner Sleep; and
• the 4x800m relay squad of Michael Paterson, Cole Hannam, Shawn Master, and Joe Kagumba.

Windsor bronze medallists included:

• long jumper Taryn Lamorie;
• shot putter Brett Boersma;
• and Brown again, in the men’s 60m and 300m sprints.

The team point totals were 197 for Guelph, 127 for Windsor, and 109.5 for Toronto on the women’s side, and in the men’s competitions: 186 for Guelph, 115 for Western, and 99.5 for Windsor. Find more details at goLancers.ca.

The University of Windsor will host the U Sports national track and field championships March 8 to 10 at the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse. Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.goLancers.ca/tickets.

An address by Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi will mark the 50th anniversary of the University of Windsor law school at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 28.

Naqvi’s free public presentation, entitled “Challenging the Status Quo: A Vision for the Next 50,” is set in the Moot Court, Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

Naqvi has represented the riding of Ottawa Centre since 2007. He held the cabinet portfolios of labour, community safety and correctional services, and government house leader before taking on the role of attorney general in 2016.

His appearance here is part of the George M. Duck Lecture Series. A reception will follow.

Which political positions come first, the voters’ or the candidates’?

Marc André Bodet, an associate professor of political science at Laval University, will take up this question in his free public lecture “The Leader-Led Nexus on Easy Issues,” over lunch Wednesday, February 28.

“There is a debate in the public opinion literature about the respective roles of candidates to elective positions and voters,” he says. “Some argue that voters’ positioning influences where candidates stand, while others argue that voters follow their preferred candidates and position themselves accordingly.”

He uses data from the Vote Compass survey to test those arguments and will share his findings in this talk, part of the Brown Bag Faculty Research Series hosted by the UWindsor Department of Political Science.

The hour-long event will begin at noon in room G100, Chrysler Hall North. Attendees are invited to bring their lunches.

Registration for the Three Minute Thesis competition will close Thursday, March 1.

The contest challenges UWindsor graduate students to offer a presentation on their dissertation, thesis, or major research paper to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes, March 26 in Alumni Auditorium.

Cash prizes offer $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $250 for a People’s Choice award selected by audience vote. As well, the champion will go on to represent the University of Windsor at the provincial final to be held at York University on April 19.

Find competition and eligibility rules, registration forms, and video recordings of previous presenters on the UWindsor 3MT website.

Oona Mosna, program director of the Media City Film Festival, will discuss the annual international festival of film and digital art in a free public presentation Thursday, March 1, in the downtown home of the School of Creative Arts.

Since its inception in 1994, Media City has received more than 35,000 film entries from over 120 different nations for its showcase — the only forum in the world to screen artists’ films on both sides of an international border.

Mosna will open with a short screening of digital artworks selected from recent editions of Media City and go on to discuss the festival’s history, its commitment to analog practices, and its recent commission works. A roundtable to follow will touch on strategies for building collectivity and global artists’ networks from the geographic, aesthetic, or political margins.

The event will begin at 2:30 p.m. in room B31 of the SoCA Armouries building.

Zoos have changed a lot in the 25 years he has been director of the Detroit Zoological Society, says Ron Kagan, and they will be radically different in the next 20.

He will discuss this vision in a lecture on the UWindsor campus Thursday, March 1.

“The animals’ needs and desires will be central, more than the visitors’ — just as it is in the wild,” Kagan says. “And zoos will look and act like what we might now assume a real sanctuary might be like.”

He will speak to professor Beth Daly’s class, “Animals for Sport and Entertainment,” at 10 a.m. in room 202, Toldo Health Education Centre, and she has opened the event to the campus community.

Under Kagan’s leadership, the Detroit Zoo in 2004 became the first major zoo to surrender its elephants, sending them to a sanctuary in recognition that the animals need more space and a warmer climate. More recently, the zoo announced plans to open a $10 million Great Lakes Nature Center, dedicated to the wildlife of the region.

A short survey launched this week is designed to collect and share practices that have contributed to making the campus more inclusive.

“From inclusive teaching practices to providing accessible customer service delivery, if you, or someone you know at UWindsor, is providing services in an inclusive and accessible manner, please take a few moments to tell us about it,” says Denice Shuker, accessibility and human rights manager in the Office of Human Rights, Equity, and Accessibility. “Examples could include things such as ensuring events are made accessible to all, removing barriers for participation, or providing alternate ways for students to complete assignments.”

A project of the Accessible Education, Training, and Awareness Committee, the “Sharing Inclusive Practices Survey” has won clearance from the Research Ethics Board. Access it online here: https://uwindsor.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bQx5KmYkpcT2Rrn

Organizers will also staff a kiosk for people to submit their stories during Accessibility Awareness Day, March 28 in the CAW Student Centre.

The second screening in the Before Star Wars film series will feature 2014’s monster movie Godzilla, Thursday, March 1, at the Green Bean Café.

The Windsor Film Society organized the showing of antecedent works by the directors of the three most recent Star Wars movies: Gareth Edwards helmed Godzilla before going on to direct Rogue One.

The event is set for 7:30 p.m. in the café, located at 2320 Wyandotte Street West. Admission is $2.

Next in the series is an April 5 screening of the 2011 science fiction horror film Super 8 by J.J. Abrams, director of The Force Awakens.

March 1 is the deadline to apply to graduate.

The Office of the Registrar reminds those intending to graduate to apply on your Uwin account whether or not you plan on attending Convocation ceremonies.

Any application received after March 1 indicating you will attend will result in an $80 processing fee. Applications will be evaluated for eligibility by March 15. An email confirming your eligibility will be sent by your appropriate admissions and records officer.

Direct any questions regarding convocation to co-ordinator Shari Turcotte at shari@uwindsor.ca.