Celebrating Hayden’s Games
It was a moment many said was long overdue as former Western Kinesiology professor Frank Hayden was honoured with a plaque commemorating his time at the university, and the exact location the conception and creation of the Special Olympics. It was in the mid-1960s, huddled behind his desk in Thames Hall, Room 2165, that Hayden was inspired to search for ways to develop a national sports program for intellectually disabled people.
Since the first Special Olympics were held in Chicago in 1968, the movement has gone on to provide year-round training and competitions to more than 3.7 million athletes in more than 170 countries.
“It was 1964 when I was sitting over here, and the idea came into my head that if we were going to make people with intellectual disabilities fitter, stronger and healthier, sport was the route to go,” said Hayden, who just in the last few years has contemplated how he has changed the lives of million of people around the world. “Where the satisfaction comes is when I talk to parents; that’s when it comes home to me. I smile in those situations more than any.”
Last year, Western conferred an honorary degree to Hayden in recognition of his contributions as a researcher, visionary and inspirational advocate for the intellectually challenged.
Trio win Western Green Awards
Three members of the Western community were recently honoured by their peers with the Western Green Award.
Health Sciences professor David Purcell, Health & Rehabilitation Sciences and Communication Sciences & Disorders, leads by example and has (almost unwittingly) mobilized his students through his practice of green-living. Purcell, who received the most nominations, exemplifies the ‘green’ lifestyle: biking to and from work every day, no matter the weather; abandoning plastic water bottles in favour of a portable filter; eating organic; and powering his home through green energy. At work, he enforces energy conservation and recycling in his lab.
James Fazari, Master of Environment and Sustainability student, Richard Ivey School of Business HBA graduate, helped establish an E-Waste Awareness Campaign. The drive consisted of a large green bin placed on campus in front of the University Community Centre, where Western students’ unused electronics were recycled. The drive included creating awareness about recycling electronics, and encouraged students to bring any unused electronics to the bin so that they could be recycled properly. More than 10,000 pounds of electronic waste was collected in a two-week period.
EnviroWestern continues to be a spearhead for a number of campuswide green events and programs, including EnviroWeek, Green Tours, Refill to Win, GROW and Purple Bikes. The organization is also active everywhere from on the air via its radio show or where students live via its residence programs and campus waste audits.
Launched in 2008, the Western Green Awards were developed by Facilities Management and sponsored by Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president, resources and operations. Since its inception, roughly 150 nominations have been submitted and 12 individuals/teams have received the award.
“Facilities Management is best known for creating and maintaining systems and infrastructure in the name of sustainability,” said Beverley Ayeni, energy and environment manager. “What makes the Green Award unique is that it recognizes the people and the grassroots efforts, which are true indicators of Western’s green culture.”
Student art show and sale
Don’t miss out on Western’s Visual Arts Student Show and Sale 4-8 p.m. Friday, April 13 at the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre. All money raised at the cash-and-carry-only event goes directly to the student artists to support them through their academic career.
Howes delivers Rotman lecture series
Moira Howes of Trent University delivers the latest installment of the 2012/13 Rotman Institute of Philosophy Speaker Series at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the Chu International Centre, Western Student Services Building (WSS) 2130. A variety of problematic assumptions about human biology in the environment of evolutionary adaptation are made in evolutionary and immunological accounts of reproductive immunology. In her lecture, Agency and the evolution of human reproductive immune functions, Howes will argue these assumptions are scientifically flawed and involve substantial oversights.
The free, public lecture will also be streamed live at rotman.uwo.ca.
Ivey cooks up partnership with ASLM
As part of Ivey Impact Day, 10 MBA students from the Richard Ivey School of Business volunteered at Alzheimer Society London and Middlesex (ASLM) on March 28 as part of the group’s Food for Thought program. Food for Thought is an interactive cooking program, where ASLM clients work with a volunteer and together they make a three- or four-course meal. At the end of the day everyone gets to eat the meal.
“Our clients were thrilled with the new faces. One of the clients was so taken with one of the volunteers that she gave him a great big hug,” said Leslie Mitchell, ASLM communications manager. “The volunteers were very social and helpful with our clients that day and everyone had a really great time preparing the four different Irish-themed recipes.”
Western project eyes lead in municipal drinking water
Western Engineering professor José Herrera leads one of two new municipal research projects supported by the Canadian Water Network, an organization that has increased to $1.2 million its investment in innovative municipal water research projects within the network’s Canadian Municipal Water Consortium. Support committed by project partners totals more than $2.78 million.
Herrera’s project, Development and validation of a model to forecast lead levels in municipal drinking water, will receive $211,100 from CWN over 2012-15. The project’s eight partners across municipalities, consulting firms and other agencies have committed $551,300 in cash and in-kind contributions.
Herrera’s team combines the expertise of three researchers from two Canadian universities to develop a user-friendly model to forecast lead levels in drinking water and to prevent lead from leaching into it.