Marlon Brando and Al Pacino topped the box office with The Godfather. Roberta Flack owned the Billboard charts with her hit The First Time I Saw Your Face. Everyone tuned in for All in the Family on Saturday night. And Wendy Dupuis started at Western.
Dupuis of Retail Services was recently honoured for an amazing 40 years of service with Western. Starting in 1972, she was the longest-serving employee recognized as Housing and Ancillary Services recently celebrated its team at the annual Long Service Recognition and Staff Appreciation Dinner.
This year, 102 staff members were recognized from Hospitality Services, Health Services, Housing and Retail Services; their total time of service to Western tallied 1,300 years.
“Our annual recognition and staff appreciation dinner is always a great event,” said Janet Smith, Hospitality Services marketing manager. “It brings together all divisions of Housing & Ancillary Services to recognize and celebrate the incredible experience and commitment that the team brings to Western.”
Honoured for five years of service were: Sue Angelopoulos, Amber Bremner, Ashley Brereton, Doug Chalmers, Anthony Chan, Kayla Cruz, Philip Denomme, Glenn Dupont, Kelly Fletcher, Joan Gambacort, RaeAnne Jackson, Ljilja Luckin, Zani Lumani, Jasminka Makic, Marilyn Malko, Dylan McLean, Dellanira Montero, Robert Muldowney, Tahir Rasul, Max Ribeiro, Murray Rollins, Michael Rousseau, Melanie Ruffie, Suseela Somasundaram, Ryan Stephens, Megan Thompson, Frank Waldeck and Erik Wong, all of Hospitality Services; Irene Hughes of Health Services; Linda Carmichael and Jamie Pigeon, both of Housing Services; and Rachel Attwell of Retail Services.
Honoured for 10 years of service were: Ailene Adams, Robyn Anderson, Christina Blancher, Mike Brown, Pik Wun Chan, Shirley Dilts, Shelley Greene, Denise King, Ekaterini Kouniakis, Chong Lam, Angela Leon De Castro, Jannet Lewis, Piu Ngai Ma, Brenda McDonald, Susan Nadimy, Joanne Narducci, Stephen Ngai, Ilvana Omercajic, Roxanne Reid, Tammy Ross, Douglas Steele and Cheung Tam, all of Hospitality Services; Julie Bogart, Dr. Kristin Hickey and Dr. Jennifer Owens, all of Health Services; Krystal Beneteau, Eric Scott and Cindi Talbot, all of Housing Services; Vicky Hickmott, Gord Rogerson, Steve Alb and Ellie Graves, all of Retail Services.
Honoured for 15 years of service were: Fatima Bajric, James Bergeron, Marilyn Chan, Maria Desa, Francisco Magana, Jan Murray, Kathy Pavicic, Gordon Robinson, Kathy Stimac and Caroline Zettler, all of Hospitality Services; Rosemary Vaughan of Housing Services; Mike Assaf and Chris Fleck, both of Retail Services.
Honoured for 20 years of service were: Sandra Bernardo, Kevin McCabe, Frank Miller, Sandy Paiva and Michele Williamson, all of Hospitality Services; Dr. Ali Gerrie of Health Services; Jolanta Niedziela and Lisa Smith, both of Housing Services; Barb Lee and Mary Godbout, both of Retail Services.
Honoured for 25 years of service were: Kim Bol and Helen Kouzounas, both of Hospitality Services; Cheryl Briglia and Ruta Lawrence, both of Housing Services; Laurie Browning and Pam Kenward, both of Retail Services.
Honoured for 30 years of service were: Susan Hartley and Felicia Walsh, both of Hospitality Services; Danny McGregor and James Shaw, both of Health Services; Susan Grindrod and Peggy Wakabayashi, both of Housing Services.
Honoured for 35 years of service were: Leona Carducci, Maria Circelli and Wayne Gray, all of Hospitality Services.
Honoured for 40 years of service was Wendy Dupuis of Retail Services.
NEWS AND NOTES
- Western and the University of Western Ontario Staff Association (UWOSA) have reached a tentative agreement. UWOSA represents almost 1,000 employees who are engaged in administrative and research support roles at the university. The association’s contract expired June 30, and the two sides held eight days of negotiations discussions. Details of the agreement will not be released until after it has been ratified by the university’s Board of Governors. Last week, 95 per cent of UWOSA members ratified the agreement.
- The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) recently launched its career website, MyCareerInfo.ca. The site is designed to help students, graduates and entry-level workers access campus career services, build a strong portfolio, gain budgeting skills and find a job that fits with their education, skills and interests.
- Jeff Grieve, BSc’85, was named Information Technology Services (ITS) director, effective June 1. He had served as acting director since August 2012, following the retirement of Debbie Jones. Grieve joined ITS as an associate director in June 2007.
- Traditions surrounding Western’s Convocation may not change from year to year, linking today’s graduates across the ages. But the convocation website, convocation.uwo.ca, has a brand new look and feel. The redesign was headed by Tea Hadwen who coordinated the efforts of the redesign and pulled all the information together.
- The 6th annual eduStyle Higher-ed Web Awards named Western’s website, uwo.ca, as the country’s Best Redesigned Website. This is the first year the U.S.-based organization has had a separate category for Canadian universities. Western was also nominated in the categories of Best Mobile/Responsive Site, Best Prospective Student/Admissions Site and Best Campaign/Giving Site.
- Civil Engineering professor Slobodan Simonovic was elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honours accorded to an engineer. Simonovic received this recognition for his seminal contributions to the development of systems engineering approaches for the planning, designing and managing of complex water resources systems in the search for sustainable and robust physical and societal solutions, based on stakeholders’ value systems and ethical principles.
- A project led by Western Engineering professor Xianbin Wang, a Canada Research Chair in Wireless Communications, was named among 15 initiatives receiving a portion of $24 million in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)’s Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) initiative. Wang’s project, NSERC CREATE Program in Communications Security, Privacy and Cyberethics, will receive $1.65 million over six years.
- David Sylvester was re-appointed to a second five-year term as principal of King’s University College. Sylvester, who began his first term in 2009, will serve as head of King’s through 2019.
- Brescia University College is one of the first Canadian universities – and one of the first 200 universities worldwide – to join LinkedIn’s University Pages. The business-based social networking site will make University Pages accessible to high school students on Sept. 12.