Monday, February 22nd we welcomed Dr. Robert Gordon, President of the University of Windsor, to provide an update on the University during COVID and what we can expect for the future.
Dr. Gordon explained that the University of Windsor is regionally focused but globally relevant. Their primary focus right now for students is to enhance the student experience, employment, and strong social justice and civil leadership.

UWindsor is committed to being the employer of choice in Windsor-Essex. They currently rank 31st on the Forbes list for the best employer.
They have many significant research initiatives underway like GLIER (The Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research), Windsor Law Center for Cities and many others. Connecting with the community is also important; their students contribute 1.25 million student community service hours annually. Dr. Gordon also explained the program-required co-op and paid internships – students have accumulated 400,000 hours in work placement in over 970 work terms during 2018-2019. Other events, like the Windsor International Film Festival, see 3,000 UWindsor students involved in this event's execution.
 
Looking into the future, UWindsor is working on developing a more equitable campus, including:
Data-driven accountability
Anti-Black Racism Task Force
Framework for racialized Data Collection
Equity for black faculty and students
Black scholars hiring initiative
Anti-black racism initiatives funds
Anti-racism pedagogies teaching leadership chair.
 
For the staff and faculty at the University of Windsor, they've committed to doing what's right by offering ongoing training and education framework and diversifying their senior leadership team while ensuring that all policies are equitable, diverse and inclusive.
 
They are currently raising funds for the Black Student Scholarship Initiative. The goal is to raise $250,000, where the University will match the first $125,000. This scholarship will be made available to both undergraduate and graduate students. To date, they have raised $180,000.
 
In the fall, they're hoping for more face-to-face learning on campus. But the pandemic has taught them that there is a significant opportunity to enhance learning with their university partners around the world, so they're exploring hybrid learning, a combination of online and face-to-face.
 
The new $73 million Lancer Centre is under construction and is expected to be completed by 2022. This new centre will support student activities, serve as a community hub, community-partnered health research centre, and high-performance athletics.
 
Dr. Robert Gordon was honoured with an Honorary Membership to the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) at the end of this presentation! We want to welcome Dr. Gordon to our club, and we look forward to the continued growth of the University of Windsor!