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Provost Robert Aguirre has appointed law professor Anneke Smit to a one-year post as special advisor to the provost on the Detroit-Windsor United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise for Sustainability in Education (UN-RCE).
A joint initiative of the University of Windsor and Wayne State University, the Detroit-Windsor RCE will anchor exchange and research on urban sustainability and connect ongoing community initiatives in the greater Detroit-Windsor region. The local centre is the only cross-border entity among approximately 180 such centres globally.
Dr. Aguirre called it uniquely situated to address a range of pressing issues, including sustainable and equitable land use planning and housing policy; environmental justice and the protection of water and land; industry and innovation in the green economy; active and public transportation, parks and public spaces; community health and well-being, and net-zero and climate action.
“The border makes our location unique and generative, enabling our two great institutions to maximize existing institutional strengths and relationships, while supporting campus and community partners,” he said.
Along with Dr. Smit, UWindsor’s RCE planning team has been led by professors Edwin Tam of civil and environmental engineering and Lee Rodney from the School of Creative Arts. UWindsor sustainability officer Nadia Harduar and Joel Gagnon, outgoing sustainability advisor to the provost, have also provided valuable support. Approximately 20 faculty members at both institutions were involved in the process leading to designation, with support from municipal governments, local school boards, economic development agencies, and social and environment advocacy groups.
“This region is seeing an incredible period of growth,” Smit said. “We need to ensure we grow in ways that are sustainable and of benefit to all. I am thrilled to continue to help build the Detroit-Windsor RCE as a centre of interdisciplinary, community-connected and impactful urban sustainability initiatives to support this.”
Smit is founding director of the Centre for Cities (C4C), which since 2019 has focused on research, teaching, and community engagement on sustainable and equitable city building, both in the Windsor-Essex and border region and nationally. She holds a five-year hybrid appointment to the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) and is a co-lead of the Parks Canada-funded University of Windsor National Urban Park Hub (www.uwnuph.ca) with Clinton Jacobs, integrative biology faculty member and indigenous knowledge connector, and Catherine Febria, Healthy Headwaters Lab, GLIER, and integrative biology. She is a member of the new C4C Housing Systems Innovation Lab.
Smit joins Donna Kashian, director of environmental sciences at Wayne State University, in the inaugural cross-border RCE leadership. Wayne State will host a launch event on Sept. 20, followed by an event on the UWindsor campus later in the academic year. More details on these events, as well as how to get involved with the RCE, will follow shortly.
Courtesy: https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2024-09-04/law-professor-advise-sustainability-education
