The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship invites you to join our biweekly speaker series. We are pleased to have Bethany Deshpande, Founder of SomaDetect!  SomaDetect is a cutting-edge sensor and software system that offers dairy producers a reliable suite of solutions directly from their milking line.

Bethany Deshpande will share the startup story of her company, SomaDetect, and the lessons learned along the way. Bethany explores why customer validation is essential—not just for product development, but also for fundraising and building trust with strategic partners. She highlights how design thinking and creative workshops can accelerate both product and company growth and reflects on what she would do differently today with the perspective she has gained over the years. She has secured over $20 million in funding from venture capitalists, grants, loans, and won $2M in pitch competitions alone!

More about the speaker: Bethany Deshpande is a science-driven entrepreneur and advisor with a PhD in Biology and deep expertise in technology, innovation development, and commercialization. As founder of SomaDetect, she led the development of a cutting-edge dairy monitoring platform. Today, she helps startups design great products and build go-to-market strategies across climate, agtech, and deep tech sectors.

Bethany Deshpande's talk will take place in 201 Robertson Library on Thursday, October 30 from 12-1pm, and food will be provided. Everyone is welcome to attend.

To attend the session, please sign up here.

ITSS conducted their first AMA (Ask Me Anything) this week where anyone from the campus could come and ask questions directly to the ITSS Management team. Those in attendance agreed that it was useful and informative, and they should continue. Look for more ITSS driven AMA's in the future! 

Follow this link for a recap of the questions raised and the responses provided by the team:

• If the phone is for Live Critical Support only, what do I do if my account is locked?
• What are the hours of support for Help Desk? Is it only 8–4, Monday to Friday?
• What defines ticket priorities?
• What are the triage and escalation procedures for ITSS?
• Are Copilot questions/answers included in FOIP?
• Is there any guideline for the responsible use of AI?
• How do I learn about “speaking IT” if I’m not in IT and I’m trying to coordinate with ITSS and other developers?
• Is every IT computer asset purchased by employees tracked by ITSS?

The next deadline for submitting biosafety applications, including new applications, renewals, and/or amendments, is Friday, October 31, 2025. These applications will be reviewed at the November 20 meeting.

All research compliance applications, including biosafety application forms, must be submitted through the UPEI researcher portal. Information about the researcher portal, including instructions for using the site, is available at https://www.upei.ca/research-services/forms.

Please contact the Research Compliance Coordinator at researchcompliance@upei.ca if you have any questions about accessing or using the researcher portal, or about the biosafety application, review, and approval process.

We are pleased to introduce UPEI’s new Exit Interview program, developed as part of the UPEI Action Plan: 

• 3.1.6.1: Develop a process to offer exit interviews for departing employees, and 
• 3.1.6.2: Develop a process to share aggregate information learned from exit interviews in confidential and appropriate ways. 

An exit interview is a voluntary opportunity for employees who are leaving UPEI or moving to a new department to share feedback about their work experience. This helps us better understand the employee experience and identify opportunities to strengthen our workplace. 

More information is available on the Human Resources SharePoint page, including: 

• The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlining eligibility and reporting 
• A sample questionnaire 

If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Employee Experience & Development Team in Human Resources at hrengage@upei.ca

The Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, invites all to attend Joshua Le Clairs’s public dissertation defense presentation of his PsyD research titled: 

“Sexual Dis-Orientation: A Lacanian Critique of Current Perspectives on Sexuality in Clinical Practice”.

Date and Time: November 11, 2025 at 10:00 am 
Location: Memorial Hall, Room 104

What an instructor communicates to students can be highly impactful, but it is constrained by the limits of time and subject matter. What if additional dimensions of topics were folded into classes in a way that only becomes apparent later? A student who realizes stealth teaching has happened can react by thinking "Ahh, I see what you did there." This is how stealth teaching can carry the benefits of learning beyond the classroom. Join Etienne Cote on October 29 at 12:30 pm in the TLC Robertson Library Annex Room 230 to discuss how and why you might want to incorporate elements of stealth teaching into your courses. 

Current UPEI Masters and Doctoral students and candidates are o-FISH-ally invited to visit the Graduate Studies and Research Services office to "Trick or Treat" for Halloween!

When: Friday, October 31, between 1:30-2:30 pm
Where: Kelley Memorial Building, outside Suite 101

Drop in for a treat. No Halloween costumes required, but they are welcome. Family friendly.

The Canadian Career Virtual Symposium for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars was three half-days, jam-packed with career and professional development content from career practitioners and researchers across Canada.

Current graduate students and post-doctoral scholars may access recordings in FGS's UPEI Graduate Student Professional & Academic Development Resources Moodle page (a self-enroll course).

Faculty/Staff interested in one or more session recordings can either self-enroll in the Moodle course for access, or request the link for a particular session by emailing Kendra Mellish, Graduate Programs Officer at kmellish@upei.ca

Sessions:

• Keynote: Motivation...It Works! 
• Ten healthy habits of financial management (only handouts available, no session recording)
• You have a story worth sharing
• Getting practical career relevant experience (and talking to your supervisor about it...or not!)
• A recruiter's perspective to applying and interviewing
• Building cultural and career competency through networking conversations

UPEI graduate students and post-doctoral scholars were able to access sessions live and are now able to view session recordings, slides, and handouts for up to one year thanks to event sponsorship from the UPEI Faculty of Graduate Studies. 

The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship invites you to join our biweekly speaker series. We are pleased to have Bethany Deshpande, Founder of SomaDetect!  SomaDetect is a cutting-edge sensor and software system that offers dairy producers a reliable suite of solutions directly from their milking line.

Bethany Deshpande will share the startup story of her company, SomaDetect, and the lessons learned along the way. Bethany explores why customer validation is essential—not just for product development, but also for fundraising and building trust with strategic partners. She highlights how design thinking and creative workshops can accelerate both product and company growth and reflects on what she would do differently today with the perspective she has gained over the years. She has secured over $20 million in funding from venture capitalists, grants, loans, and won $2M in pitch competitions alone!

More about the speaker: Bethany Deshpande is a science-driven entrepreneur and advisor with a PhD in Biology and deep expertise in technology, innovation development, and commercialization. As founder of SomaDetect, she led the development of a cutting-edge dairy monitoring platform. Today, she helps startups design great products and build go-to-market strategies across climate, agtech, and deep tech sectors.

Bethany Deshpande's talk will take place in 201 Robertson Library on Thursday, October 30 from 12-1pm, and food will be provided. Everyone is welcome to attend.

To attend the session, please sign up here.

The next deadline for submitting biosafety applications, including new applications, renewals, and/or amendments, is Friday, October 31, 2025. These applications will be reviewed at the November 20 meeting.

All research compliance applications, including biosafety application forms, must be submitted through the UPEI researcher portal. Information about the researcher portal, including instructions for using the site, is available at https://www.upei.ca/research-services/forms.

Please contact the Research Compliance Coordinator at researchcompliance@upei.ca if you have any questions about accessing or using the researcher portal, or about the biosafety application, review, and approval process.

Shaping the future of our campus begins with understanding how we use our space today. To ensure UPEI continues to provide the best environment possible for learning, research, and student success, Facilities Management will be conducting a comprehensive campus-wide space inventory over the coming weeks and months (two UPEI students have been employed to assist us with this task).

Starting October 27, 2025,  Facilities Management staff will carry out in-person walkthroughs of campus spaces to ensure UPEI has up-to-date data about the type, size, configuration and amenities of our space. This will include a visual review of offices, classrooms, laboratories, storage spaces, etc. Any review of laboratories or other similar facilities will be coordinated with the various academic units/faculties and no confidential or sensitive materials will be disturbed or logged. In addition, building occupants will be given advance notice of when walkthroughs will take place via the Chief Building Wardens.

Your cooperation will help us make the best use of our resources and plan effectively for the future. Thank you!

UPEI is in the process of nominating a Canada Excellence Research Chair with a research focus on "One Health in Rural Environments". The search committee has invited 2 candidates for interviews the week of October 27. Both candidates will be giving a research seminar on 'Research History and Vision for the CERC Project -One Health in Rural Environments at UPEI'

The campus community is cordially invited to attend research presentations by candidates as follows:

Candidate A: Monday, October 27 at 9:30 in Lecture Theatre "C" (207N) Atlantic Veterinary College

Candidate A's research focuses on how human-wildlife interactions affect the health of people and animals as part of coupled social-ecological systems. Their interdisciplinary research program combines wildlife health surveillance, social science, and landscape ecology to prevent health risks and enhance health benefits of human-wildlife interactions for animals, people, and the ecosystems we share.

UPEI Researchers are welcome to meet with the candidate on Monday, October 27, 3:15-4:15 in the AVC Dean's Boardroom, 211S.

Candidate B: Wednesday, October 29 at 9:30 in AVC Learning Commons, Room 287 (the candidate will attend virtually)

Candidate B's research focuses on conducting interdisciplinary research in dairy cattle health management, dairy production medicine, animal microbiome, AMR and One Health, and biostatistical data management and modelling.  

UPEI Researchers are welcome to meet with the candidate on Wednesday, October 29, 3:15-4:15 in the AVC Dean's Boardroom, 211S.

If interested in viewing the candidates' CVs please stop by Rosemary McIver's office, 2351, North Annex, AVC.

The CERC Search committee will invite feedback from the community to be submitted by November 5 to members of the search committee:

Dr. Beibei Jia, AVC

Dr. Trevor Clark, UPEI Fa

Dr. William Bourque, IKERAS

Dr. Don Desserud, Faculty of Arts

Dr. Travis Saunders, Faculty of Science

Or Rosemary McIver, AVC GSR Office

Title of the Thesis “Peptide Mediated Macrophage Polarization for Treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer”

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer. Chemotherapy remains the primary treatment, but emerging drug resistance and relapse of tumors highlight the need for combination therapies, such as immunotherapy, to improve chemotherapeutics efficacies and outcomes. Our research investigates the mechanism of action of synthetic macrocyclic host defense peptides and nanoparticles, in stimulating both naïve and tumor-associated macrophages, resulting in the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in macrophage monoculture and in co-culture model with TNBC cells. Our findings indicate that mCA4 and its nanoparticles bind with toll-like receptors on macrophages, activating downstream signaling pathways in both naïve and IL-4-stimulated macrophages, which promotes the release of pro-inflammatory mediators by macrophages. When combined with the chemotherapeutic agents, peptide nanoparticles enhanced chemotherapeutics effectiveness, suggesting their role as an immuno-adjuvant in TNBC treatment.

October 28, 2025, 1:00 pm via Web Conference

If you wish to attend the public presentation, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator at gsc@upei.ca to receive the link.

Everyone is welcome to attend!

Ever wonder how job classifications work at UPEI or where to begin? Join us for an informative classification information session hosted by Human Resources. 

Date: November 5, 2025 
Time: 11:00 am–12:30 pm
Location: In-person (details sent upon registration) 
Register: https://forms.office.com/r/d4HEs3eJbR 

This session is open to all CUPE 1870 and contract administration employees. Space is limited to 50 participants, so be sure to RSVP to secure your spot. Once registered, you’ll receive a Microsoft Teams appointment with the session location. 

For more details on classification, visit the Classification: General Information page on the Human Resources SharePoint. 

On October 14, Health PEI implemented a universal masking policy across its facilities to help protect patients, staff, and the public from the spread of illness.

At UPEI, we encourage everyone to take proactive steps to stay healthy during the fall and winter months. These include

• staying up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccinations;
• staying home if you are experiencing symptoms;
• practicing good hand hygiene;
• wearing a mask if you are feeling unwell or have been exposed to respiratory illness.

For more details, please visit the UPEI Guidance For Respiratory Illness.

To help protect our patients and staff, masking is strongly recommended at the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre.

COVID-19 rapid test kits are available at both the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre and the UPEI Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) office.

Flu and COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Schedule:

• Wednesday, October 22, 9:00 am–3:00 pm, McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre
• Thursday, October 23, 12:00–7:00 pm, McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre 
• Wednesday, October 29, 12:00–7:00 pm, The McCain Foundation Learning Commons Atrium, Atlantic Veterinary College

Important Details:

• Vaccines are administered on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment is necessary. 
• This service is free of charge for everyone.
• Please bring a valid provincial health card or student ID for registration.
• You are required to wait 15 minutes in the post-vaccine waiting area after receiving your flu shot to ensure you do not have an allergic reaction. Please plan your time accordingly.

Please Note: 

• We are unable to administer flu vaccines to children aged 2 and under.
• Flu Mist (nasal spray) is available only at the Public Health Nursing Community Vaccination Clinics for children 2 to 17 years of age.
• We are unable to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to children 12 and under. COVID-19 Immunization Clinics are located in communities across PEI.

UPEI Procurement Services is currently taking bids on a 2019 used hoist fitness leg press.

Bids are being accepted in the University's e-tendering portal Bonfire until October 28, 2025 at 2:00 pm. This portal requires you to register by creating a username and password as your UPEI credentials are not connected to this system. When registering for the Bonfire portal, please put your name in the vendor's name and contact name fields. You can access the information about this opportunity at https://upei.bonfirehub.ca/portal/?tab=openOpportunities or upei.bonfirehub.ca tender number 25-1286.

If you require assistance, please email tenders@upei.ca

The Robertson Library’s Open Education Resource Development Program is accepting grant applications for the creation or adaptation of open educational resources (OERs). The grant types include: 

• Open Educational Resource or Textbook Grant: up to $7000 
  • the development of a new open textbook on a topic that is currently not covered by an existing open textbook, or major adaptations of existing textbooks; 
• Open Textbook Adaptation Grant: up to $4,500 
  • the adaptation of one or more open educational resources or open textbooks to create a new version or edition of a resource (i.e. a Canadian edition of an existing open textbook); 
• Supplementary Resources Grant: up to $2,500 
  • the creation of ancillary materials for existing open textbooks, including, but not limited to test banks, slide decks, recordings, or interactive media, etc. 

All applications will be reviewed and considered, however, applications that meet either/both of the following criteria will be prioritised: 

• Applications that support first-year courses (as they reach the greatest number of students); and/or 
• Applications with evidence of consultation with the TLC and/or a Librarian.  

Applications close January 7, 2026. 

For more information, or to apply, visit https://library.upei.ca/OERProgram/grants. 

Questions about the grants, OERs, Pressbooks, or any other related topics can go to Keri McCaffrey, One Health and Scholarly Communications Librarian at knmccaffrey@upei.ca or Charlene VanLeeuwen in the Teaching and Learning Centre at cvanleeuwen@upei.ca. 

The title of this year's Murray Lecture is Water as Teacher: What water can teach us about hope in hard times

This year's distinguished speaker is Dr. Kari Grain, author of Critical Hope and teaches at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Education, where she leads the Master’s in Adult Learning and Global Change (ALGC) Program. 

For more information on the Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope in the Academy and the speaker Dr. Kari Grain, read the article UPEI’s 2025 Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope and the Academy explores water as teacher

The Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope and the Academy will take place on Monday, November 3, at 3:30 pm in SDU Main Building, Room 117. 

The Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope in the Academy was established in 2023 to celebrate Shannon's receipt of the Christopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award.

Every day, our colleagues go above and beyond to make our university a vibrant, supportive, and inspiring place to work and learn. “Recognizing Remarkable Colleagues” is your space to give a shout-out to those who embody our mission and values—whether they’re championing a new initiative, supporting student success, lending a hand to a teammate, or bringing positivity to the workplace. You can also use this program to congratulate a colleague on a new role or wish them well in retirement.

Let’s celebrate the big and small wins that make our campus shine! Submit your note of recognition, and let’s cheer on our amazing colleagues together.

How to submit:

Complete this short form: https://forms.office.com/r/766cg9JsT6 

You’ll be asked to share:

• Who are you recognizing? (Name and department/faculty)
• Why are you recognizing them? (Briefly describe what they did or the impact they made)
• Your name 

Submit your form(s) by the last Friday of each month. Human Resources will collect the submissions and work with Communications to feature them in the Campus Connector. Please note, we now have a dedicated page for this program on the Human Resources SharePoint: Recognizing Remarkable Colleagues.

Not a current subscriber to Campus Connector? Find out how to subscribe.

The deadline for our next issue is Friday, October 31, 2025

Please contact Human Resources at hrengage@upei.ca should you have any questions. 

ITSS conducted their first AMA (Ask Me Anything) this week where anyone from the campus could come and ask questions directly to the ITSS Management team. Those in attendance agreed that it was useful and informative, and they should continue. Look for more ITSS driven AMA's in the future! 

Follow this link for a recap of the questions raised and the responses provided by the team:

• If the phone is for Live Critical Support only, what do I do if my account is locked?
• What are the hours of support for Help Desk? Is it only 8–4, Monday to Friday?
• What defines ticket priorities?
• What are the triage and escalation procedures for ITSS?
• Are Copilot questions/answers included in FOIP?
• Is there any guideline for the responsible use of AI?
• How do I learn about “speaking IT” if I’m not in IT and I’m trying to coordinate with ITSS and other developers?
• Is every IT computer asset purchased by employees tracked by ITSS?