UPEI’s new School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences is in the process of searching for its first Associate Dean and Dr. Gordon MacDonald has been invited to make a public presentation on his vision for the new School. Everyone is encouraged to attend on Monday, June 20, 2016, from 1:00-2:00 pm, in the K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre, Room 104.  For those who wish to view a copy of Dr. MacDonald’s CV it can be obtained by contacting Kate in the Office of the Dean of Science, contact info as shown below.

The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative is holding its annual workshop, this year called, "An Atlantic and Canadian Perspective on Wildlife Health", on the UPEI campus at the Atlantic Veterinary College.  Link to the full program      

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Institute (LMMI) at the University of Prince Edward Island is hosting its 12th biennial international and interdisciplinary four-day conference June 23 to 26. Much Montgomery criticism of the past several decades has regarded her work from a feminist and gender studies perspectives: L. M. Montgomery and Gender will reconsider and build upon those readings, exploring how formative and deterministic gender roles seem, and yet how mutable they may be. “This year’s conference theme, L.M. Montgomery and Gender, will look back over more than a century of change to reassess how Montgomery both reinforced and challenged gender roles of her day and ours,” said Dr. Laura Robinson, LMMI Visiting Scholar, conference co-chair, and dean of arts at Royal Military College. “Moreover, we will also invite conference-goers to digitize their testimonies of how Montgomery’s works have influenced their lives, a topic that novelist Jane Urquhart will also discuss in her keynote address. It promises to be a very international, interdisciplinary, and engaging conference.” Canada is quickly approaching the centenary of women’s suffrage in Manitoba (1916) and nationally (1918). The presentations and events of this conference will reconsider the role of gender in L. M. Montgomery’s work: her fiction, poetry, life writing, letters, photographs, scrapbooks, and the many adaptations and spinoffs in film, television, theatre, tourism, and social media. “The L.M. Montgomery Institute at UPEI promotes research into, and informed celebration of, the life, works, culture, and influence of Montgomery,” said Dr. Philip Smith, professor of psychology and Committee Chair of LMMI. “We have a rich network of local, national, and international Montgomery scholars and enthusiasts.  This conference features presenters from nine countries. The conference welcomes both academics and community members, and anyone with an interest in Montgomery is encouraged to register.” Conference keynote speakers: Elizabeth Epperly, professor emerita, was the first student to register at the “new” University of Prince Edward Island in 1969.  A Victorian scholar and English professor from 1976-2006, she taught at UPEI for 22 years where she also served as founding chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute and UPEI's fourth (and only female to date) president (1995-1998).  Originally from Virginia, Epperly became a citizen of Canada because of her love for L.M. Montgomery’s writing.   Dr. Epperly’s The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass was the first full-length critical study to address all of Montgomery’s novels. Mavis Reimer is professor in the Department of English, and dean of graduate studies at the University of Winnipeg, where she also was Canada Research Chair in the Culture of Childhood and founding director of the Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures. She is co-author with Perry Nodelman of the third edition of The Pleasures of Children’s Literature and editor of a collection of essays on Anne of Green Gables, entitled Such a Simple Little Tale. Jane Urquhart is the author of internationally acclaimed and award-winning novels, including: The Whirlpool; Changing Heaven; Away; The Underpainter, winner of the Governor General’s Award; The Stone Carvers, which was a finalist for The Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award, and longlisted for the Booker Prize; A Map of Glass, a finalist for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book; Sanctuary Line, and, most recently, The Night Stages. She is also the author of a collection of short fiction and four books of poetry, and published a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery as part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series. Full details, including instructions on how to register, can be found at the conference website.

Dr. H.F. (Gus) Shurvell, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, and Adjunct Professor in the Art Conservation Program, Queen's University, will present a seminar on Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 11:00 am. The presentation is entitled "The Technique of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analysis and Some Current Applications". The seminar will be held in the KC Irving Research Centre, Lecture Theatre, Room 104. All are welcome!

The university community is advised of announcement at UPEI to name the two new recipients of the Jeanne and J.-Louis Lévesque Research Professorships in Nutrisciences and Health. Each will be supported over the next three years with an annual grant of $10,000 and up to $25,000 annually to permit replacement for teaching or other duties. When: Monday, June 20, 11 am Where: Main floor foyer, Health Sciences Building, UPEI, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown What: The Jean and J.-Louis Lévesque Research Professorships are supported by the Fondation J.-Louis Lévesque: a generous supporter of health research at universities and institutes across the country. J.-Louis Lévesque graduated from Saint Dunstan’s University in 1934 and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws in 1964. Suzanne Lévesque, daughter of J.-Louis and president and CEO of his namesake foundation, was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from UPEI in 2006.

Hank Kwok, water analysis and purification specialist with Thermo Scientific, will give a pH seminar on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, at 11:00 am, in the Regis and Joan  Duffy Research Centre, Room 212. Seminar topic will include electrode operation and selection, meter calibration and buffer selection, temperature effects on samples, and troubleshooting common problems. After the seminar, Hank will be available for several pH clinics held in labs around campus where he will look at instrumentation and provide some hands-on testing of equipment and electrodes. Hank has indicated these clinics would be particularly useful to users attempting to measure pH in the areas of Environmental Science and Foods and Nutrition as their samples are typically more challenging. If you are interested in Hank stopping by your lab, please let Stephen Scully (sscully@upei.ca) know.

Physics Visiting Speaker - Tuesday, June 21, 2016 Professor Shaul Mordechai, Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel will present a seminar on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 3:00 pm. The presentation is entitled "Vibrational Spectroscopy for Medical Applications:  Challenges and Feasibility". The seminar will be held in the Kelley Memorial Building,  Room 210. All are Welcome!  

Join the staff of the UPEI International Relations Office for our Summer Kick-Off party. We will meet at the IRO and then head outdoors for some fun. There will be treats, an opportunity to socialize, a fantastic summer prize pack, and a chance to try some summer games. We hope to see everyone on Thursday.

The UPEI AIRS Multicultural Choir and Song Circle is a non-audition singing group, open to all on the campus. Community members are also welcome.  Singers are invited  (but are not required) to introduce songs from their own or different cultures.  The  weekly one-hour rehearsals (Wed. 4:00 pm)  will take place in the basement of the Robertson Library Building, Room 104,  (do not go into the library itself, please find the stairway in the hallway of the Library building; for  elevator if preferred please contact Hailey at 902-566-6023).  Alternatively, the group may go outside for a cappella singing (come to Room 104 first).  The group's repertoire has included songs from many cultures within Canada as well as  songs from France, Chile, Germany, Ukraine, Nigeria,  Kenya, Japan, Korea among others.   Your   new input would be appreciated.

Please join us for the launch of an exciting online discovery tool for the LMMI Research Collections housed at the Robertson Library. When: June 23, 4:45-5:30 pmWhere: 242 Don and Marion McDougall Hall, UPEIWhat: KindredSpaces will be the home of the significant Montgomery-related materials of the L.M. Montgomery Institute and Robertson Library. KindredSpaces is made possible by the generosity and vision of LMMI research associate and benefactor Dr. Donna Jane Campbell. The first material hosted at KindredSpaces will be the Ryrie-Campbell Collection, donated by Dr. Campbell. This launch is part of the LMMI Biennial International Conference. All are welcome.