SPEAKER: Fraser Clark, Department of Pathology and Microbiology TITLE: Lobster immune response, not as non-specific as once believed.

The UPEI Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni and Inspiring Young Alumni Awards will take place on Tuesday, March 27 at 7:00 pm in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium of the Don and Marion McDougal Hall. This year’s Distinguished Alumni recipients include multi-award winning musician Lennie Gallant (BA ’80) and Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Informatics at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and founder of One Health Initiatives, Dr. Theresa Bernardo. Our Inspiring Young Alumni Award will be presented to Dico Reijers, founder of InternetWorks, a “small Island shop” making it in the big leagues of online systems and design. A reception will follow the Awards in Schurman Market Square.

More information and detailed schedule will follow.

More information and detailed schedule will follow.

SPEAKER: Erin McCauley, Biomedical Sciences TITLE: Microbial Communities Associates with the Zooxanthellae and Larvae of the Gorgonian Coral Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae. SPEAKER: Dr. Melanie Buote, Pathology and Microbiology TITLE: Pathogenesis of early Hematodinium sp. infection in Atlantic Canadian Snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio)

Sarah Jane Barrett will present her Master of Education Thesis defense on Monday, March 5 at 10:00 am in Room AVC 287 North. Thesis Title: "The Gifted Experience: an Autobiographical Journey”. All are welcome. ABSTRACT This qualitative study uses an auto-ethnographic approach to explore the experiences of a gifted student in Prince Edward Island. The purpose was to reflect on and offer insights and analysis about experiences in school and how these shaped teacher identity. Using school documents and recollections of years in school, a series of narratives of schooling formed the data. Analysis of these narratives revealed themes that resonate with the literature, including perfectionism, frustrations with waiting, group work, anti-intellectualism, and disengagement from learning. The importance of challenge, ability grouping, and creativity are discussed, as well as the role of teachers in the education of gifted students. The research found that the needs of gifted students are not met in ways that develop their potential and the thesis suggests educational approaches supported by the literature and findings.

Lisa Cooper will present her Master of Education Thesis defense on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 3:30pm in Kelley 237. Thesis Title: Succeeding where others have failed: Re-engaging Aboriginal high school students. All are welcome. Abstract This study explores Aboriginal youth disengagement from high school on Prince Edward Island. The author and six Aboriginal participants, share their experiences of disengaging from the educational system. The experiences of this group of young people are consistent with those in the current literature which stresses the need to support Aboriginal students in school, change curriculum, and increase community and parental involvement. The study provides recommendations on ways to re-engage Aboriginal students in the school system.

The UPEI Women's Hockey team play their first game of the CIS Championship at 6:30 pm Atlantic Time vs. the loser of Laurier and Montreal.

Dr. Brian D. Wagner, Professor of Chemistry and the Assistant Vice President, Graduate Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island will be giving a Presentation entitled "The Interactive Classroom: Active Learning using a Modified Lecture Approach" on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. Dr Wagner has been at UPEI since 1995. He has taught a wide variety of chemistry courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He was the recipient of the 1997–1998 UPEI Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 3M Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Teaching Excellence Award (2005). He has given numerous workshops and presentations on university teaching at UPEI, as well as across Canada and abroad, and has been a facilitator in the UPEI Faculty Development Summer Institute on Active Learning and Teaching since 2002.

Vagabond Productions is hitting the road this spring with their upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. From March 12th to 17th, the UPEI theatre group will be bringing the playwright’s classic comedy to six unique and intimate performance spaces across Prince Edward Island. The tour begins in Charlottetown at the Murphy Community Centre on March 12th, followed by Summerside’s Wyatt Heritage Properties (March 13th), Souris Showhall (March 14th), Montague’s Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre (March 15th), Hunter River’s Harmony House (March 16th) with the final performance in UPEI’s Faculty Lounge in Main Building (March 17th). All performances begin at 7:30pm; doors open at 7:00pm. Tickets will be available at the door with all proceeds going to the venue of the evening. For more info, contact the venues directly or the UPEI Theatre Department at 566-6013, gdoran@upei.ca or upei.ca/theatre/research.