Professors and instructors from as far afield as the UK and Saudi Arabia, from every province in Canada, and from four US states are taking part in a unique program at UPEI this week. They are attending the Faculty Development Summer Institute on Active Learning and Teaching (FDSI).

The only one of its kind in Canada, the five-day FDSI focuses on improving post-secondary teaching and learning by demonstrating and modelling techniques of active learning. It began on July 31 and runs until August 4. Topics include setting the tone, teaching large groups, encouraging student feedback to professors, and assessing student learning.

Since 1984, hundreds of participants have travelled to UPEI to work with professors from Canadian, American and overseas universities on new approaches that will assist their students to learn more effectively, and make their own teaching more satisfying. This year's enrollment is the highest ever. As Ayo Jeje of the University of Calgary points out, the UPEI Faculty Development Summer Institute "has something of a reputation for excellence."

Fahad Alamr has travelled from Saudi Arabia to take part. He found the Institute through an internet search. After comparing several summer school options, he chose UPEI. "I felt it had something valuable for me to learn," he says. "I believe that I should look for knowledge and experience anywhere in the world, and here I am."

Rachel Carkett is attending from the University of Plymouth in Devon, England. She is the Coordinator of a Teaching and Learning Centre for faculty. "I wanted to see how a faculty institute is run on this side of the ocean," she explains. "I can draw comparisons and learn new things. For example, the workshop on motivation reminded me of why we do what we do, and made me think about how we engage learners."

The Institute leaders are Dr. Serge Piccinin, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the Advancement of University Learning, University of Oxford, UK; Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-President, Academic Development at UPEI, who has extensive experience with adults and children who have diverse learning abilities; Dr. Brian D. Wagner, Chair of the UPEI Department of Chemistry; and Dr. Shannon Murray, a professor in the English Department at UPEI. Drs. Murray and Wagner are recent recipients of the prestigious 3M/Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Teaching Excellence Award.

The Institute's focus on quality teaching and learning is one of several key initiatives at UPEI that promote educational excellence. It is coordinated by the Centre for Life-Long Learning and the Webster Centre for Teaching and Learning which offer an array of programs to enhance the academic success of students and the professional development of faculty.

More information is available from Isabel Christian at ichristian@upei.ca, 902-566-0355.

A special ceremony today at the University of Prince Edward Island honoured Charlottetown resident Eileen (McQuaid) McMillan and her late husband Dr. Joseph (Joe) A. McMillan. Friends and members of the well-known McMillan family joined UPEI staff and faculty, student representatives, and guests for the official naming of the courtyard area of the Student Centre. From now on it will be known as McMillan Hall.

McMillan Hall is one of the most popular venues for campus and community activities at UPEI. Since it opened in 2002, it has hosted everything from the honorary degree convocation for Princess Takamado of Japan to the Deans' Honours and Awards ceremonies that celebrate academic excellence. It has been the location of federal and provincial political debates, health research conferences and fairs, and a multitude of social and recreational events ranging from music performances to alumni weddings.

The facility holds special significance for the University's alumni because it was constructed on the site of the Alumni Gym that opened in 1951 and was destroyed by fire 50 years later. Dr. Joe McMillan was a member of the fundraising committee for the gym and the building was the location of his honorary degree presentation from St. Dunstan's University in 1967.

"Dr. Joe's volunteer fundraising to build the Alumni Gym, where the Student Centre now stands, and his commitment to the University where he began his extensive post-secondary career stand as examples to all students and alumni," said Student Union President Ryan Gallant. "This is the centre of student life on campus and the naming of McMillan Hall in honour of Dr. Joe and Eileen McMillan recognizes the legacy that they have left at UPEI, and through their family, and celebrates their strong commitment to education."

Eileen McMillan was born in Souris. She completed high school in BC, attended a finishing school in Quebec run by the Ursulan Order, and graduated with a BSc in Home Economics from St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) in 1935. After interning at St. Michael's Hospital, she worked in restaurant management in Montreal. In 1941 she returned to PEI, married Dr. Joe McMillan, and settled in Charlottetown where she became an active volunteer in several organizations including the Belvedere Golf Club, where she was President of the Ladies Branch, and the Charlottetown and Queen Elizabeth hospital auxiliaries. She was a founding member of the PEI Hospital auxiliary and was also involved in the Catholic Women's League and the Friends of the Confederation Centre.

Joe McMillan was a highly-respected PEI doctor. He graduated from St. Dunstan's University (SDU) with a BA in 1926. When he returned to set up medical practice in Charlottetown, he held an MA from Laval, a BSc from StFX, and his MD, CM from McGill. He was the first president of the Maritime Hospital Association and served on the executive of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). He was the first recipient of the CMA medal of service in 1964. In the late 1960s he was a member of the Board of Governors of St. Dunstan's University. He passed away in 1972.

In addition to their interests in medical work, the McMillans' main area of commitment was education. Eileen McMillan was active in the Home and School organization of the1950s and 60s. Dr. McMillan was a member of the Royal Commission on Post-Secondary Education. Students from around the world who came to study at St. Dunstan's were among the many guests they entertained at their home. Their other interests included politics, local hockey, and performances and debates at St. Dunstan's. The couple had four sons and two daughters: Colin, Thomas, Charles, John, Maura, and Eileen, all of whom have made significant contributions to PEI and Canadian society, particularly in the areas of education and health. Five of the six were graduates of SDU and/or UPEI.

Eileen (McMillan) Fulford turned the naming ceremony into a double celebration when she announced that she will leave a substantial bequest to the University of Prince Edward Island in her will. Her irrevocable planned gift, which has been made possible through an insurance policy, will honour her late husband George T. Fulford III as well as her parents.

"My parents encouraged all of us to pursue our educational endeavors to the fullest. St. Dunstan's, and later UPEI, were very much of a part of our lives growing up," she said. "Since I returned to PEI, I have watched UPEI grow, adding the Atlantic Veterinary College, the School of Nursing, and the PEI Health Research Institute. I am very pleased to be able to support the education of future generations of UPEI students," she said.

"The McMillan family has shown leadership in education on Prince Edward Island for many decades," said UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. "This significant commitment to the Building a Legacy Campaign and the naming of McMillan Hall in honour of Dr. Joe and Eileen McMillan represent a tangible joining of our foundations and our future."

Eileen Fulford graduated in nursing from the University of Ottawa in 1966 and completed two years of postgraduate studies at the University of Western Ontario before returning to Charlottetown to teach in the PEI School of Nursing where she later became assistant director. She joined the nursing program at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario and spent 12 years there, eventually becoming Department Head in Health Sciences. She and her husband George moved to PEI in the mid-1980s. George took a teaching position in the School of Business at UPEI where he was a popular professor for several years. He was also a well-established entrepreneur with interests in the aquaculture industry. He passed away in 1995. There is now a UPEI business prize in his name.

Eileen Fulford's planned gift will be recognized as a contribution to the Building a Legacy campaign, and she is now a member of the UPEI Visionary Society of planned givers. Through living and planned gifts to the Building a Legacy campaign, many individuals, families and organizations are positively transforming the lives of hundreds of students and the historic UPEI campus.

Since returning to her home province Eileen Fulford has been an active volunteer with the Canadian Cancer Society, serving two terms as President of the PEI Division. She was the Chair of the Atlantic Breast Cancer Information Project and now chairs the PEI Breast Cancer Information Partnership, a volunteer group that distributes information kits to breast cancer survivors across the province. She is also well known in PEI as one of the Island's best senior women golfers.

Nine faculty members and students from UPEI presented papers at the 9th Islands of the World Conference in Maui, Hawaii which took place July 28 to August 3. The conference was organized by the Maui Community College with the collaboration of the International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA).

The Islands of the World Conference, which was hosted by UPEI in 2002, is the most important global island studies event, and brings together close to 200 researchers, academics and practitioners interested in island development. The 2006 session had sustainability as its key theme.

UPEI Faculty Godfrey Baldacchino and Barry Bartmann, as well as MA (Island Studies) students Margaret Mizzi and Kathy Stuart, presented papers on issues affecting sub-national island jurisdictions in a 2and#189;-hour panel that Dr. Baldacchino organized expressly for the ISISA conference. Dr. Irene Novaczek, Director of the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI, discussed seaplants as food, medicine and tools for gender empowerment in the South Pacific. Dr. P. Nagarajan, from UPEI's Economics Department, pursued his interest in non-sustainable island development with a paper on the island state of Nauru. MAIS student Faiz Ahmed reviewed alternative development options in the contemporary Caribbean; while MAIS student and UPEI employee Laurie Brinklow reviewed cultural policy in PEI and Iceland. Patrick Augustine, prospective MAIS student, delivered a poignant paper on place and placelessness amongst the Mi'kmaq of Lennox Island.

"The biannual ISISA event is the key showcase of ongoing island studies scholarship, as well as the venue for a significant amount of island studies networking that spills over into collaborative educational, research and policy-related activities," comments Dr Baldacchino, who is Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at UPEI. "It is comforting to see that UPEI enjoys a recognized niche in this field. MAIS students in particular have had an exciting and educational international experience that will contribute to an improvement in the quality of their ongoing thesis work." Dr Baldacchino has been elected to the ISISA Executive for a four-year term.

The 10th Islands of the World Conference is scheduled for the autonomous province of Jeju Island, South Korea, in August 2008.

The Community Legal Information Association of PEI (CLIA) has just released "Legal Information for Same-Sex Relationships" written by UPEI student Christopher Gillis. This pamphlet contains information on marriage, common law relationships, adoption/children, divorce, division of property, family violence and end of life issues.

"PEI was the second last province in the country to deal with the re-definition of marriage. As an Islander I am proud to have been a part of this project. The community has been waiting a long time for this," says Gillis who coordinated the project. "Currently, the only piece of legislation amended to deal with the new definition is our Marriage Act. I am confident that in time our provincial government will continue to work diligently to amend all legislation and bring it in line with federal law."

"On PEI there seemed to be confusion that existed around our laws and how they pertain to same-sex relationships," says CLIA Executive Director Ann Sherman. "The pamphlet we have published brings a new light to these laws and the issues same-sex couples could face. This information allows people to understand exactly where they stand in the eyes of our laws."

The Community Legal Information Association of Prince Edward Island Inc. is a non-profit corporation and a registered charity. CLIA's goal is to provide Islanders with understandable, useful information about our laws and our justice system. Funding assistance for this project was provided by Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. For more information or to receive a copy of the publication, contact CLIA at 902-892-0853 or clia@cliapei.ca.

The UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series resumes Wednesday, August 9th with Dr. David B. Woolner. The presentation is entitled "American Foreign Policy and the Challenges of Terrorism"

Woolner is Executive Director of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, New York, and Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from McGill University, and a B.A. summa cum laude in English Literature and History with a minor in Latin from the University of Minnesota. A specialist in Anglo-American relations and U.S. foreign and economic policy in the 1930s and 40s, Dr. Woolner has delivered papers on FDR's foreign policy at conferences in Canada, the United States, Russia, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and Korea.

He is the co-editor of FDR and the Environment, (Palgrave 2005); FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945 (Palgrave, 2003); editor of The Second Quebec Conference Revisited (Palgrave/St. Martin's, 1998); and is the author of Cordell Hull, Anthony Eden and the Search for Anglo-American Cooperation, 1933-1938, forthcoming Praeger Press.

Dr. Woolner has recently developed a new course for Marist College entitled America and the Challenge of Terrorism that will serve as the basis for his talk at UPEI.

The Distinguished Speaker Visitor Speaker Series takes place Wednesdays at 3 pm, with historic campus tours at 4 pm, throughout the summer and early fall.

Admission is free. In addition to Wednesday lectures, presentations are being scheduled at other times based on the availability of speakers. For more information contact Julie Mutch at 894-2834 or visit www.upei.ca/summer.

The UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series continues Wednesday, August 16 with Steven MacKinnon. His presentation is entitled "The Changing Canadian Political Landscape." He speaks at 3pm. at the K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre on the UPEI campus.

The Right Honourable Paul Martin appointed Steven MacKinnon as National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) on July 7, 2004. MacKinnon is a fluently bilingual native of Prince Edward Island and has an impressive resumand#233; in politics, government, and the private sector. He served as Executive Assistant to the Premier of New Brunswick, Executive Director of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, and Senior Vice-President of Hawk Communications Inc. in Moncton. His campaign experience at the provincial and federal levels stretches back to 1984.

Upcoming speakers in the Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series include Doreen Kays, former Middle East correspondent, and John Ibbitson, a political columnist who writes for The Globe and Mail. Kays will be speaking on Wednesday, August 23 at 3pm. Ibbitson will speak on Tuesday, August 29 at 10am (please note date and time change.)

The Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series takes place Wednesdays at 3 pm, with historic campus tours at 4pm, throughout the summer and early fall. Admission is free. In addition to Wednesday lectures, presentations are being scheduled at other times based on the availability of speakers. For more information contact Julie Mutch at 894-2834 or visit www.upei.ca/summer.

The UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series continues Tuesday, August 29 at 10:00 a.m. with John Ibbitson, a political columnist who writes primarily on Canadian federal politics for The Globe and Mail. His presentation "The Burden of Identity" will focus on his thoughts about the emerging conflict between identity and progress within and outside the Canadian experience.

Ibbitson has written three books on politics: Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution, Loyal No More: Ontario's Struggle for a Separate Destiny, and The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream. He has also written two full-length novels, 1812: Jeremy and the General, and The Night Hazel Came to Town. He has been nominated for several awards, including a Governor General's Award nomination for 1812. Hazel received a nomination for the Trillium Book Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. Most recently, he was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for his coverage of the inner workings of Paul Martin's government.

Covering Ontario politics from 1995 to 2001, Ibbitson worked for The Ottawa Citizen, Southam News, The National Post and The Globe and Mail. In August 2001 he was appointed Washington Bureau Chief of The Globe and Mail, covering congress and the presidency as a reporter and columnist. He returned to Canada a year later to take up the post of political affairs columnist.

Ibbitson's presentation will take place in the K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre Lecture Theatre, UPEI, 10:00-11:00 a.m. Admission is free. Tours of the historic UPEI campus are available after the lecture. Everyone is welcome. For more information contact Julie Mutch at (902)894-2834 or visit www.upei.ca/summer.

Ashleigh McBain of North Bay, Ontario has just said farewell to her colleagues at the University of Prince Edward Island after spending the summer carrying out research in family literacy. She is one of eleven Undergraduate Summer Research Assistants who received national awards this year from the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network (CLLRNet). The network supports these awards to assist language and literacy students to acquire research skills in preparation for potential graduate work. They are presented to students in their second last year of a three-, four-, or five-year program.

Ashleigh has been working with Dr. Vianne Timmons, UPEI Vice President of Academic Development, on projects spanning a wide range of research topics, including knowledge translation, inclusion, and family literacy. In particular, she has been involved in a project called Families Learning Together. From 2003 to 2006, researchers from UPEI have worked with 31 families to develop and implement a literacy program for aboriginal families in Atlantic Canada. The project, also funded by CLLRNet, has sought to create a literacy program that embraces the significance of aboriginal culture in order to effectively promote family literacy within aboriginal communities. Ashleigh has contributed to the final phase of this project.

"The UPEI community has made me feel very comfortable. I have been fortunate to be surrounded by many wonderful, intelligent people who have made my time at UPEI both interesting and enjoyable. This summer has been the experience of a lifetime," she says.

Ashleigh adds that she has found her experience at UPEI to be a valuable asset for her future career as an educator and a graduate student. She will be continuing her education in Nipissing University's Bachelor of Education program this fall.

The UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series continues Wednesday, August 23 with former foreign correspondent, Doreen Kays. She will be speaking at 3:00 p.m. in the K C Irving Chemistry Centre Lecture Theatre. Her presentation is entitled "Lebanon: Why Now? What Now?"

Kays has achieved worldwide acclaim in broadcast journalism. After receiving her diploma in journalism at the University of King's College in 1963, she began her journalism career as a reporter and later editor with the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. In 1966 she became the first female television reporter at CBC television news in Montreal covering such events as the Quebec separatist movement crisis, the Montreal World Fair, and the Montreal Olympics.

As a former ABC News Cairo bureau chief and correspondent, Kays covered the Middle East extensively. In addition to witnessing first hand, the killing of Anwar Sadat, she reported on other major historical events, including the Camp David peace accords and the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty; the Iran hostage crisis in Tehran and release of the American diplomat hostages in Algiers; the exile of the Shah of Iran and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. Kays also covered Europe for ABC News as a Paris-based correspondent for "World News Tonight", "Nightline", and "Good Morning America."

She later moved on to anchor and report for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor's nightly TV program "World Monitor" for which she covered the Gulf War of 1991 and spent time reporting from Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza.

Based on her account of the late Anwar Sadat, Egypt, and the media, Kays wrote the internationally acclaimed Frogs and Scorpions in 1984. This caught the attention of literary critics who like Milton Viorst of the New Yorker wrote " Doreen Kays has done the impossible and#150; written a book about the Middle East that is intelligent, fair, thoughtfuland#133;and funny."

Kays is also the winner of many awards including the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club of America for the best radio interpretation of foreign affairs for her perspective on "Sadat: The aftermath." She also received and#145;Woman of the Year' from the Charlottetown branch of the Zonta Club International in 1986. She holds an honorary degree from UPEI (1987) and King's College(1990).

The Distinguished Speaker Visitor Speaker Series takes place Wednesdays at 3 pm, with historic campus tours at 4 pm, throughout the summer and early fall. Admission is free. In addition to Wednesday lectures, presentations are being scheduled at other times based on the availability of speakers. For more information contact Julie Mutch at 894-2834 or visit www.upei.ca/summer.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Prince Edward Island has bestowed its highest honour on a professor in the UPEI School of Business Administration. Debbie Good has been elected as a Fellow in the Institute. The prestigious FCA designation is reserved for chartered accountants who have shown exemplary service to their profession, the Institute, and the community. Professor Good is the first female chartered accountant to receive this designation from the PEI Institute.

Debbie Good currently sits on the Board of the Directors of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. She is a past president of the PEI Institute, and from 1984 to 1991 she served on the Board of the Atlantic School of Chartered Accountancy (ASCA).

"Professor Good has provided, and continues to provide, exceptional service to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Prince Edward Island. Her leadership and commitment exemplify the attributes embodied by the award," says Gordon MacFadyen, President of the Institute.

Since 2003, Professor Good has been teaching Management Science, Accounting, Managerial and Personal Finance, and Applied Investment Management at UPEI. She was a full-time faculty member from 1979 to 1995 and served as the Acting Dean of Business during the 1993-94 academic year. She has been a lecturer for the ASCA Summer School Program in Halifax and for the Society of Management Accountants of PEI.

"We, in the UPEI School of Business, are delighted about this prestigious recognition for Debbie. It is well deserved given her broad range of valuable contributions to the CA profession and its impact in the community," says UPEI Dean of Business Roberta MacDonald.

In addition to her successful career in teaching, Debbie Good has worked in the private sector in the food processing industry, in public accounting, and with the Holland College Small Business Centre. In 1998 she joined the Bank of Montreal's investment division, BMO Nesbitt Burns, as an Investment Advisor. In the voluntary sector she has served as chair of the PEI Health Policy Council, as a member of the National Forum on Health, the Advisory Council on Health Info-Structure, and the Smart Communities National Selection Committee.