Shine Ji Youn Chung, a second-year sociology student, accepts the 2008 UPEI International Student Award from Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-president of Academic Development , while Dr. Graham Pike, Dean of Education and Chair of the International Development Week Committee, looks on.

Shine received the award at a lunch held on February 8 to conclude UPEI's seventh annual International Development Week. The award is given to a full-time undergraduate international student in his or her second year.

Shine is a mature student who came to UPEI in the fall of 2006 from Korea. She has taught English as a Second Language in Korea and has volunteered as a Teaching English to Children teacher in Tibet. She wants to pursue a career in educating people in developing countries. Because of her desire to help others, she is a member of the UPEI Advocacy and Support Services team this semester.

Other activities during International Development Week included a student symposium on global change, guest speakers and an exhibition of booths related to international development.

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at the School of Business of the University of PEI and the Tourism Advisory Council (TAC) today announced the release of a report profiling the tourism market for “Anne” related activities during the summer of 2007.

The report follows closely on the heels of the full exit survey report released two weeks ago and is based on responses to two questions on the Exit Survey of visitors to PEI that is managed by the TRC. The first question concerns travel activities visitors participated in while on PEI, while the second concerns the primary feature that attracted first-time visitors to PEI. The data analyzed was collected from June 28 to September 30, 2007, from 3,173 completed surveys.

For activities, the report examines differences between visitors who visited Anne of Green Gables attractions versus those who did not. The report touches on many characteristics of the two types of visitors, such as place of residence, travel party type (i.e., couples, families with young children, etc.), regions stayed in overnight, and spending.

The second section of the report focuses on first-time visitors to PEI, specifically the differences between visitors who selected the “World of Anne of Green Gables and Lucy Maud Montgomery” as the primary feature that attracted them to the Island versus those who selected other options.

“The Exit Survey was designed so results could be cross-analyzed to provide a depth of data for further analysis. This report is the first example of what we can do with the exit survey data beyond a basic, top-line analysis. We were able to isolate a specific segment of visitors and compare and contrast them with PEI visitors as a whole,” stated Sean Hennessey, Faculty Director of the TRC. “Anne of Green Gables is the ‘face’” of PEI around the world; she is a character that is closely associated with the Island tourism industry. Studying the ‘Anne’ market was an unplanned opportunity, but we felt it important to analyze this important niche visitor. Some of the results are quite surprising and really highlight areas where we are doing well, and where we have the potential to do even better.”

This is the second report to be released from data collected by the Exit Survey. Over the next ten weeks, a series of reports profiling different segments of PEI visitors, based on activities, origin, regions visited while on the Island, and more, will be released. The full report is available on the TRC’s Website at www.trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. Some highlights of the report include:

· A total of 53,000 visitor parties (169,000 people) visited Anne of Green Gables attractions during the study period in 2007. This was equivalent to a quarter (25.3 percent) of total pleasure visitors.

· Visitors to Anne attractions originated from all market areas. Canadian markets were the leading source of visitors (74 percent). The US ranked second (16 percent), and International markets supplied the remaining 10 per cent.

· The ratios of visitation by origin were the reverse of volumes. Fuelled by Japanese visitors (75 percent visited Anne attractions), almost one half (49 per cent) of international visitors visited Anne attractions. US visitors ranked second (39 per cent visited) and Canadian visitors ranked a distant third (approximately 21 per cent visited Anne attractions).

· Visitors to Anne attractions tended to participate in a wider variety of travel activities and at higher rates than non-visitors to Anne attractions. Exceptions were outdoor- and sport-related activities (including golf) where participation rates for Anne visitors were lower.

· Well under half of visitors to Anne attractions (43 per cent) attended plays, performances or live theatre.

· Anne attractions drew a modestly above average ratio of family travellers. Families accounted for 26.4 per cent of visitors to Anne attractions. A leading 31.2 per cent of total visitors to Anne attractions were in the age range 35-54. Only slightly less (30.8 per cent) were 55 plus. Children under 18 years of age accounted for 20 per cent of total visitors to Anne attractions.

· While Anne attractions had fairly universal appeal to Island visitors, there were some notable weaknesses. Visitation was weak for return visitors. First-time visitors visited Anne attractions at more than three times the rate of returning visitors (50.0 per cent of first-time visitors visited Anne attractions as compared to only 13.7 per cent of returning visitors).

· A total of 61,300 travel parties visited Prince Edward Island for the first time during the study period in 2007. Approximately 6,500 of these first-time visitor parties (10.7 per cent) indicated the main reason they were attracted to the Island was because of Anne of Green Gables and the World of Lucy Maud Montgomery.

· First-time visitors attracted primarily by Anne leaned toward females by a ratio of almost 60:40. An above average 14.1 per cent of first-time family visitors were attracted by Anne as compared to only 8.5 per cent of adult couple visitors.

· First-time visitors attracted mainly by Anne were on longer trips than other first-time visitors, yet they stayed considerably less time on the Island (3.5 versus 4.3 nights). As a result, Anne visitors spent only 30.4 per cent of their trip nights on the Island as compared to 43.3 per cent of nights spent by non-Anne visitors.

· They spent an average $87.88 per person per night which was almost identical to the average expenditure of other first-time visitors. Because of their shorter length of stay, their total trip expenditures averaged $1,065 as compared to $1,131 for non-Anne visitors.

· First-time visitors attracted mainly by Anne gave the Island good (on average) ratings on travel services, complaints, and travel evaluation with the exception of intent to revisit, which they rated somewhat below average.

“Anne of Green Gables has been a fixture of Prince Edward Island for 100 years. As this is the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first Anne novel, it is only appropriate that we try to learn more about the effects Anne has on our tourism industry and who she is drawing to the Island. This report documents the substantial influence Anne has on the tourism industry on PEI,” stated David MacKenzie, Chair of the TAC. “Armed with this knowledge, industry and government alike can make even better informed decisions about the Anne tourism experience, programming and product development, as well as providing a benchmark for measurement of the Anne 2008 impact.”

Further information about the report can be obtained from the Tourism Research Centre, School of Business, University of PEI, at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.

Graham Watts, owner of a company called Nature Trails and a full time business student at UPEI, has been named the 2008 Prince Edward Island Student Entrepreneur Champion by the national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE).

Since 1999 Watts has owned and operated Nature Trails, a company that manufactures walking sticks, twig pencils, bird houses, bat boxes, and bird feeders. Most recently, he purchased 148 acres of land to supply the raw materials for his wood products. To replace the trees that he uses, he replants his land with fast-growing, high-quality trees.

Watts started his business at the age of 12 to make extra pocket money. Now 20, he is the owner of a business that employs three people full time.

“This competition provides the opportunity to recognize student entrepreneurs across Canada who have taken the initiative to start their own business endeavors at a young age,” says Watts. “I am proud to represent Prince Edward Island moving forward in the competition and look forward to potentially raising the profile of my business through out the country.”

Watts will compete in the regional competition at the 2008 ACE Exposition in Halifax on March 7. Provincial champions from Atlantic Canada will present their companies to a panel of business professionals who will select the two regional champions. The winners will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and will move on to the final round of competition at the 2008 ACE National Exposition in Toronto on May 14. The national champion will receive a $10,000 cash prize and will represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.

Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable not-for-profit organization that is igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE provides post-secondary students with the opportunity to gain entrepreneurial and leadership skills, outside of the classroom, through its team-based Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and individual-based Student Entrepreneur programs.

For more information about the 2008 Student Entrepreneur Competition taking place regionally and nationally, please visit www.aceexpos.ca.

The UPEI Men's basketball team this past weekend wore red shoelaces in memory of the members of the Bathurst High School boys' basketball team, who died in a tragic accident earlier this year.

Members from both the men's and women's UPEI basketball teams went through the stands and collected over $525 for two scholarships set up to honor the memory of the seven boys and teacher Elizabeth Lord, who also died in the accident. This amount will double before it is donated, thanks to the generosity of UPEI.

'It is wonderful to see members of the men's and women's UPEI basketball teams raise over $525 for the Boys in Red. The University is pleased to support our basketball teams' initiative for this very worthy cause and congratulates the team players for their leadership and compassion,' says Dr. Vianne Timmons, Vice-President of Academic Development.

Fifth-year player Jared Budd was the Panther who stepped forward and made the event come together. A native of New Brunswick, he played against Bathurst High during his high school years.

'After hearing about the tragedy, I tried to put myself in their shoes, and I just felt compelled to do something to help out. When I heard about the scholarship fund, I e-mailed Coach, and that got the ball rolling. I'm very grateful to Dr. Timmons and UPEI. Many people came together to make this worthwhile cause possible. Our hearts and prayers are with the Bathurst community,' says Budd.

"I'm very proud of Jared Budd and everyone else involved in this fundraiser for their strong desire to honour the Bathurst boys' basketball team," says Panthers Head Coach Matthew Davis. "Our thoughts and prayers will continue to go out to those affected. I hope that this effort will help keep those who passed in everyone's hearts."

The money will be passed on to the Boys in Red scholarship fund, set up at CIBC locations across the country, to benefit the families of the boys. It will also be used for the Elizabeth Lord Scholarship set up for Bathurst High School students.

Nova Scotian writer Leo McKay Jr., who reads at UPEI on February 25, was teaching English with his wife Kathy in Japan, when he woke up one morning to the word “Stellarton,” his home town, on the radio. The Westray Mining Disaster had just occurred. That event, fictionalized as the Eastyard disaster at Albion Mines, along with McKay’s lineage as the descendent of miners and his childhood in Pictou County, is at the heart of his novel Twenty-Six.

McKay, and Alberta poet and UNB graduate Erin Knight will read at 7:30 p.m., February 25, in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. A reception and book signing will follow.

McKay’s fiction debut, Like This, was an impressive collection of gritty and potent short stories, with characters and a narrative voice that grabbed readers by the heart and gut. It was a finalist for the Giller Prize. A graduate of UBC’s MFA program in Creative Writing, he teaches English and Creative Writing at a high school in Truro.

In Twenty-Six, a family is changed forever after the devastating mining accident. Alistair MacLeod writes, "Universal in its scope, this is a novel about those who live and die in the underground of a coal-mining community. It is also about the families they leave behind on the surface. ‘Subterranean’ in a variety of ways–some of them quite wondrous–the novel is about memory, loss, guilt, and the light of redemption–sometimes, but not always, before it is too late."

And David Adams Richards writes that "Leo McKay Jr. has given us a book compassionate as love, tough as nails. The novel is a magnificent human drama, profound, haunting, and elegiac."

Erin Knight’s first book of poetry, The Sweet Fuels, reflects on the notion of orientation--whether in terms of magnetic north or street signs, the entrails of an animal or the vowels in a name--as a task of translation. Originally from Edmonton, she received an MA in Creative Writing and English from the University of New Brunswick.

This event is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

A four-member undergraduate engineering team from the University of Prince Edward Island finished second in the consulting engineering category of the Atlantic Engineering Competition held in Moncton earlier this month.

This success earned them a spot in the Canadian Engineering Competition, which will be held at the University of Waterloo from March 6 to 8.

At the Atlantic Engineering Competition, the students, all in their third year of UPEI's engineering program, competed against fourth- and fifth-year students from other Atlantic universities. The four students come from across P.E.I.: Mary Beth MacInnis, from Souris; Anne Somers, Charlottetown; Matt Duffy, Kinkora; and Gustavo Zanatta, Summerside.

During the regional competition, the consulting engineering teams had to develop a solution to a real-world problem, using the theme of sustainable development. Each team had six hours to develop an economically feasible design with minimal social and environmental impacts. The UPEI team had to find a way to boil water without using firewood. Upon receiving their problem, they selected Haiti as their region of focus.

The team decided to use bio-fuels for their solution, and developed a plan for using sugarcane to produce ethanol. The sugarcane would be crushed in a press to extract the juice, which would be fermented and distilled. The leftover sugarcane stalks would be sun-dried and burnt to distill the juice, which would result in the production of ethanol.

They also did an impact study that considered the environmental, social, political and economic aspects of the project, which they presented to the competition judges, along with their design, at the end of the six hours. The following day, they formally presented their project to the judges.

At the national competition, the team will be presented with a new project, for which they will have to develop a solution, produce a report and present their project within a few hours of intense research and design.

'We are very proud of all of our students,' says Dr. Wayne Peters, chair of the engineering department. 'The current success in regional and national competitions shows that, once again, UPEI engineering students are some of the best in the country. It's exciting to see that they excel in environmental design challenges. This gives me great hope for the future of engineering at UPEI and for the Island community.'

The team's success follows a tradition of excellence. Zanatta competed at the nationals in 2007. While taking a year away from school to serve as a Canadian infantry soldier in Afghanistan last year, Duffy gained a reputation for designing unique field equipment to help improve the safety for Canadian military vehicles. And in 2006 and 2007, UPEI engineering students won at the national competition in junior design, a high rate of success for one of the smallest engineering programs in Canada.

Photo (left to right): Mary Beth MacInnis, Matthew Duffy, Gustavo Zanatta and Anne Somers

Lawrence Hill, writer-in-residence at UPEI, will give a public reading on Friday, February 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. Hill is a novelist, journalist, memoir author and documentary film writer.

He will also give a writing workshop on fiction and non-fiction on Saturday, March 8, 1:30-4:45 p.m., in the UPEI Faculty Lounge.

Hill's white mother was a civil rights activist in Washington, D.C., who married an African American in 1953. They left for Canada the day after their marriage. The story of his parents' marriage, emigration to Canada, and experience of raising a family in a white suburb of Toronto is contained in Hill's best-selling memoir, Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada. In 2005, a documentary film written by Hill, Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada, won the American Wilbur Award for best national television documentary.

The Book of Negroes, Hill's new novel, transports the reader from an African village to a slave plantation in the southern U.S., from the Halifax docks to manor houses of London. It explores the history of British slavery and liberation in the U.S., Canada, England, and West Africa, through one extraordinary woman's tale of migration and survival. It was recently nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

For further information or to register for the workshop, contact the UPEI English Department at (902) 566-0389.

Faculty of Arts students who are majoring in English at the University of Prince Edward Island have a new opportunity to enrich their educational experience through international study. A joint agreement with the Misr International University (MIU) gives UPEI students the option of completing the final year of their four-year degree in Egypt.

English majors from MIU will have a similar opportunity to travel to Charlottetown for their final year at UPEI. Students who complete the requirements of this new program will be awarded a joint Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Prince Edward Island and the Misr International University.

During a recent ceremony in Cairo, the agreement was signed by Dr. Brent MacLaine, Chair of the UPEI English Department, and Mamdouh Elgharib, Career Development Specialist with Student Services.

"This agreement creates a wonderful educational opportunity for students at both universities to widen their academic horizons,” say MacLaine. “The pursuit of scholarship, whatever the discipline, in an international context enriches both the student and the community."

“Students in these program gain a more worldly perspective which, in turn, increases the value of their degree in the marketplace," says Elgharib.

MIU is a leading university in the Egyptian private university system. The introduction of this first joint degree strengthens an already positive and co-operative relationship between the two universities. It is the latest of a growing number of exchange agreements that make it possible for UPEI students to travel the world while furthering their university education.

UPEI and Holland College will celebrate the achievement of women in sport across Canada at their first Women in Sport dinner, featuring Canadian women's hockey star Cassie Campbell as guest speaker, at the Culinary Institute of Canada, on March 13, at 7 p.m.

The dinner, which will be emceed by Matt Rainnie, of CBC Radio's Mainstreet program, will be hosted by both post-secondary institutions, and their athletes who represent their school colors with great pride.

Mike Redmond, Coach of the UPEI's women's soccer team, and Albert Roche, Manager of Student Services and Athletics with Holland College, are the driving force behind this event.

"This event will not only be a celebration of Women in Sport, but also will also be a tremendous vehicle to promote varsity opportunities for female athletes,' says Roche. 'Partnering with UPEI on this project illustrates our joint commitment to Island athletes and our integrated approach towards varsity sports development on PEI.

Redmond and Roche are thrilled that Campbell agreed to be the guest speaker at this inaugural event.

'It is with great pleasure that we welcome Cassie Campbell as our guest speaker to our first ever women in sport dinner,' said Redmond. 'Cassie is an example of what hard work and determination are all about in both the athletic and professional world. She is one of the best known female athletes in Canada and around the world, it will be great to hear the message she delivers. Our continued cooperation with Holland College allows both institutions to grow and prosper in the very challenging world of College and University Athletics.'

At age five, Campbell laced up her first pair of skates. As the former Captain of Canada's National Women's Hockey Team and a heroine of Canadian sport, she has taken part in three Winter Olympic Games, seven International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championships, nine Four Nations Cups and the Torino Ice Tournament. Her teams have won 21 medals in total, including 17 gold medals and four silver medals.

Campbell joined Hockey Night in Canada as a rinkside reporter after retiring from professional hockey in August 2006. On October 14, 2006, Campbell became the first woman to do colour commentary on a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.

She holds an honours sociology degree from the University of Guelph, and runs an annual street hockey tournament that raises over $200,000 a year for Ronald McDonald House. Along with Hall of Famers Bobby Orr and Mike Bossy, she is a spokesperson for Chevrolet Safe and Fun Hockey Program.

Her hometown of Brampton, Ontario, recently broke ground on the Cassie Campbell Community Centre, and Prince Edward Island officially named March 14 Cassie Campbell Day. Earlier this year, she was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. In October 2007 she was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Bold, dynamic, and passionate, Campbell draws on her accomplishments as the captain of the gold-medal winning Canadian Women's Olympic Hockey Team to explore the themes of leadership, teamwork, motivation, and determination. A lively, passionate, and engaging speaker, she knows firsthand about the key roles that teamwork, determination, and great leadership play at the most challenging times.

Tickets for the dinner are $75 each or $600 for a table of eight. The evening will include a live and silent auction to raise funds to help both institutions support female varsity programs and athletic awards. For more information or for tickets, contact Lynn Boudreau at (902)566-0991 or lboudreau@upei.ca, or Nadine Stavert at 566-6977 or nrstavert@hollandc.pe.ca.

The public is invited to attend a presentation called 'Access of students with learning disabilities to higher education: Issues and Solutions' by Dr. Carla DiGiorgio on March 7, at 4:30 p.m., in the Main Building, Room 040, at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI).

The Social Economy and Sustainability Research Network, Subnode 2: Inclusion and Empowerment, based at the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI, is hosting the presentation.

DiGiorgio is working with research colleagues from UPEI and Holland College, as well as the Learning Disabilities Association of PEI, to find out about barriers and challenges facing adults with learning challenges as they attempt to access postsecondary or basic education in P.E.I. The researchers are collecting data from instructors in these institutions and from various programs to discover where the challenges are for the programs themselves, and what practices can be shared and developed to increase support to adult learners.

DiGiorgio has been an assistant professor with the Faculty of Education at UPEI since 2005 and a research partner with the Social Economy since 2006. Her areas of research include inclusive education, learning disabilities, language and cultural studies, policy and school change, and gifted education. She has a PhD in Inclusive Education from the University of South Australia, and a Master of Arts in Education, Learning Difficulties and Administration from Saint Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

The Atlantic chapter of the Social Economy seeks to increase the region's capacity for a dynamic social economy built on partnerships, knowledge and networks by working with its peoples and community partners to meet their research needs and to influence policy at the provincial and municipal levels.

The goal for Subnode 2 is to bring community partners and academics together to conduct research and to hold information sessions focusing on the theme of inclusion and empowerment of marginalized people in the social economy of Atlantic Canada.

For more information, please contact the Institute of Island Studies at (902) 566-0377.