Canadian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina visits UPEI January 20

January 15, 2009

David Hutchings, Ambassador of Canada to Bosnia and Herzegovina, will discuss career opportunities in the Foreign Service during a public presentation at the University of Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, January 20, at 4 p.m. in the Main Building Faculty Lounge.

During a presentation entitled 'A Career without Borders: Perspective from a Canadian Ambassador,' Hutchings will talk about his professional experience and the life of a Foreign Service officer. Prior to his lecture, he will participate in a question and answer period with UPEI students at noon in the political studies and philosophy lounge in Main Building.


Hutchings has most recently been chargé d'affaires at the Embassy of Canada in Sudan. He had previously been deputy head of mission in Cairo, and also served abroad at Canadian embassies in Seoul, Riyadh, Moscow and Bonn.

He has held desk positions with responsibility for bilateral aviation negotiations and the OECD. He has also been deputy director of Eastern and Central Europe Relations and coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Hutchings held positions at the National Capital Commission, Health Canada, Canadian Heritage and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. In July 2006, he was appointed Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He holds a BA (Honours) from Memorial University of Newfoundland (1972); an LTCL, Trinity College of Music in London (1973); an MA, Université Laval (1975); and an MPA, Carleton University (1980).

UPEI aboriginal student centre officially opens on January 20

Aboriginal students attending the University of Prince Edward Island now have a place on campus they can call their own.

Located on the fifth floor of historic Dalton Hall, the Maoi Omi Aboriginal Student Centre will be officially opened on Tuesday, January 20, at 2 pm. The name Maoi Omi, which means gathering place-a place to share and support one another-in the Mi'kmaq language, was chosen after consulting aboriginal students and elders.

The Centre is a comfortable room where aboriginal students can study, relax, share with one another, host events, have talking circles, and receive any supports they need while attending UPEI. But it is more than a physical space.

Julie Bull, coordinator of the Centre, is passionate about the project. She is an aboriginal student who has completed her BA and Master's degree at UPEI, and is now working on her PhD through Dalhousie University.

'We are offering mentoring and support services to aboriginal students, such as tutoring, counselling, helping with course selection, or finding volunteer or work opportunities. I hope that by having a space we can call our own and getting involved in the campus community, we will encourage more aboriginal youth to attend UPEI.'

The Centre is part of a larger project funded by the federal government's Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative.

The overall project, led by Dr. Kimberly Critchley, Dean of Nursing, who is of Mi'kmaq descent, involves development of a transition program to increase non-financial support for aboriginal students and to ensure their success in completing their studies.

Through the project, P.E.I. aboriginal students Ashley Jadis and Stephanie Jadis, who are studying nursing at UPEI, will work with the provincial school system to ensure that aboriginal students are encouraged to continue their studies at the post-secondary level and that they know what courses they need to take in order to do so.

The project arose out of conversations between Critchley and Ashley and Stephanie about support systems that they believe would be useful to aboriginal students who want to study at UPEI.

'Our ultimate goal is to make changes and improvements at UPEI that will result in a significant increase in the number of aboriginal students attending UPEI,' says Critchley.

The PEI Department of Education, the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of PEI and the Webster Centre for Teaching and Learning at UPEI are partners in the 20-month project.

UPEI’s Tourism Research Centre issues latest report about online research panel

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) in the School of Business at the University of PEI is pleased to announce the release of a new report profiling members of the Traveller's Voice, an online panel designed to gather research about visitors to PEI. The panel was launched in April 2008 as one of the needs identified in meetings held with tourism industry stakeholders and the TRC in 2006.

'Tourism industry stakeholders have a variety of research needs and require answers in a timely manner, and many have a limited number of resources available,' says Dr. Sean Hennessey, Faculty Director of the TRC. 'There was a need to have a research platform that has the capability to handle many research requests without the high cost of the PEI Visitor Exit Survey. We are now in a position where we can collect data on a new PEI-related topic every three to four weeks. Although the Exit Survey brings in incredible amounts of data, we are now able to create an ongoing dialogue with visitors and really explore niche markets and very specific research questions.'

The Traveller's Voice allows all stakeholders in the industry, from the private and public sectors, to suggest questions or topics that can then be asked to a large sample of travellers (approximately 8,000 panel members at present). Members are contacted every three to four weeks as new studies are launched. In general, the response rate for panels is about 35-40 per cent, so a relatively large sample can be collected rapidly at relatively little cost.

The first report being released is based on the survey completed by panel members when they initially join the Traveller's Voice. This report details results collected from the panel's launch in April until early September. In order to join the panel, members must have visited PEI on a pleasure trip of at least one night within the past five years, not be a permanent resident of PEI, and be at least 18 years of age. Upon meeting these criteria, members are asked to provide basic demographic information about themselves, and a brief history of their travel patterns to PEI.

'This profiling survey is critical to demonstrate that the panel offers valid research results,' said Dr. Hennessey. 'We know that the members making up the panel population are very similar to the profiles of visitors to PEI as found in the Exit Survey.'

Some of the more interesting results of the profiling survey include:

1. The Traveller's Voice is composed of many avid travellers. Those who had taken a trip of four or more nights had actually taken an average of 4.31 trips of four or more nights in the past two years. PEI was the most popular destination (16 per cent visited), followed by South Atlantic states (9 per cent), New England states (8 per cent), and Nova Scotia (8 per cent). PEI generally would not be the most popular destination among a random sample of travellers, but the panel is for recent visitors to PEI, and panel recruitment methods skew the PEI results.

2. Secondary home-owners and seasonal residents make up 3.4 per cent of the panel. Of those, 60.5 per cent are Canadian residents, and 38.0 per cent are US residents. Over half (52.2 per cent) spend two to four weeks in PEI per year, and almost one-fifth (18.2 per cent) spend more than nine weeks in PEI in a year.

3. Almost half (48.1 per cent) of panel members who do not own a second home in PEI have been to PEI only once in the past five years. However, 16.6 per cent had visited PEI at least five times in the past five years.

The full report is available on the TRC's website at www.trc.upei.ca or directly at http://www.trc.upei.ca/files/Panel_Members_Profile-November_2008.pdf. For further information regarding the research completed by the TRC and for copies of all reports released, please visit the TRC's website, email us at trc@upei.ca, or call (902) 566-6096.

Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island research projects receive $6.2 million in AIF funding

Three research projects led by the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island received a significant boost this week during ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) announcements. Approximately $6.2 million in AIF funding was committed in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick to three projects that will benefit human and animal health, while strengthening industries in Atlantic Canada.
The three Atlantic Veterinary College-led UPEI initiatives to receive AIF funding are:
  • Healthy Fish, Healthy Environment, Healthy Food
  • Cell-based Therapies for the Promotion of Musculoskeletal Tissue Healing in Veterinary Regenerative Medicine
  • Biomed Atlantic - Innovative Solutions for New Drug Development
'The University of Prince Edward Island and Atlantic Veterinary College continue to be strongly focused on research and innovation that benefits our society,' said Dr. Katherine Schultz, Vice President of Research Development at UPEI. 'We are very appreciative to be recipients within this round of AIF funding and are excited by the possibilities our research projects bring in terms of advancing scientific knowledge and strengthening our region.'
Summaries of the projects are outlined below.
This project, which was announced in New Brunswick on January 19, 2008, will research and develop ways to reduce infection and disease in salmon aquaculture in the Atlantic Region, thereby improving fish health management practices and reducing fish losses across the industry.
With the development of the project, the AVC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences will advance health management research within Canadian aquaculture and aquatic epidemiology globally to an unprecedented level. The project, with estimated costs of $5 million, will receive $2.5 million in AIF funding and matching funds from the Atlantic provinces over a five-year period. Other project funders include Cooke Aquaculture Inc., Admiral Fish Farms, and Northern Harvest Sea Farms.
AVC's Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences is regarded as a world leader in aquatic health sciences and epidemiology. Where the two disciplines overlap is a particular expertise of the centre.
The Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI is placing a growing emphasis on innovation and education through its Cell-based Therapies project. The project will result in the development of new cell-based therapies - bone therapy and soft tissue therapy - in the hope of accelerating the promotion of tissue regeneration of bone and ligament in injured horses and companion animals.
The development of these methods for treating musculoskeletal injury will further advance the field of veterinary regenerative medicine and build critical research mass inveterinary regenerative medicine in Atlantic Canada. The project, with estimated costs of $3.3 million, will receive $2.1 million in AIF funding over four years.
The Atlantic Veterinary College currently offers stem-cell therapy for horses across Canada.
The objective of Biomed Atlantic is to create, use and patent unique and clinically relevant animal models of seizure disorders, stroke, schizophrenia and cognitive dysfunction for broader drug evaluation.
The creation of Biomed Atlantic will fill a gap in the innovation process for pre-clinical drug development in PEI. Using complex, specialized and clinically relevant animal models to provide late stage screening, Biomed Atlantic will provide the highest standard animal efficacy data required for companies to make decision on whether to finance and fund the regulatory stage testing needed to take these compounds to human clinical trials.
A significant amount of Biomed Atlantic's work will be carried out through the Atlantic Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research, a multi-user state-of-the-art research facility at the Atlantic Veterinary College. The project, with estimated costs of $12.5 million, will receive $1.6 million in AIF funding over four years.

UPEI’s MBA program hosts public event about local food market February 7


Students in the University of Prince Edward Island's executive-style Master of Business Administration program will explore the topic of local food during a public event in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium, McDougall Hall, on Saturday, February 7.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. a panel of experts will present a local food challenge to the MBA students, who will be asked to come up with a solutions, using the analytical and creative skills they have developed in their current course in marketing management. Audience members will then have the opportunity to share their perceptions about local food.

Members of the panel are Tim Carroll, associate professor at the UPEI School of Business; Phil Ferraro, Institute of Bioregional Studies; Jerry Gavin, P.E.I. Department of Agriculture; and Rob Paterson, The Renewal Consulting Group Inc.

Carroll says that he selected the local food theme for his marketing course and for the event because he feels it involves a marketing problem rather than a production issue.

Local food describes the emerging trend among consumers to purchase locally produced food. Although consumers show a preference for locally produced food, the present system of distributing and marketing food is not capable of satisfying consumers' desires for local food.

'The biggest challenge for local food is to market it in a way that satisfies consumers' preferences for price, quality, convenience and availability,' says Carroll. 'No business plans are in place to take local food beyond just being a ‘Saturday morning' novelty.'

Following the panel discussion, the MBA students will convene into groups to prepare their responses to the local food challenge. Those interested can hear their presentations, starting at 3:00 p.m. in the Alex MacKinnon Auditorium.

Launched in September 2008, the executive-style MBA provides Islanders with a unique opportunity to pursue their graduate studies while continuing to work. It employs an integrated approach, peer-to-peer learning and an emphasis on developing global perspectives to prepare graduates to act as leaders and innovators in an ever-changing business environment.

This event is an opportunity for the students to connect with the Island community on local issues, as well as a chance for the public to see McDougall Hall, UPEI's newest state-of-the-art teaching facility and home of the School of Business.

For more information, please call Grace McCourt at 566-6474 or e-mail at gmccourt@upei.ca. Light refreshments will be provided.

UPEI celebrates International Development Week February 2 to 6

The University of Prince Edward Island's eighth annual International Development Week, which will be held from February 2 to 6, will explore the theme of women in development through a variety of speakers and activities.

The week begins on Monday, February 2, with a research symposium presented by graduate students in the Masters of Island Studies program, at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), Lecture Theatre A, at 1:30 p.m. Simone Webster-Stahel will give a presentation on the Caribbean island of Dominica; Dolores Levangie on Chiloe Island, Chile; and Matt Funk on St Vincent and the Grenadines.

On Tuesday, February 3, at 7 p.m., Michael Wheatley-Daoust, who did a CUSO/VSO environmental internship in El Salvador, will open a showing of the film Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth), in AVC Lecture Theatre A. The film deals with a popular uprising by thousands of housewives in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. This event is hosted by WUSC and CUSO-VSO with CUPE, and sponsored by ACIC.

Popular Canadian hypnotist and comedian Scott Ward will perform in the Duffy Science Centre's lecture theatre on Wednesday, February 4, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 each or two for $20. To reserve seats, call Ashley Jadis or Stephanie Jadis at 620-5126.
A celebration of the life of the late Ralph Hazleton will take place in the Chaplaincy Centre at 4 p.m. on February 4. A former UPEI faculty member, Hazelton was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Canadian government for his work with Rwandan refugees in Zaire and was nominated with others for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the "blood diamonds" issue.

A student symposium on women in development will be held on Thursday, February 5, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the W.A. Murphy Centre's McMillan Hall. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, will be the guest speaker. As well, local organizations involved in international issues and ethical consumption will set up information booths.

In the evening, people are invited to bring their voices and musical instruments to a free 'Global Jam' from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 142 in the New Residence. This event is organized by UPEI, the PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada and the Coopérative d'intégration francophone de l'Î.-P.-É. For more information, contact Nancy Clement at nancy@peianc.com or 628-6009.

The week concludes on Friday, February 6, with two events. A fundraising lunch for the UPEI Dr. Vianne Timmons International Award Fund will be held at the Rodd Royalty Inn at noon. Tickets for the meal are sold out, but interested people may come to hear Taulis-Corpuz speak at 1 p.m.

And the UPEI International Development Committee will host an International Night at The Wave in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. This event includes a sweatshop fashion show, the Quantum Cats band, trivia and live international performances. The cost is $3 per person with proceeds to go towards the UPEI Dr. Vianne Timmons International Award Fund.

For more information, please visit www.upei.ca/internationalization or contact Emily Gorman at edeighan@upei.ca or (902) 566-0576.

New voices from down east

The wealth of downeast literary talent keeps growing. Two dazzling new fiction writers, Libby Creelman from St. John's and Ian Colford from Halifax, will be featured in the Winter's Tales Authors Series on Thursday, February 5, at 7:30, in Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Their reading is co-sponsored by the Gallery and UPEI Department of English.
Creelman's first book, Walking in Paradise, a collection of short stories, was shortlisted for the first annual Winterset Award for excellence in Newfoundland writing. Her much-anticipated first novel, The Darren Effect, is a finely rendered portrait of both the physical and psychological effects of grief.
Heather Welbourne grieves secretly for the married man she loves. He is dying of cancer, and his wife and son cannot accept the loss, or forgive his betrayals. Into their small coastal community arrives Darren, a scientist consumed with the lives of seabirds. His unusual habits and knowledge of nature transform Heather's and others' lives. Shockingly funny, The Darren Effect vibrates with memorable characters, intimately recognizable in their struggle with self-mastery and desire.
The Globe and Mail writes, "Creelman is concerned with affirming life, even though she is well aware of how death lives among us. The novel marries the tragic and comic to wonderful effect in developing the complexity of ordinary lives."
Ian Colford, a librarian at Dalhousie University who has traveled extensively in Europe and Turkey, draws on his journeys for his first book of stories. Evidence is a sequence of adventures and reminiscences by a single narrator, Kostandin Birtri, a wanderer uprooted by war from an eastern European country. As he moves to Western Europe and then North America, searching for a home and his identity, he relates his encounters with brutality and corruption, but also with kindness and generosity.
These are writers we will hear a good deal more about in the future. Meet them and hear their compelling writing on February 5th in Charlottetown.

Island university’s supporters contribute $52,236,859 to build a legacy

At a public celebration to mark the accomplishments of the most ambitious private-sector fundraising campaign in the University of Prince Edward Island's history, President Wade MacLauchlan thanked UPEI's supporters for contributing a total of $52,236,859, well above the campaign's $50 million target.
"This Campaign has been an exhilarating effort," said President MacLauchlan. "The most impressive result is that we have done it ourselves; more than 90 per cent of the giving to the Campaign has come from people with long-time, close associations with UPEI and PEI. This spectacular achievement has come from our own hearts and pockets, and from our commitment to build a legacy through a great university.'
The Building a Legacy campaign was launched in April 2003. Since then, more than 250 new undergraduate and graduate student scholarships and awards have been created. UPEI has strengthened its support programs for student success through services such as the Webster Centre for Teaching and Learning. Access to electronic library resources has substantially increased, and student health and wellness programs have been expanded. In addition, major academic and research facilities have been upgraded or replaced, including extensive renovations of the Duffy Science Centre, construction of a new School of Business and Centre for Life-Long Learning, and extensions to the Atlantic Veterinary College.
Matthew Morrison, Student Union Vice-President, summarized the impact of donor support this way: 'Every UPEI student has benefitted. Every year we have enjoyed major improvements in programs, facilities, and services that have made a real difference to the quality of our education, and provided a real boost to our sense of pride in UPEI.'
Fred Hyndman, chair of the first phase of the Building a Legacy campaign, and the current chair of the UPEI Board of Governors, thanked the dedicated volunteers whose combined efforts were integral to the campaign's success. Hyndman offered a special tribute to the thousands of private individuals who have shown their commitment to university education in Prince Edward Island through their generous gifts.
'Every donor to our University in the past, the present, and the future, can take pride in every student achievement, every research discovery, and every campus improvement,' said Hyndman. "As we move forward, UPEI will continue to attract, and will require, continued donor support to enable our Island university to do extraordinary things.'

UPEI Alumni name gets high profile on campus

Alumni of the University of Prince Edward Island now have a place on campus that bears their name. The impressive outdoor athletics facility constructed for the 2009 Canada Games is now officially called the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place in honour of the thousands of people who are, or will be, proud graduates of UPEI.

The UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place features a 400-metre track with eight competition lanes on an artificial surface, with seating for more than 1200 spectators. The track surrounds a natural grass infield called MacAdam Field. The new facility will be a major competition venue and the site for the closing ceremonies for the Canada Games in August.

Thanks to the support of 50 alumni who have already pledged $1000 a year for five years, the UPEI Alumni Association has raised enough funds to secure the naming rights. The official naming announcement took place on centre ice at the MacLauchlan Arena just before the puck dropped at the start of the men's hockey game between the UPEI Panthers and UNB on February 13.

'This appeal has drawn great interest from our alumni,' says past-president of the Alumni Association, Phil MacDougall, who is spearheading the special appeal. 'We are proud to participate as a group at this leadership level. It is exciting to note that those who have taken part so far span 61 class years, from 1948 to 2009. We look forward to having more alumni participate to help achieve our goal for the future benefit of our student athletes and the whole university community.'

Wayne Carew, vice president of the 2009 Canada Games and Friends of the Games division, the arm of the Games charged with raising funds, says, 'As both a UPEI alumnus and a member of the 2009 Canada Games Host Society, it means a great deal to me to see my alma mater joining in partnership with the Games through the naming of this wonderful facility.'

Joseph Spriet, president of the Games, added, 'We are so thrilled to have a partner on board like UPEI and we look forward to continue working with them as we move closer to August. UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place will provide a lasting legacy to future Island athletes.'

As part of the appeal, a 2008 Trius bus was branded for Panther athletics teams to travel to out-of-town games. The exterior has been completely transformed using high-impact colour images of Panther athletes in action. Inside, the bus has wireless internet access to allow student athletes to work on their studies while travelling.

The Alumni Association needs 50 additional $5000 pledges to reach the final goal of the appeal: to create new scholarships for UPEI athletes who will act as community ambassadors for UPEI. The names of all donors at this leadership level will appear on a recognition piece at UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place. To find out who has participated so far, or to make a pledge, visit upei.ca/alumni or call (902) 566-0761.

Social activist and author Maude Barlow to give public lecture at UPEI on March 4

Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, will give a public lecture called 'The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Fight for the Right to Water' on Wednesday, March 4, in the UPEI Duffy Science Centre's amphitheatre (Room 135), from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Barlow is co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the right to water. 'The world is running out of clean water,' she says. 'This growing water shortage is perhaps the greatest ecological and human threat of our time and will affect two thirds of the planet by 2050.'
She will explain the impact of the crisis, especially on women, and give a recipe for a water-secure future and for hope. She will also discuss what she calls 'Canada's shameful position against the right to water for the world's poor.'
Barlow serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization, and Food and Water Watch, as well as a councilor on the Hamburg-based World Future Council. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, the 2005-2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, and the 2005 Right Livelihood Award, known as the 'Alternative Nobel,' for her global water justice work. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of 16 books, including Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World's Water and the recently released Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
For more information, please contact Emily Gorman, UPEI Internationalization Office, at (902) 566-0576 or edeighan@upei.ca.
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