As they set off to showcase PEI to the world at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, members of the Confederation Centre Young Company proudly donned Panther T-shirts to celebrate their many connections as students, alumni, staff, and friends of the University of Prince Edward Island.

Other PEI artists being featured at Atlantic Canada House in Vancouver include Meaghan Blanchard, Lennie Gallant, Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold, Two Hours Traffic, Paper Lions, Catherine MacLellan, Chuck & Albert, Vishten, In-Flight Safety, John Connolly, Rose Cousins, Richard Wood, Gordon Belsher, The Grass Mountain Hobos and Brad Fremlin. Many are UPEI students and alumni, or they have close ties with the University through family and friends.

To read the Vancouver Sun's February 16 article about UPEI arts student Meaghan Blanchard, click here.

To view The Guardian's February 16 article about The Young Company, click here.

UPEI student Nicholas MacLeod has been named the 2010 Student Entrepreneur Prince Edward Island Champion by national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and program supporter, CIBC.

Since 2003, Nicholas has owned and operated Future Web Design, providing full service information technology services with a strong emphasis on customer service. Future Web Design provides clients with web development, hosting, domain registration, graphic design, photography and IT Technical Support. The company focuses mainly on small business by offering web development and IT services that are of high quality and add value to the company.

Nicholas's largest business accomplishments to date include being fully supported financially by the business, having a client base across the US and Canada including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and all Atlantic Provinces as well as having an average of 60 per cent growth in revenue over the past three years.

'For me personally the award provides additional inspiration. It has taken an incredible investment of time and personal sacrifice to bring my business to this point', says Nicholas. 'Being recognized brings incentive for me to continue to work hard, set and strive for larger goals.'

As a provincial champion, Nicholas will now move on to represent Prince Edward Island in the regional round of competition taking place at the 2010 ACE Regional Exposition in Halifax on February 26, 2010. Provincial champions will each present their business to a panel of entrepreneurs and industry professionals who will determine two regional champions. Each regional champion will receive a $1,000 cash prize and move on to the final round of competition at the 2010 ACE National Exposition in Calgary on May 12, 2010. The national champion will receive a $10,000 cash prize and represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.

'With today's ever changing economic situation ACE is thrilled to continue to celebrate the achievements of young entrepreneurs who are simultaneously attending University or College, explains ACE president Amy Harder. These dedicated individuals will no doubt drive the Canadian economy for years to come.'

About ACE
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable not-for-profit organization that is teaching and 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 a team based program, Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and an individual based program, Student Entrepreneur. Due to direct involvement with ACE, students move on to become entrepreneurs and business leaders who will make a meaningful contribution towards a better Canada.

CIBC became a founding corporate sponsor of ACE in 1995 and has sponsored the Student Entrepreneur Competition since its inception in 1997.

Media release courtesy of ACE

There will be a free public screening of the film Awra Amba, followed by a discussion, on Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in the Main Building Faculty Lounge at UPEI.

This screening is the Canadian premiere of the film, which is currently being distributed to film festivals world-wide. Cindy Hanson, of the UPEI Faculty of Education, has worked in Awra Amba and will facilitate the discussion after the showing.

Awra Amba is an unusual and remarkable place situated in a rural, food insecure region of Ethiopia. The community has developed around goals of equality, hard work and non-violence. It demonstrates these goals by using local, indigenous knowledge in unique ways which include a culture of weaving, use of local building materials, and promotion of equality between men and women, and education for all.

Despite a history of persecution and personal strife, the community continues to grow, manage and operate in ways that model sustainability, caring and community development. As Zuma, one of the community leaders, says, 'We have to find ways of living and working together, and that is what Awra Amba is all about.'

In a global world searching for models of equality and development, Awra Amba provides an unusual example. While world governments try to build millennium development villages, for example, Awra Amba provides an example without external aid.

A trailer for the film can be previewed on Write This Down Productions' website or at www.awraamba.com

This screening is supported by WUSC, Cooper Institute, PEI Women's Network, CUSO-VSO, Women's Studies (UPEI) and UPEI Centre for Education Research.

Two of Canada's most popular, gutsy and gripping poets, Jeanette Lynes and Douglas Burnet Smith, will read on Thursday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m., in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. Both teach literature and creative writing at St. Francis Xavier University.

Lynes' highly accessible, entertaining, and street-savvy poetry, and her vibrant performances, have earned her a nation-wide following. From The Aging Cheerleader's Alphabet (2003), to It's Hard Being Queen: The Dusty Springfield Poems (2008) and The New Blue Distance (2009), her poetry animates and grapples with issues familiar to us all, and in a language, voice and perspective that's delightfully feisty and sassy.

Her first novel, The Factory Voice (2009), long-listed for the Giller Prize, is set in Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay), during the Second World War. The main character is based on one of Canada's most extraordinary women, Elsie McGill, a.k.a. Queen of the Hurricane, Canada's first female aeronautic engineer, who helped convert Canada Car and Foundry into a Hawker Hurricane fighter-jet factory.

Douglas Burnet Smith has published 12 volumes of poetry. His latest book is Sister Prometheus: Discovering Madame Curie. His Voices from a Farther Room was nominated for the Governor General's Award. The Killed (2000) is inspired by visits to the former Yugoslavia, and what he learned about the ravages and aftermath of the recent wars in that region.

The strong appeal of Smith's poetry results from its finely-honed intensity, unsparing honesty about its subjects and the poet himself, and stunning ironies. His poetry resonates with a potent moral vision, a remarkable awareness of humanity's capacity to veer between benevolence and brutality, love and hate, sublime creation and wanton destruction, wisdom and folly.

This event is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. Admission is free, and a reception will follow.

Members of the public are invited to attend presentations in March by candidates for the position of Director of Environmental Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Dr. Carolyn Peach-Brown of the University of Guelph will give a presentation called 'Community-University: Partners for Sustainability' on Monday, March 1, from 7 - 8:30 p.m., in the Atlantic Veterinary College, Lecture Theatre A.

The world today is faced with socio-ecological challenges related to climate change, deforestation, dependence on fossil fuels, over fishing, soil nutrient depletion and increasing disparity between the rich and the poor. Addressing the challenges requires an integrated approach that draws on a broad range of knowledge from government, differing sectors, non-governmental organizations and members of local communities. Drawing on her 20 years of work and research experience in Africa and more recently at the University of Guelph, Peach-Brown will show that universities have a pivotal role to play in fostering integration of the knowledge needed to equip society to meet these challenges.

On Monday, March 8, at 8 p.m., Dr. Kate Sherren of Australian National University (ANU) will give a talk called 'Integrating conservation and production: Beyond protected areas for sustainable grazing in Australia.' Sherren's talk will take place in the Atlantic Veterinary College, Lecture Theatre A.

In the 19th century, all but 15 per cent of Australia's temperate grazing land was cleared of its tree cover, with the biggest trees often left standing to provide shade for livestock. Today, those trees are dying, and the country faces a future bereft of scattered trees and the ecosystem services they provide. Current government policies and incentives prioritize the preservation of large patches and the planting of strips of trees. Sherren will discuss ANU's sustainable farms project, which worked with local graziers to confirm the scale of scattered tree decline and its risks, and to identify management options that may provide positive outcomes for tree restoration and agricultural production. The project holds lessons for integrative, participatory research with stakeholder communities and conservation policy.

Dr. Alison Neilson of University of the Azores, Portugal, will present 'Environmental Justice--Creative Collaborations for Challenging Stories' on Thursday, March 18, from 7-8:30 p.m., in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre.

Neilson will explore the relevance of environmental justice to research, teaching and community development in PEI. She will also examine how seeking environmental justice can support innovative collaboration for dealing with complex environmental issues on islands, drawing from her research with environmental educators from Brazil, Iran, Colombia, Tanzania, Paraguay, and Canada; and fishers in the Azores, Portugal and outport Newfoundland. She will highlight concrete examples of practices that seek environmental justice and engage the audience in short activities for overcoming barriers of language and drawing out multiple perspectives.

For more information about these presentations, please contact Dr. Pamela Courtenay-Hall, UPEI Philosophy Department and Environmental Studies Program, at (902) 894-2838 or pcourtenay@upei.ca.

A Magnificent Gift Declined, published by the Institute of Island Studies last fall, has won the prestigious Publication of the Year Award for 2009 from the PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation.

The award was shared with the book's author, Leonard Cusack, and presented at the annual Heritage Awards evening held recently in Summerside. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the preservation of the heritage of Prince Edward Island.

A Magnificent Gift Declined is the story of PEI's first hospital for treating tuberculosis, built in 1913 by Charles Dalton with his own money, and on his own land in Emyvale. He donated the state-of-the-art Dalton Sanatorium to the province of PEI to run but it was later expanded by the federal government to accommodate 75 beds for soldiers returning from WWI.

In 1923, only ten years after it was begun, the Dalton Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis was totally demolished without a whimper despite PEI being in the midst of a severe TB epidemic. This book is the story of the provincial and federal political manoeuvrings which caused that to happen.

Described by historian Francis Bolger as "a wonderful read", and including a foreword by folklorist John Cousins, the well-crafted 168-page paperback contains many archival photos and a bibliography.

A Magnificent Gift Declined is available through Island Studies Press, the publishing arm of the Institute of Island Studies, at a cost of $29.95. Contact Joan Sinclair at (902) 566-0386 or e-mail: ispstaff@groupwise.upei.ca.

Tonight's presentation at UPEI by Monique Collette, President of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), has been postponed. Further details will be announced at a later date.

In the spring of 2009, at the request of the Clerk of the Privy Council, Ms. Collette conducted a one-person task force to explore ideas and practical approaches that were having a positive impact on the workplace environment and the effectiveness of the public service of Canada. She met with public servants from various departments and agencies in all regions of the country. It gave her an opportunity to hear employees speak with passion and commitment about the kind of public service in which they want to work and what they are doing to create that workplace.

In her presentation, Ms. Collette shares stories drawn from those consultations, and outlines insights and lessons learned that are valuable to all leaders who wish to spark passion and purpose in their workplaces.

This session is jointly sponsored by ACOA, UPEI, and the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace at Saint Mary's University. Parking is available in the lots immediately to the north of the KCI. For more information, contact Ken DesRoches at kdesroches@upei.ca.

Darryl McDaniel, president and owner of U&Me Marketing Inc., will be the guest speaker at the UPEI Business Society's 33rd annual luncheon on Friday, March 5.

The luncheon will take place at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel, starting with a reception at 11 a.m. Tickets are $55 per person. Tables of eight or ten can also be purchased.

McDaniel will talk about understanding consumers, where they shop, and delivering what they want.

McDaniel has been on the cutting edge of category development throughout his career. Starting in an entrepreneurial family with a Pepsi franchise, he was one of the first marketers to working on launching the bottled water category in Canada. Working for Danone, he soon realized that consumers want to be connected with a brand.

His latest venture is U&Me Marketing, a system designed to extend brands into new markets where they can benefit from exposure. Some of the companies he works with are Mattel, Topps Corporation, 4kids Entertainment and Red Nose Brands.

For information or tickets, please contact the UPEI Business Society at (902) 566-0407 or upeibusinesssociety@gmail.com by March 1. People who have extra seats at their tables may donate them to business students who will join them for the luncheon.

The Tourism Research Centre in the School of Business at UPEI has released its fifteenth and final report based on the results for the 2007-2008 visitor exit survey. This report gives an overall snapshot of PEI's visitors segmented in a variety of ways and summarizes the findings of the previous reports.

'The exit survey provides a wealth of information for government and tourism operators,' stated Dr. Sean Hennessey, Faculty Director of the Tourism Research Centre. 'The survey was designed to be comprehensive enough to gather an incredible amount of information without being overwhelming to the visitor. This report was designed to present the results of the exit survey in numerous figures and tables, and allows the reader to gain a solid understanding of PEI's visitors in a relatively short time.'

Exit surveys are large projects that are generally completed only every four years or so. The 2007-2008 exit survey has created a benchmark to which future survey results can be compared. The survey provided visitors with a relatively easy means to provide feedback to Tourism PEI and the industry.

The report emphasizes the importance of the neighbouring provinces, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and travel parties who come to visit family and friends. 'Almost 65 percent of PEI's travel parties come from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, and half of those travel parties visit family or friends while here,' says Dr. Hennessey. 'Likewise, when segmenting our market by their primary activities, we find 37 percent of travel parties coming to PEI could be classified as a ‘visiting friends and family' segment.'

The report summarizes the findings by origin, first-time and repeat travel parties, entry-exit point (bridge, ferry, airport), party composition (e.g., families, couples, seniors), spending levels, activities, and accommodation type used.

Of the 1.2 million visitors, 1.05 million were overnight pleasure travellers. July and August alone accounted for 51 percent of all visitors to PEI. The total direct expenditures by overnight pleasure travel parties for the full survey period was $314.6 million. Almost 80 percent of the 366,300 overnight pleasure travel parties had been to PEI before. Unlike repeat travel parties, first-time travel parties tended to stay for a shorter period; spend more; stay in hotels, motels or resorts, or inns, B&Bs or tourist homes; and overnight in Charlottetown.

Those visiting can be divided into four types of travel parties. At 30 percent each, families and seniors groups accounted for the largest percentage of travel parties. Two adults (excluding senior couples) made up 25 percent of travel parties, and other travel parties, such as single travellers, groups of three or more adults, and children only, made up 15 percent.

Average spending per party per night was segmented into four levels of spending on a per party per night basis: very low (21 percent spent less than $100 per party per night);below average (41 percent spent between $100-$250); average (27 percent spent between $250-$450); and high (11 percent spent $450 or more). Very-low and below-average spending travel parties tended to be older couples from the two other Maritime provinces who made frequent visits to PEI. High expenditure travel parties consisted of people taking a quick tour of PEI. Their stays were short, and they spent fewer of their travel nights in PEI. They were the most likely to visit in the main season (54.2 percent) and the fall shoulder season (20.9 percent).

Of the total nights stayed in PEI, 26 percent were spent in a cottage or cabin, and 24 percent were spent with friends or relatives. Although many were open year round, only 17 percent of the nights visitors spent in PEI were at hotels, motels or resorts. About 16 percent of nights were spent at camping or trailer parks, and seven percent at inns, B&Bs or tourist homes. Travel parties staying at two or more types of accommodations accounted for eight percent of the nights spent in PEI. The average length of stays in cottages or cabins, camping or trailer parks, and at the homes of friends or relatives were longer than stays in hotels, motels or resorts, or inns or B&Bs or tourist homes.

Charlottetown and Anne's Land were the two most popular regions for overnight stays. About 36 percent of travel parties stayed at least one night in Charlottetown. Twenty-seven percent stayed at least one night in Anne's Land, and 10 percent stayed at least one night in the Points East Coastal region. Stays in some regions were longer than in others, so Anne's Land accounted for 33 percent of all nights spent in PEI while Charlottetown accounted for 27 percent of total nights.

This report is based on exit survey data collected from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. It is available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website. More 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.