It was announced today that head coach Carly Clarke has added Danielle MacDonald, Marie-Christine Parent, and Amy Gough to the UPEI women's basketball roster for the upcoming 2010-11 season.

MacDonald, a 5'4' guard from Memorial High School in Sydney, Cape Breton is sure to create havoc on the defensive end. A feisty and energetic player, she is a great ‘on ball' defender who isn't afraid to be physical-she took 32 charges in 33 games for Memorial while averaging 12.8 points per game this season. 'Danielle is a high-energy and very competitive player. I expect her to have a positive influence on the entire team both in practice and on game day,' stated coach Clarke.

MacDonald added, 'I am very excited to be attending UPEI and playing with the Panthers this season. I have toured the UPEI campus-the facilities are first-rate, the school has an excellent reputation, and the community is very friendly, very much like home. As I leave Cape Breton Island, it will be reassuring to be moving to another Island.'

A 5'9' guard from CEGEP de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Parent adds another strong outside shooter to the line-up, who is also hoped to bring composure to the floor for the otherwise young Panther squad. Parent averaged 9 points in 32 minutes per game for the Sherbrooke Volontaires this season. 'Coming from a college conference, ‘M.C.' has a high level of experience that will be invaluable to our first-year players coming right out of high school,' said Clarke.

Gough is a 5'10' wing player from Bishop's College High School, St. John's, Newfoundland, and is a strong athlete with the ability to run the floor and get to the rim. Clarke added, 'Amy will bring some much-needed size, strength and athleticism at the wing position. Her ability should create numerous scoring opportunities for herself and teammates.' Gough was a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Canada Games contingent that finished sixth last summer at the 2009 Canada Games.

MacDonald will enter the Faculty of Arts, while Gough and Parent will begin study in the Faculty of Science this September.

UPEI has announced the winners of its recent online contest, ‘Win with UPEI', that handed out $10,000-originally slated to purchase advertising-in bursaries, as well as other prizes.

The Faculty of Education received 2,519 votes out of 10,495 total votes, and received the largest proportion of bursary dollars-$2,402. Veterinary Medicine was a close second, receiving $2,382. The remainder of the $10,000 was divvied amongst the Faculties of Science, Nursing, Arts, and Business as well as University 100 and the Department of Athletics.

The ‘Win with UPEI' contest website asked visitors to vote on their favourite student project, with faculties receiving a percentage of bursary dollars based on the percentage of votes cast. A second component allowed anyone with a connection to the university to enter a story, photo or video online for a chance to win prizes.

In the second part of the contest, UPEI student Nan Zhao won ‘Best Entry' for her story called My Sweet Moments with UPEI. Judged by a panel of four, her submission recounted her first moments on the UPEI campus and how excited she was to be a part of the campus community after moving to PEI from China.

'I enjoy [sic] every single moment staying at UPEI because it is so graceful, friendly and warm, just like a big family that welcomes people from all backgrounds and interests,' she wrote. Zhao was thrilled to find out she had won the $1,000 prize.

Rita Stanley won $1,000 for having the ‘Most Referred Entry' while Heather MacSwain's entry was selected in a random draw for $500. Both women are UPEI employees. Other random draws took place for a stuffed toy version of the UPEI Panther Mascot, Pride.

Glenda Clements, Director of Integrated Communications, said, 'UPEI is proud of our students, faculty and staff and their local, national and international community involvement. It's fitting that a personal university like UPEI would encourage conversation and storytelling while providing an opportunity to support the further good work of community members.'

'This contest was the best idea,' added Tim Goddard, Dean of Education. 'It certainly encouraged friendly competition among the faculties and we engaged everyone to tell their good news. While it hasn't been finalized, the bursary dollars coming to the Faculty of Education will assist students interested in pursuing community projects at home and around the world.'

For complete results, visit upei.me.

UPEI's website saw a 50% increase in hits on Tuesday, July 13 after receiving about a minute and a half of dedicated airtime from Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa during a live broadcast of the Live! with Regis and Kelly show from the Charlottetown waterfront.

The internationally-syndicated talk show is typically broadcast from the Disney-ABC studios in New York, but was on location on PEI for four episodes.

During the start of Tuesday's show, during what is called the 'host chat', Kelly Ripa hoisted her UPEI coffee mug and said the province had a great university, while Philbin jokingly commented on how the 'UPEI Panther' stuffed toy he received kept him 'up all night'. The duo added that, this week, the Atlantic Veterinary College was hosting their award-winning summer vet camp, and that Ripa was thinking about sending her kids next year.

The comments came as a result of small gift packages and personalized letters to Ripa and Philbin hand-delivered to their hotel earlier in the week.

Increased visits to upei.ca, inquiries to AVC concerning vet camp, and emails congratulating UPEI on the positive exposure all highlight the boost in awareness that UPEI received via inclusion on the show.

To see the host chat for Tuesday, July 13 featuring UPEI, click here.

UPEI's Tourism Research Centre (TRC) recently released research results suggesting that 91 per cent of visitors to PEI tend to visit a historic site, museum, or art gallery when travelling. Overall, respondents felt that PEI attractions were interesting, informative, and a worthwhile venture on their holiday.

The survey was completed by 3,201 people, 2,807 of whom had previously visited PEI. Two thirds of these visitors had visited one or more of PEI's historic sites, museums, or galleries during at least one of their trips to PEI during the past five years.

'This report contains a wide variety of valuable information about visitor attitudes towards PEI's historic sites, museums, and galleries,' said Harry Holman, Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries for the Province of PEI. 'The timing of this research is excellent as the Department of Tourism and Culture will be placing increased emphasis on cultural tourism beginning in 2011.'

About one-third of respondents to the survey were ‘high interest' visitors to historic sites, museums and art galleries. Another 44 per cent were ‘moderate interest' visitors, meaning visiting these types of attraction was likely not the main reason to travel to a destination, but the availability of them play an important secondary role when travelling.

The most popular sites were Green Gables National Historic Site, site of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Cavendish home, Confederation Centre Gallery and Museum, and the Lucy Maud Montgomery birthplace.

When asked to rate the attractions, respondents scored the Public Archives of PEI highest, followed by Orwell Corner Historic Village, Province House National Historic Site, and Greenwich Interpretation Centre. They gave high evaluations of customer service, maintenance of the property, and authenticity of the sites, and an overall rating of 5.8 out of 7.

'Many sites that are not commonly visited received very good ratings by visitors,' said Holman. 'There is a wonderful opportunity to expand promotion for these venues to reach even more of our visitors and elevate their PEI experience. We are particularly pleased that so many visitors share Islanders' appreciation of historic buildings and cultural landscapes.'

'It was satisfying to learn that many visitors to PEI are interested in historic buildings,' said Dr. Sean Hennessey, faculty director of the TRC. 'Almost 80 per cent of survey respondents strolled around Charlottetown to look at the buildings and 62 per cent did so in the North Cape Coastal Drive region. This is quite noteworthy as historic buildings receive little promotion in the visitor's guide and walking-tour brochures are not always available. The fact that these activities were rated so highly implies that preserving historic sites and buildings is a sensible strategy for PEI to pursue.'

Most visitors used PEI's official Visitor's Information Guide, Tourism PEI's official website, or past experience in their decision to visit an attraction. In addition, many visitors reported that they simply stopped in as they were touring the area, highlighting the importance of good signage for historic sites, museums and galleries.

Data for this report was collected on behalf of Tourism PEI using the TRC's online research panel from November 20 to December 11, 2009. To read the full report, please visit the TRC's website. For more information about this or other TRC research, please contact trc@upei.ca or call (902)566-6096.

The Institute of Island Studies (IIS) at UPEI and the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of PEI are hosting a youth forum July 23-25 called ‘Youth on the Coast' that will educate and engage 40 young people who are interested in the ecology, culture, history and economy of coastal habitats and communities.

‘Youth on the Coast' will bring together young people from the Maritimes, Ontario, BC, and the USA, as well as students from other countries around the world. Young people from Hillsborough Helping Hands, Stratford Youth Can Do and the Native Council of PEI acted as advisors to forum coordinators and developed a lively and engaging weekend program.

The north shore of PEI will provide the backdrop-participants will spend time at the beach and village of South Rustico with the purpose of creating video messages about the opinions, needs and aspirations of youth who are living, or wanting to live and work, in coastal communities. These important messages will be shown at intervals during the Coastal Zone Canada 2010 conference, which runs from July 25-29 at UPEI.

‘Youth on the Coast' starts with a public welcoming ceremony at 12:30 pm, Friday, July 23 at Schurman Market Square, McDougall Hall, UPEI. Speakers will include Deputy Minister John MacQuarrie, PEI Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry, which is the main sponsor for the forum. Brandy Googoo of the Mi'kmaq Confederacy will welcome participants to Mi'kmaq territory and UPEI's new Vice President Academic Jim Randall, will welcome everyone to the campus.

The public is also invited to the forum's first session in lecture theatre 243, to hear presentations on a series of papers and view videos developed by some of the youth participants: young filmmaker Sarah Bood from New Brunswick will showcase her work on fisheries; Fogho Ikede will talk about a project he is involved in at the IIS, mapping values along the north shore of PEI; Jackie Kerry of the University of Moncton will talk about municipalities adapting to climate change; Mary Liston from University of Victoria and Tiffanie Rainville from Dalhousie University will each speak about how coastal communities in other parts of the world are preparing for climate change; and Alison Shott and Mitch O'Shea will show a video on the history of PEI's Southwest River, based on IIS research.

After the public seminar, the youth forum will proceed to South Rustico to work on their videos.

An advisory committee coordinated by the PEI Centre on Health and Aging at UPEI released details today about an Island-wide project called, 'Abuse of Older Adults Awareness - A PEI Network Response.'

The $100,000 project, funded by Human Resources and Skill Development Canada's ‘New Horizons for Seniors' program, aims to raise awareness about elder abuse, and promote a network where Island seniors can seek help, and professional service providers can connect.

Project coordinator and long time seniors' advocate, Olive Bryanton, said, 'We are hopeful this two-year program will achieve several goals, but one of our priority objectives is to create an atmosphere where professionals who practice in the area of elder abuse prevention and intervention can easily collaborate and interact with each other.' She added, 'This will lead to less duplication of effort as well as a greater opportunity to advance ideas into practical application.'

Bryanton works with an advisory committee made up of researchers, faculty, and experts who work with older adults and is comprised of representatives from the PEI Department of Community Services, Seniors and Labour, RCMP, PEI Seniors Safety Program, and the UPEI Centre for Life-Long Learning, Department of Family and Nutritional Sciences, and School of Nursing.

Dr. Wendy Verhoek-Oftedahl, a committee member and Family Violence Prevention and Community Development Coordinator with the Province of PEI said, 'It is important to have a coordinated approach when dealing with elder abuse. The Province recognizes that we have an aging population and abuse is an increasing reality. This funding will allow us to partner, be proactive, and deliver services vital to older adults.'

Other initiatives of the project include hosting two provincial planning forums to bring professionals and seniors together to plan the next steps and a training program to educate seniors to be spokespersons so they can provide abuse of older adult information to their peers and others in their communities. An asset map and analysis is currently being researched and will be used to identify services available and possible existing gaps.

For more information, visit www.upei.ca/~csha.

The Centre for Life-Long Learning at the University of Prince Edward Island is launching two new programs for the small- and medium-sized business community this September - Human Resource Essentials and Supervisory Essentials. The programs include courses such as Strategic Human Resource Planning, Recruitment and Selection, Employee Relations, Performance Management, Team Building and Communication Techniques, among others.

'Because the success of today's organizations resides in the abilities of its employees and the innovative capacity and ingenuity which they produce, how companies manage their greatest resource, their people, has become paramount,' says Jeanette MacAulay, director of the Centre for Life-Long Learning.

The programs have been developed specifically for the small- and medium-sized business community through consultations with industry sector councils, associations, and various Island businesses.

'The Information Technology Sector Council is pleased to partner in these programs with the Centre for Life-Long Learning. Businesses in our sector have expressed a need for training in these areas and we are looking forward to the sector reaping the rewards of a more highly skilled and managed workforce,' says Peter Lawlor, president of the IT Sector Council.

The human resource and supervisory programs will be delivered in Summerside, while the human resource program will have an additional offering in Charlottetown. Both are made possible through the support of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Innovation PEI.

For more information, please visit www.upei.ca/lifelonglearning or call (902)566-0336.

As a result of the recruiting efforts of current players, the UPEI women's field hockey team has at least ten new faces for the upcoming season. Eight PEI high school graduates and two first-year university students from off-Island are making UPEI their field hockey home this fall.

Head coach, Sheila Bell said, 'For the past four years, UPEI field hockey players have made an excellent effort to recruit PEI high school players. They have taught the National School Program, coached at a number of junior and senior high schools, and umpired a large number of PEISAA games-activities which have all influenced our recruits.' Due to this involvement and ‘playing it forward', UPEI has collected a group that includes PEISAA League All Stars, Tournament All Stars, MVPs and provincial champions.

The eight first-year players from PEI are Hillary Waugh from Three Oaks Senior High School; Michelle Clow from Bluefield High School; Jenna MacLellen, Victoria Leard, and Marcellaine Collings from Montague Regional High School; and Vanessa French, Eliza MacLaughlan, and Stephanie MacKinnon from Charlottetown Rural High School.

MacLauchlan, from the PEISAA championship-winning Charlottetown Rural squad, was a PEISAA League All Star and the PEISAA Provincial Tournament MVP for 2010. She said, 'I am extremely excited about attending UPEI and playing for the Field Hockey Panthers! I played with a number of UPEI players at the nationals in Victoria and that was a great experience.'

Also joining the Panthers will be first-year players, Nicole Babineau from Riverview, New Brunswick and Kristy Wu from, Calgary, Alberta. Wu played with the Alberta senior women's team that competed at the nationals earlier this summer.

Having won five AUS championships in the last six years, UPEI hopes this combination of new and former players will lead to further success regionally, and on to the OUA Championships. They will get their first chance to play as a team when they attend the McGill Field Hockey Tournament, August 27 to 29. 'If you want to compete at a higher level, the team must play OUA teams whenever possible, and this tourney provides that opportunity,' stated team manager Barb Carmichael.

Even with a solid start on the 2010 roster, the field hockey team welcomes all players to attend tryouts in September. Contact Carmichael at bcarmichael@eastlink.ca for more information.

UPEI has added two familiar names to its roster for the upcoming season, says UPEI men's hockey coach Forbes (Forbie) MacPherson.

'Randy Cameron and Matt Boyle, who are well known in hockey circles on the Island, have committed to the UPEI men's hockey program. When our coaching staff began to compile a list of possible recruits for the upcoming season, Matt and Randy were immediately placed at the top of our list. These two players were a priority for us and we are very excited that they have decided to commit to UPEI,' MacPherson said.

Cameron, son of Dave and Miriam Cameron of Clyde River finished last season with the Moncton Wildcats on a high. The 5'11', 190 lb centreman had a career-best 68 points (24-44) and added another 21 points (13-8) in the playoffs helping lead Moncton to the league title over the Saint John Sea Dogs. During his four years with the Wildcats, the 2007 fifth-round draft choice of Detroit (148th overall) scored 197 points (72-125).

'I was talking with a bunch of schools and UPEI came after me really hard,' Cameron said. 'It is nice to be wanted and they wanted me the most of all the schools that talked to me. I got a good feeling from Forbie that the team is heading in the right direction and looks to challenge for a championship.'

'I won a championship with Moncton and it would be great to win another championship at UPEI,' Cameron added. Randy Cameron

'Randy is a top-six forward that will make an immediate impact on our program. He was one of the most sought-after recruits in our conference. Of all of his strengths and qualities as a player, the one intangible that attracted us to Randy, is that he is a winner. Winning is contagious, and we expect Randy to bring that to our program,' MacPherson said.

Matt Boyle, the son of Geoff and Diane Boyle of West Royalty, played last year with the Lewiston Maineiacs of the QMJHL. He also played six play-off games for the Texas Brahmas of the CHL. The 6', 205 lb defenceman spent the three previous years with the Moncton Wildcats, playing with Cameron and UPEI goaltender Jhase Sniderman.Matt Boyle

'I starting talking with Forbie in the winter about coming to play at UPEI and I thought it would be a good move because I wanted to play in front of family on a regular basis,' Boyle said.

'The hockey program at UPEI has made a big jump recently and has become a contender in the AUS, and it looks like it will be a strong contender this year. That made my choice to play at home easier,' Boyle said.

'Matt epitomizes exactly what our coaching staff is looking for in any potential UPEI player. Matt is dedicated, hard working, and intense. He is a complete defenceman, who will be very tough to play against,' MacPherson said. 'Matt has some offensive upside, but will be relied on to be a shut-down guy and compete against other teams' top lines.'

Boyle, who hopes to become an accountant, played against Panther Mike McIssac in minor hockey and in the QMJHL, where he also played against forward Chad Locke and defenceman Dylan Quaile.

For more information:

Forbes MacPherson, Head Coach
UPEI Men's Hockey
University of Prince Edward Island
T (902) 388-0169

UPEI's first-ever graduating class of 1970 will be celebrated at this year's Reunion Weekend, July 29 to August 1. The charter class will be joined by alumni from St. Dunstan's University (SDU), Prince of Wales College (PWC), and the Atlantic Veterinary College for a fun-filled weekend.

'Reunion Weekend is a great opportunity for alumni from UPEI and its founding institutions, SDU and PWC, to reconnect with each other, take a trip down memory lane and see the wonderful changes that have taken place on campus,' says Betty Johnston, president of the UPEI Alumni Association.

In addition to the UPEI class of '70, several SDU and PWC classes will renew friendships and trade memories at special class events during the weekend. The AVC class of 2000 will also mark its ten-year anniversary.

The always-popular UPEI Alumni Classic golf tournament takes place on Friday, July 30, at the Green Gables Golf Course in Cavendish. Tee-off time for the 140 participating golfers is at 8:30 am. Transportation on a first-come, first-served basis for registered golfers is available on the Trius Tours' Panther bus; it will leave from the W.A. Murphy Student Centre at 7:15 am.

The Island Archives will host an Alumni Open House on Friday from 10 - 11 am at the Robertson Library.

Rev. Gerald Tingley, Class of '60, will celebrate the 26th annual SDU Alumni Mass on Friday at 7:30 p.m., in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall, followed by a reception in McMillan Hall at the W.A. Murphy Student Centre. He will be assisted by concelebrant Father Charlie Cheverie, Class of '53, UPEI chaplain.

On Saturday, at a meet and greet at Schurman Market Square in McDougall Hall at 8 pm, the Class of '70 will get a sneak peek of the new alumni website, remember.upei.ca, that showcases their class. The eventual goal is to chronicle other milestone years via the web, with content ranging from pop culture facts from the era to current class member activities.

A highlight of the weekend, the PWC Annual Reunion Luncheon, will take place on Sunday, August 1, from 1 - 4 pm, in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre's McMillan Hall.

For more information, contact Sarah MacInnis, Alumni Outreach Coordinator, at (902) 566-0687 or alumni@upei.ca

For the complete Reunion Weekend schedule, click here.