Scholarships and awards at the University of Prince Edward Island now total $3.5 million annually. Financial support for UPEI students has more than doubled over the past seven years. The increase reflects, in large part, the generosity of people who are creating new student awards as a way of supporting post-secondary education while paying tribute to their own family members.

Two of the newest awards recognize Michael and Aletha Hennessey of Charlottetown. Their children, Maureen, Frank, Sean, and Patrick Hennessey, and Kathleen Garrett, have established two annual scholarships in their honour. One is awarded to a mature female student entering third or fourth year in any faculty, who has returned to university full-time, and the other is for a student entering third or fourth year in Arts or Business, based on academic achievement.

Aletha Hennessey worked at the Robertson Library from 1968 to 1976. Michael Hennessey (SDU '50) served as UPEI's first registrar. 'We are pleased to support UPEI students, and we appreciate our family for creating these two awards,' he says.

Business student Laura Moore is one of the two first recipients of the scholarships. 'I am grateful for the generosity of the Hennessey family and feel it is an excellent opportunity for students to take advantage of as well as other bursaries and scholarships offer at UPEI,' she says.

The Audrey J. Tinney Nursing Scholarship is another newly established award. Audrey Tinney (PWC '49 and PEI Hospital School of Nursing Class of '52) worked for more than 40 years as a registered nurse. To recognize her passion for nursing and her enthusiasm for life on PEI, her son Bill (UPEI '82), son Roger (Holland College '83), and husband Donald (PWC '48) created the scholarship for students entering first year in the UPEI School of Nursing.

"Receiving this scholarship has definitely lightened my load substantially, and is greatly appreciated,"says Erin Acorn, the first recipient of the Audrey J. Tinney Scholarship. "The generosity and unselfishness of families who set up scholarships for students is a wonderful gift to be recognized and appreciated for its greatness. I hope, one day, to be as generous and selfless, both in my practice as a nurse and as an alumna of UPEI."

Other recent student awards include the Dr. Brendan O'Grady Scholarship in Catholic Studies; Passion for Life Award in memory of René Ayangma; the Doug Riley Memorial Music Award; the George E. Howatt MBA Scholarships; and the Kyle and Kody Men's Hockey Award.

Students looking for more information can take advantage of UPEI's re-designed website at upei.ca/scholarships. Information on how to establish a new scholarship or award is available through the UPEI Department of Advancement.

The Centre for Education Research (CER) at the University of Prince Edward Island is launching a new website for parents and early childhood educators. The Eating Between the Lines website (EBTL) aims to foster an interest in nutrition issues and food awareness in a fun and informative environment while emphasizing early literacy. It will be launched on June 2 at 3.30 p.m., in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium of McDougall Hall, UPEI.

Eating Between the Lines is an early literacy, healthy eating program for young children developed and tested in child care facilities in Prince Edward Island. Led by Dr. Ray Doiron from the Faculty of Education and Dr. Jennifer Taylor from the Department of Family and Nutritional Sciences, it includes materials and resources linking healthy eating with literacy on such topics as Eating the Rainbow, Breakfast Matters, and The Salad.

The website was created by a team of early childhood researchers and an advisory team at UPEI. It includes separate sections for parents, enabling them to link nutrition and literacy activities in the home, and for educators, allowing the information to be used in the classroom. The web address is ebtl.org.

The Centre for Education Research advances and promotes collaborative research inside the Faculty of Education, across the UPEI campus, with other universities, and with educational and community organizations across Prince Edward Island, Canada, and globally. For more information, visit upei.ca/cer or contact Christine Gordon Manley at cgmanley@upei.ca, 566-6784.

Attending a university for the first time can be an intimidating prospect, but the University of Prince Edward Island has an innovative online program that will make new students' introduction to university life easier.

UPEI has introduced a new program called Jumpstart@UPEI, aimed at all students who are starting their studies at the Island's university, whether they are high school graduates, students who are returning to university after a break, or transfer or graduate students.

James Reddin, acting director of UPEI's Student Services department, says the program is designed to connect students with the campus community and each other as soon as possible, and to get them into the habit of actively managing their school lives.

'Students who are well-informed ahead of time are better prepared to be successful,' he says. 'They already know what support systems UPEI offers them because they have learned about or accessed them through Jumpstart.'

The program gives them an advance introduction to UPEI's online learning environment, known as Moodle, which they will use as soon as they begin their studies.

"Jumpstart introduces you to the university, and it's an easy way to connect with other new students," says Ellen Gormley, a Grade 12 student at Charlottetown Rural High School.

Students from outside P.E.I. are also finding the program useful. Chantal Skonsberg from Saint John, New Brunswick, says, 'For me, Jumpstart@UPEI is helping a lot…. It lets me feel like I can begin connecting with other students and the university itself even though I can't do physically do that.'

Here's how Jumpstart@UPEI works. When students accept an offer from UPEI, they receive an e-mail address, student number, access code and an invitation to sign up for the program. Once they sign in, they can get to know and chat with other new students. They can also explore UPEI programs and facilities, and post questions, which are promptly answered by Student Services staff.

Each month, a 'Coming to UPEI' checklist will be posted on the site with suggested tasks that students can do in advance of their arrival, such as setting their e-mail accounts, exploring the campus virtually and deciding where they plan to live. Students can enter a contest to win a $400 gift certificate from the campus bookstore. The deadline for the contest is June 15.

Since Jumpstart@UPEI began in late April, over 200 students have accessed the program, from all over P.E.I., across Canada and from as far away as Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden, Pakistan, Kuwait, Israel, China and Turkey. They are chatting with each other and asking a wide variety of questions about life at UPEI, ranging from carpooling opportunities, sports and Frosh Week to scholarships and bursaries, the cost of books, and services available to students. The program will continue all summer and into the late fall, with regular updates sent out to participating students.

Chris Power, student recruitment coordinator, says that Jumpstart@UPEI is just one way that the university works with its incoming students to ensure their first exposure is a positive and enriching experience. The First Year Advisement Centre on campus is available to help students select and register for their classes well in advance of the fall semester. Students are encouraged to take advantage of both Jumpstart and the First Year Advisement Centre, and to register as soon as possible so they will get the courses they want. Early registration began on June 8.

For information about Jumpstart and First Year Advisement, call (902) 628-4353 or 1-800-606-UPEI (8734).

Margangu Njogu, Executive Director of Windle Trust Kenya, will give a public presentation about refugee issues and the challenges of providing education in refugee camps on Monday, June 15, from 10:30 a.m. to noon in Memorial Hall, Room 417, at UPEI.

Njogu's presentation is co-hosted by the Faculty of Education and WUSC UPEI to mark World Refugee Day on June 20. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that of the 34.2 million people that fall under its mandate, over 11.4 million are refugees.

Windle Trust Kenya is a non-profit organization that provides education and training for refugees and displaced people from the Eastern and Horn of Africa. The Trust operates educational programs in the Da'daab and Kakuma refugee camps in northern Kenya. Kakuma Refugee Camp is home to 90,000 refugees from 10 eastern and central African countries, including The Sudan. The Da'daab Refugee Camp houses over 150,000 refugees from Somalia, Burundi, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda.

The Trust is an important local partner in WUSC's student refugee program, and Njogu serves on WUSC's national board. He has also held various positions with CARE Kenya and the Kenya Institute of Special Education. A graduate of the University of Manchester, he also served as a teacher in regular and special schools in Kenya. He was recently awarded an honourary degree from the University of Guelph. Information about the Windle Trust can be found at www.windle.org.

WUSC has sponsored 1,000 refugee students at Canadian university and colleges through its student refugee program. In the past 25 years, WUSC UPEI has sponsored 17 refugee students from eight countries. Currently, three sponsored students are enrolled at UPEI, and two more are expected to attend the university this fall. For more information about WUSC, visit www.wusc.ca

The Faculty of Education is committed to education for social development. Through its innovative international education specialization, second-year education students can complete their final practicum in a number of different countries, including Kenya.

For information about the presentation, please contact Leo Cheverie at lcheverie@upei.ca or the Faculty of Education at (902) 566-0349.

Herménégilde Chiasson, the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, will give a reading and talk at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery on Tuesday, June 23, at 7 p.m. A reception will follow. His reading is sponsored by the Art Gallery and the UPEI English Department. Admission is free.

Born in St-Simon, New Brunswick, Chiasson was educated at the Université de Moncton, Mount Allison University, the State University of New York and the University of Paris (Sorbonne). At the time of his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor, he was, and remains, a professor of the history of art and cinema at the Université de Moncton.

Chiasson's prodigious contributions to Acadian, New Brunswick and Canadian culture are profoundly influential, especially in the realms of theatre, literature and the visual arts. A celebrated playwright, poet, director, curator, researcher and journalist, he has written over 20 plays and directed many others, authored numerous books and countless articles, and participated in over 100 exhibitions.

His Honour worked for Radio-Canada from 1968 to 1985. He was director of Galerie d'art de l'Université de Moncton, founding president of Editions Perce-Neige, president of Galerie Sans Nom, a founding member of the Aberdeen Co-operative Cultural Centre and the Imago print workshop, founding president of Productions du Phare-Est and president of the Association acadienne des artistes professionnels et professionelles du Nouveau-Brunswick.

His awards include the Governor General's Award for Poetry, the Prix France-Acadie, the prestigious Chevalier de l'Ordre français des Arts et Lettres, l'Ordre des francophones d'Amérique, the Grand Prix de la francophonie canadienne, the Prix quinquennal Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie.

Chiasson's presentation is an opportunity to hear and meet one of Canada's great artists and citizens, and one of the region's distinguished treasures.

Roxanne Laughlin, a Foods and Nutrition honours student in the UPEI Faculty of Science, has won a national award for her passion and commitment to research. The Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research presented her with the Morgan medal during the Dietitians of Canada national conference in Charlottetown.

Roxanne has been exploring the possible health benefits of eating cranberries. Cranberries are an important dietary source of polyphenols, or antioxidants, and researchers in the Bioactives Research Interdisciplinary Opportunities (BRIO) lab at UPEI are studying whether cranberry added to the diet can reduce the effects cardiovascular disease or strokes.

Supervised by Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass, Roxanne worked with a strain of rats that have a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease and obesity. She examined their antioxidant levels after feeding them diets that included various levels of cholesterol and cranberry. Her work has added important information to the BRIO team's overall findings about the role of cranberries and other fruits and vegetables in preventing or reducing the occurrence of chronic diseases.

Roxanne won an Undergraduate Summer Research Award for this work from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council last summer. She says this valuable first-hand experience as a researcher has brought nutrition, biology and biochemistry truly alive for her.

'I now understand, in a more concrete way than ever before, just how clearly diet affects the body and, ultimately, health,' she says.

Roxanne is entering her fourth year of her Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Foods and Nutrition. She is originally from Toronto but now makes her home in Stratford, PEI.

Photo: Roxanne Laughlin and Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass

The Reverend Denis Grecco, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, has been selected as the SDU Visiting Scholar for the Catholic Studies program at the University of Prince Edward Island for the next two years.

Father Grecco's appointment is part of a four-year investment in UPEI's Catholic Studies program by the Board of Governors of St. Dunstan's University (SDU). The SDU Board of Governors will provide up to $100,000 per year to support the program for the academic years 2009 through 2013, including the creation of an ongoing two-year position for an SDU Visiting Scholar of Catholic Studies.

As the SDU Visiting Scholar of Catholic Studies, Father Greeco will be based at the university's Centre for Christianity and Culture, a research and study centre focusing on Christianity's impact and perspective on the intellectual and cultural life of Western civilization. The Centre coordinates various academic and community initiatives, including a minor degree in Catholic Studies; a Christianity and Culture minor; lectures, public discussions, and conferences on ethics, politics and current events.

Prior to accepting his appointment as Visiting Catholic Studies Scholar at UPEI, Father Grecco was a visiting assistant professor in the Catholic Studies program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. In 2007 he received the St. Thomas University Students' Union 'Dr. Sheila Andrew Award for Excellence in Teaching' for outstanding commitment to students. He holds a PhD from the University of St. Michael College in Toronto and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Regis College, also in Toronto. His research interests lie in modern Christian theology, with a particular focus on Christian doctrine and historical theology. He has developed and taught several university-level Catholic studies courses, worked as a parish priest, and organized lecture series and outreach activities for priests and parishioners.

Mike Campbell, chair of the St. Dunstan's University Board of Governors, expressed the Board's pleasure in the appointment.

'We look forward to Father Grecco, continuing the recent work by distinguished Professor Peter Erb in making available to Catholics and to the Island community at large the rich traditions of the Catholic faith with emphasis on Catholic moral and social teachings.'

One of the University of Prince Edward Island's two founding institutions, SDU has a longstanding commitment to enable PEI students to explore Catholic beliefs and teachings within a rigorous academic environment. Although St. Dunstan's University closed its campus in 1969, the SDU Board of Governors continues to foster a culture of spiritually and intellectually informed Catholic citizens who live their faith in the wider society with integrity, compassion, and understanding.

Researchers and educators from Canada and the United States who are interested in the use of multimedia in education in a cultural context will be on the University of Prince Edward Island campus from June 25 to 27 to take part in a conference called 'Harnessing Images, Text and Sound for Education in the Context of Culture, Multimedia, Technology and Cognition' (HITS for Education: CMTC).

Participants will share ideas, information, and methods on the uses of audio-visual and text-based technology. By the end of the conference, they aim to have developed a set of guidelines and best practices that will assist others to make appropriate choices in this rapidly growing educational field.

'Electronic multimedia technology provides an abundance of choices for educators,' says UPEI psychology professor Dr. Annabel Cohen, co-chair of the conference with Dr. Udo Krautwurst, Department of Sociology. 'Their choices however are based, very often, on intuition and familiarity rather than on empirically or theoretically based guidelines.'

The keynote speakers are Ichiro Fujinaga and Ellen Rose. Dr. Fujinaga is an Associate Professor in Music Technology at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. The title of his presentation is 'Distributed digital music libraries: If you can do music you can do anything.' Dr. Ellen Rose holds the McCain-Aliant Telecom Professorship in Multimedia and Instructional Design at the University of New Brunswick. She will address the topic 'Multimedia learning in this age of interruption.'

The conference will feature more than 20 presentations addressing education from the perspective of four interconnected areas: culture, multimedia, technology, and cognition. It takes place in McDougall Hall, UPEI and is open to interested professionals or laypersons interested in the role of electronic media in education. Registration for the entire event costs $200, including meals. The student and part-time faculty rate is $75. More information is available at http://vre.upei.ca/cmtc or by contacting Maria Powell at (902) 566-6023 or mpowell@upei.ca. UPEI student volunteers are also welcome to assist and attend.

The conference is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and arose through a tri-university collaboration funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation led by the University of Prince Edward Island, partnering with the University of New Brunswick and l'Université de Moncton.

UPEI faculty members were recently recognized for teaching and research achievements at a reception and awards banquet sponsored by the UPEI Faculty Association and the Office of the President.

Dr. Pedro Quijon, Department of Biology, and Dr. Catherine Innes-Parker, Department of English, won the Hessian Awards for Excellence in Teaching. UPEI Merit Awards for Scholarly Achievement went to Dr. Henry Srebrnik, Political Studies; Dr. Debbie MacLellan, Family and Nutritional Sciences; and Dr. Larry Hammell, Atlantic Veterinary College.

The Hessian Award is given to a faculty member who has shown outstanding competence in teaching, and the Merit Awards for Scholarly Achievement to faculty members who have made significant and continuing contributions to scholarly research.

In the almost four years that Quijon has been at UPEI, he has established a reputation among biology students as a rigorous, demanding professor who sets high standards. He has also developed a strong reputation for motivating his students to learn and to succeed, giving them the tools and the confidence to accomplish their goals. He teaches a variety of courses in marine biology at both the undergraduate and graduate level; he frequently integrates the results of his own research into the student learning experience in the classroom and the field.

Innes-Parker infuses her teaching with her research and uses creative ways to engage her students in her medieval English literature and thought courses--from Chaucerian pilgrimages to the construction of medieval manuscript books, from mock trials to the creation of learning communities. She presents frequently at conferences on issues of teaching and learning and is a leader in advancing the teaching of medievalism. This fall, she will guide students through the intersections of literature, art, and religious thought in a team-taught integrated program of study at Memorial University's Harlow campus in Essex.

Srebrnik is widely known as an expert on nationalism and small islands. He has published numerous articles in refereed scholarly journals and chapters in edited volumes. His scholarship has been cited in at least 101 book chapters, journal articles and book reviews; 57 books; 12 theses; and numerous working and unpublished papers. He is a frequent contributor to 30 newspapers including the Guardian, Globe and Mail, National Post and Washington Post. His most recent publication is a book named 'Jerusalem on the Amur: Birobidzhan and the Canadian Jewish Communist Movement, 1924-1951.'

MacLellan currently holds just under $1 million in research funding, and has published widely, including 14 refereed manuscripts and 14 abstracts or conference presentations in the last five years. She has supervised or co-supervised five MSc graduate and three BSc honours undergraduate students. Since 2004 she has been co-principal investigator for the Masters of Applied Health Services Research (MAHSR) program, a joint degree program involving UPEI, Dalhousie, University of New Brunswick and Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is also director of the Integrated Dietetic Internship Program in the Faculty of Science.

An internationally recognized aquatic epidemiologist, Hammell teaches in AVC's Department of Health Management. Since 2003, he has served as director of the AVC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences. His accumulated research funding of over $10 million, impact on the aquaculture industry and international recognition have grown tremendously in the past six years, winning him the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, AVC, in 2006. He has published more than 28 refereed manuscripts, nine peer-reviewed special publications or proceedings, and 37 non-reviewed conference proceedings and abstracts. He has co-supervised two MSc and seven PhD students.

Members of the public are invited to attend a free concert on Sunday, June 28, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the Steel Recital Hall at UPEI.

The concert is part of an international workshop being held at UPEI from June 27 to 30 for a multi-faceted research project called Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). Led by UPEI's Dr. Annabel Cohen, a pioneer in the growing field of music psychology, AIRS will focus on exploring the development of singing ability, the connections between singing and learning and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing.

The line-up at the concert will include AIRS researchers who are professional vocalists like tenor Darryl Edwards, University of Toronto; soprano Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey, UPEI; and soprano Simone Falk, of Germany.

Neuroscience researchers Laurel Trainor and David Gerry, both from McMaster University, will perform two of Faure's vocal duets on flute, with pianist Rena Sharon from the University of British Columbia. Accompanied by Island pianist Jacqueline Sorensen, Cohen will sing Mozart and Gershwin.

As well, some AIRS researchers will share folk songs and children's songs from their own oral tradition. These include Helga Rut Guðmundsdóttir, of Iceland, and well-known P.E.I. singer Teresa Doyle.

During the seven-year AIRS project, more than 70 researchers from across Canada and many countries around the world will contribute to, and share knowledge and expertise about, numerous fields of study, including social psychology, musicology, education and medicine. They will present and develop their work audiovisually, using a digital library and virtual research environment (VRE) already established at UPEI.

The AIRS project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.