In partnership with our friends at the Jack Frost Winterfest, the UPEI Alumni Association is once again excited to offer UPEI alumni a promotional 20% discount on individual and family single-day passes. The promo code is valid until February 8, 2026, and excludes weekend passes and Swift Kick tickets.

Request the promo code before January 31 to be included in a draw to win UPEI Alumni winter gear, Pride the Panther mini mascots, and more.

The Healthy Campus Committee coordinates a variety of wellness opportunities for UPEI staff, faculty, and retirees. Below are several excellent programs and facility access options available free of charge to eligible UPEI staff, faculty, and retirees.

Indoor Track Access
To gain access, please register. If you have registered within the past year, you do not need to register again. Access is valid until October 2, 2026.

Indoor Pickleball
Tuesdays, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
January 13 – April 7
Weekly registration is required. If you do not have a pickleball paddle, paddles are available to sign out at the Panther Central Desk.

Mindful Flow and Stillness Yoga
Thursdays, 12:10 pm – 12:55 pm
January 15 – April 30
Weekly registration is required.

More details and registration for each opportunity can be found at recreation.upei.ca. Click on the Wellness icon to view available programs. To log in, select UPEI Login and use your UPEI email address and password.

For questions or assistance with registration, programs, or access, please contact Angela Marchbank, Coordinator, Fitness and Wellness, amarchbank@upei.ca.

Collide Discover is the one-stop shop to get you started on your entrepreneurial journey, whether you already have an idea or not! Learn how to ideate with a customer focus, structure your concept into a business model, identify your most attractive customer segment, and communicate your early-stage idea effectively!

Collide Discover is the only way to make yourself and your team eligible to participate in the new Aspire stream of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program next semester for first and second year students!

The best part? You can complete the whole program in just 3 DAYS! The full bootcamp is taking place in FSDE 128A and B on the UPEI campus on the following dates:

• Friday, January 30 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm

• Saturday, January 31 from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

• Sunday, February 1 from 9:30 am - 2:00 pm

Any current UPEI and Holland College student, faculty member, or recent graduate within the last 5 years is eligible to attend. Food is provided throughout the bootcamp! Register today.

The SSHRC Exchange Publication Award supports the publication of manuscripts, written or edited by UPEI faculty, by Island Studies Press (ISP). This award is being funded by a SSHRC Institutional Grant, therefore, the subject matter of the publication must be compatible with SSHRC’s mandate (see http://science.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_FEE7261A.html for more information). One (1) award is available for fiscal 2025-26.

The award of $7,000 will be disbursed to Island Studies Press to cover publication costs (including editing, photo and other permissions, design, printing, marketing, and other costs associated with publishing a book). Authors will be offered ISP’s standard publication contract, which ensures authorial copyright and includes a royalty structure. Authors will also see their manuscripts reviewed through a peer-review process where appropriate.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Eligible applicants must be Tenured, Tenure Track, Term or Sessional UPEI Faculty, who are employed by UPEI at the time of application.
• Manuscripts may be single- or multi-authored results of academic research projects; textbooks; edited proceedings of a conference; or works of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, or drama that pertain to the author(s)' discipline.
• The subject matter of the manuscript must meet SSHRC’s mandate.
• Past recipients of the SSHRC Exchange Publication Award or UPEI Internal Publication Award cannot apply for support for the previously funded manuscript.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 31, 2026

Submit documents electronically to Research Services, researchservices@upei.ca.

APPLICATION PROCESS: 

Applicants are to submit a package that includes:

• Book proposal/summary (maximum of one page)
• A completed or close-to-complete manuscript and a Table of Contents. Note: the manuscript must be complete no later than three months after winning the award
• A curriculum vitae that includes your credentials as author(s)/editor(s)
• Two letters of support (e.g., from your Department Chair, Dean, professional association)

Selection Committee: A selection committee comprised of the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Island Studies, plus two members of the ISP Publishing Committee, will assess the proposals and make a recommendation to the Associate Vice-President Research. The Managing Editor of the ISP will be a member of the Committee in a non-voting capacity.

To assist in making its recommendations, the selection committee will use a single-blind peer review of the submitted manuscript. Final decisions on publication remain with the Island Studies Press and the Institute of Island Studies.

Reporting: A copy of the book, along with a narrative outlining the publication process – prepared in collaboration with staff at Island Studies Press – must be submitted when the book is complete.

Previous recipients of the UPEI Internal Publication Awards include Lori Mayne, Department of English, Laurie Brinklow, Institute of Island Studies, Linyuan Guo, Faculty of Education, and Josh MacFadyen, Faculty of Arts.

For more information on the Publication Awards program, contact Dr. Laurie Brinklow at brinklow@upei.ca or 902-894-2881.

UPEI's Experiential Education will be hosting a session for staff and faculty who work with students in work-integrated learning (WIL) settings on Monday, February 2, 12-1:30pm in Andrew Hall, Room142 to explore opportunities and challenges to sexual violence prevention in WIL. Our department has been working on a project with the Interministerial Women's Secretariat to gather feedback to better understand the local landscape. Join for an overview of what we've heard so far from students and employers, and share your perspectives from the vantage of your own programs. Lunch will be provided.

Register here: Sexual Violence Prevention in Work-Integrated Learning Feedback Session – Fill out form

Email Shannon at smsnow@upei.ca with any questions.

Note to Professors and Course/Lab Instructors: 

Please add the testing information for any in-person quizzes, tests, and midterms for the Winter 2026 semester to Accommodate, as soon as possible. We do not need the test file immediately. 

Registered Accessibility Services students must submit a booking request at least 7 days in advance to ensure a seat in our centre. They cannot submit their testing request until you have entered the testing information in Accommodate. 

You do not need to add the test file until a few days before the test date. If needed, changes can be made to test dates after testing information has been added. 

Below are some Faculty how-to resources: 

How to schedule a test in Accommodate: Step-by-step guide 

How to view student accommodations:  Step-by-step guide 

If you have any questions about adding a test in Accommodate or testing with Accessibility Services, please contact astesting@upei.ca. 

The UPEI Student Union is proud to present the second part of The Interdisciplinary Panther Series: STEM Edition on February 6! This is an experiential, interdisciplinary competition that brings students together to develop innovative, real-world solutions in collaboration with industry and community partners. Delivered in partnership with the PEI BioAlliance and several UPEI departments, TIPS is designed to foster creativity, teamwork, and applied problem-solving across disciplines.

While STEM is the central theme for this edition, the competition is open to students from all faculties and year levels, including both undergraduate and graduate students. A key goal is to encourage collaboration between students with diverse academic backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Participants will gain hands-on experience, professional feedback, and the opportunity to showcase their ideas to judges from industry, academia, and the community.
The competition culminates in a final round of presentations, where 3 finalist teams present their solutions to a panel of judges and an audience of students, faculty, and partners.

W.A. Murphy Student Centre, McMillan Hall
February 6, 3:30 – 6:30 pm

A reception will follow, providing an opportunity to connect with students, faculty, judges, and partners.

If you would like to register to participate as a competitor, please click here to apply.

If you would like to volunteer, please click here to fill out the application form.
 

Research Ethics Board (REB) applications involving "more than minimal risk" must be reviewed by the full UPEI REB. The next deadline for submitting these protocols is Friday, January 30, 2026, for review at the February meeting.

Other ethics protocol submissions, including new applications that do not involve more than minimal risk, renewals, and amendments, may be submitted at any time. They will be sent for delegated review as soon as all necessary materials are received.

All research compliance applications, including for the REB, must be submitted through the UPEI Researcher Portal (https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/). Instructions for using the site are available at https://www.upei.ca/research-services/forms.

Please contact the Compliance Coordinator at researchcompliance@upei.ca for more information about the Researcher Portal, or the REB application, review, and approval process.

The next deadline for submitting biosafety applications, including new applications, renewals, and/or amendments, is Friday, January 30, 2026. These applications will be reviewed at the February 19 meeting.

All research compliance applications, including biosafety application forms, must be submitted through the UPEI researcher portal https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/. Instructions for using the researcher portal, are available at https://www.upei.ca/research-services/forms.

Please contact the Research Compliance Coordinator at researchcompliance@upei.ca if you have any questions about accessing or using the researcher portal, or about the biosafety application, review, and approval process.

The 2026 theme for UPEI’s Data Privacy Week (January 26-30) is “Privacy is Everyone’s Business,” highlighting the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data, and enabling trust.

Data Privacy Week spreads awareness about online privacy with the aim of educating individuals on how to manage and protect their personal information and encourage organizations to respect data and be transparent.

Make privacy your business! To learn more about what you can do to be privacy aware, check out the resources on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s website.

To find out about UPEI privacy training for your department, please contact the UPEI Access to Information and Privacy Office at accessprivacy@upei.ca

The UPEI Department of Religious Studies’ popular Theology on Tap series returns on January 28 with a talk titled “More than Optimistic: Hope and Teilhard de Chardin” by Dr. Libby Osgood, Congregation of Notre Dame and Associate Professor in Sustainable Design Engineering. Dr. Osgood’s talk will take place at 7:00 pm at the Salvador Dali Café, The Arts Hotel, 155 Kent Street, Charlottetown. 

“People often use the words ‘hope’ and ‘optimism’ interchangeably, but hope requires much more than optimism,” said Dr. Osgood. “Hope is not naive. It is not sitting back and waiting for something to change, nor is it easy. Based on the writings of Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a paleontologist and Jesuit priest who helped discover an ancestor to homo sapiens, we will explore the need for hope during these challenging times of ecological change.”

Born in Sarcenat, France, in 1881, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest and an accomplished paleoanthropologist who researched human beginnings and wrote imaginative, mystical writings on the evolutionary nature of the world and the cosmos. Though his Jesuit leadership did not allow him to publish during his lifetime, his writings were published by his secretary Jeanne Mortier after his death in 1955. Since then, generations of theologians and scientists have been inspired by his desire to find God in the world and how he embraced evolution. He asked, “Who at last will give evolution its God?” At times, he was criticized for being naively optimistic. Dr. Osgood suggests that Teilhard de Chardin is much more than optimistic—he is hopeful.

For more information about the series, contact event coordinator Alexandra Durant at alexandrajdurant@gmail.com, or follow Theology on Tap PEI on Facebook.

On Wednesday, January 28, ITSS will conduct maintenance on Colleague and related services from 8:00 pm to midnight. During this time, there may be intermittent access to and performance issues with myUPEI Self-Service, Web Advisor, and Colleague.

We encourage students, faculty, and staff who may need documents or links located on myUPEI to plan ahead and bookmark or download the resources they may need during this period.

As a reminder, you can access Moodle directly using https://moodle.upei.ca and Outlook email using https://outlook.office.com.

If you have any questions, please fill out our new Help Form: https://go.upei.ca/itrequest

There will be a basic biosafety training session on Tuesday, January 27, at 1:00 pm. Topics will include basic biosafety principles and how they are applied at the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as biosecurity training. This session is open to everyone, including graduate students. Prerequisite training material must be completed prior to attending the session.

To attend, you must pre-register by contacting Jacky Buell by noon, Monday January 26, 2026, via email hse@upei.ca or phone 902-566-0901. 

Please provide:

• Your name
• Your supervisor’s name (if applicable)
• Department
• Email address
• Phone number
• Whether you're an employee or graduate student  

NOTE: An online biosafety training refresher course is available for those who completed basic biosafety training previously. Training must be renewed every three years. Please contact us for information on how to register for this training!

All faculty, students, and staff are invited to the next UPEI Research Breakfast, happening on Thursday, January 29, 2026, hosted by Research Partnerships and Innovation (formerly OCII).

The theme of this breakfast is “Climate Change and Society”. Two UPEI research chairs, Dr. Sara Sadri and Dr. Jean Mitchell, will give short presentations about their research. Presentations run from 8:00-9:00 am, with networking and a continental breakfast available at 7:30 am. This event is FREE, but space is limited. Please RSVP here.

Join us for a morning of knowledge-sharing and networking with fellow researchers and industry, community, and government partners over a delicious breakfast!

Collide Discover is the one-stop shop to get you started on your entrepreneurial journey, whether you already have an idea or not! Learn how to ideate with a customer focus, structure your concept into a business model, identify your most attractive customer segment, and communicate your early-stage idea effectively!

Collide Discover is the only way to make yourself and your team eligible to participate in the new Aspire stream of the Harry W. MacLauchlan Entrepreneurship Program next semester for first and second year students!

The best part? You can complete the whole program in just 3 DAYS! The full bootcamp is taking place in FSDE 128A and B on the UPEI campus on the following dates:

• Friday, January 30 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm

• Saturday, January 31 from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

• Sunday, February 1 from 9:30 am - 2:00 pm

Any current UPEI and Holland College student, faculty member, or recent graduate within the last 5 years is eligible to attend. Food is provided throughout the bootcamp! Register today.

Bring your own lunch and join us for an engaging session 

Hosted by: The Teaching and Learning Centre 

Session Overview: 

Join us for a relaxed and informative Teaching & Learning Centre (TLC) Lunch & Learn session focused on Maintaining Motivation & Engagement in your classes. This is a great opportunity to connect with colleagues, share ideas, and gain insights into connecting learning to real‑world purpose, building an interactive learning environment, fostering a sense of belonging, providing clear structure and expectations, offering autonomy and choice, giving meaningful feedback, and integrating active learning technologies. 

RSVP: https://forms.office.com/r/c5DsnwcRTu 

Contact: tlc@upei.ca 

The Robertson Library is hosting library tours from January 19 to February 5, and we would love for you to join us.  The tour is an excellent opportunity to explore the library spaces and learn more about what the library has to offer.

Use this link to book your tour.  

We can't wait to welcome you and show you around!

The new UPEI Laboratory Safety Manual, 3^rd Edition, has been uploaded to the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) SharePoint site! You may use the HSE SharePoint search engine or click the ‘Laboratories’ button to access.

All laboratory workers - a person employed in a workplace; or a person in a workplace for any reason in connection there with are responsible for following all applicable safety rules and practices as outlined in the Laboratory Safety Manual.

For questions regarding the Laboratory Safety Manual, please reach out to HSE@upei.ca.  

The fifth meeting of the UPEI Senate will take place on Friday, January 30, 2026, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in Room 102 at Alumni Hall (618 University Avenue). To view the 2025-2026 calendar of Senate meetings or documents for the upcoming meeting, click here. (Posted one week before the meeting)

All meetings are open to members of the University community, although certain in-camera items (e.g., granting of degrees) may require the Senate to go into a closed session. Only members of Senate are permitted to address the Senate unless otherwise recognized by the chair. 

For logistical purposes, members of the UPEI community who wish to attend the open session of a UPEI Senate meeting are asked to contact senate@upei.ca one week prior to the meeting. While Senate is an in-person meeting, members of the University community may request a virtual connection when they are unable to attend in person. 

Welcome to the following new employees who joined the University of Prince Edward Island community in December 2025:

• McKenzie Aitken, IT Systems and Services
• Blerta Abdija, Registrar’s Office
• Shantol Clarke, Chemistry, Faculty of Science
• Dylan Jubinville, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering
• Callum Kennedy, Clinical Learning and Simulation, Faculty of Medicine
• Jackson Lagundzija, IT Systems and Services
• Matt Lamont, Clinical Learning and Simulation, Faculty of Medicine
• Taiwo Ademola Pojo, Facilities Management
• Pius Abraham Tetteh, Biomedical Sciences, Atlantic Veterinary College
• Holly Yazdani, Clinical Learning and Simulation, Faculty of Medicine

We are excited to have you join the UPEI team!