Dr. Greg Keefe, president and vice-chancellor (interim), invites UPEI faculty and staff to attend the 2022 President’s Holiday Social on Monday, December 19, from 3 to 4:30 pm, in The McCain Foundation Learning Commons, Atlantic Veterinary College. Faculty and staff are encouraged to bring food and monetary donations for the UPEI Campus Food Bank. The Office of the President will match the value of your support up to $10,000. Celebrate with your colleagues while enjoying complimentary refreshments and listening to festive songs performed by UPEI music students! 

Text or computer code generated by artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT is going to have a profound impact on student learning and assessment, bringing up many questions around academic integrity. If you missed Dr. Sarah Eaton's keynote when she visited UPEI at the beginning of the fall 2022 semester where she discussed the impact of these technologies, we have a recording. Click this link to watch Academic Integrity: Evidence-Based Insights and Key Issues. 

You might also be interested in attending the Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Online Symposium on February 8--9, 2023. For more details about the symposium or to read the call for proposals that was generated using ChatGPT, check out this link 

Dr. Greg Keefe, president and vice-chancellor (interim), invites, faculty staff, and students to the University’s 2022 Recognition of Founders ceremony on Monday, December 19, at 1:30 pm. During the ceremony, Dr. Douglas Dahn, Cathy Gillan, and Dr. Timothy Ogilvie will be honoured as Founders for their contributions to UPEI. The ceremony and reception will take place in The McCain Foundation Learning Commons, Atlantic Veterinary College. All are welcome to attend.

The excitement for the UPEI Panthers Gold Rush draw continues to grow! With no winners in the last NINE draws, the total pot has grown to more than $15,800—the highest it's ever been—with half going to the winner of Saturday night's draw.

Gold Rush is a virtual fundraising initiative that raises funds for UPEI’s athletic programs. 

Play today and every week for a chance to win! Download the UPEI Panthers app from the App Store or on Google Play, or play from your computer. The weekly draw is held at 8 pm every Saturday.

On Friday, December 16, 2022, ITSS will conduct required maintenance on the myUPEI portal and related services from 9 pm to 12 am (midnight). During this time, there may be intermittent access to and performance issues with myUPEI, Self-Service, Colleague, and Grade Submission.

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 directly using https://outlook.office.com.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITSS Help Desk at 902-566-0465.

A final Tea(ching) Break for the week. This one is a journal article that is informing some of the work of the Teaching and Learning Centre. You can read the article or download the mp3 to listen on the go. Conversations as a source of professional learning: exploring the dynamics of camaraderie and common ground amongst university teachers 

The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) is pleased to partner with Holland College and the University of Prince Edward Island to host the 2023 annual STLHE/SAPES conference at the Delta Convention Centre in Charlottetown from June 14-16, 2023. (Pre-conference workshops will take place on June 13th.) Submissions are welcome from anyone interested in presenting to a multidisciplinary audience about teaching and learning in higher education. Submissions will close January 15, 2023 (midnight). Link to full details for the call for proposals

UPEI Procurement Services is currently taking bids on a used 2012 Dodge Ram 1500. 

Bids are being accepted in the University's e-tendering portal "Bonfire" until December 16 at 2:00 pm. This portal requires you to register by creating a username and password as your UPEI credentials are not connected to this system. When registering for the Bonfire portal, please put your name in the Vendor Name and Contact Name fields.  You can access the information on this opportunity at https://upei.bonfirehub.ca/projects/60905/details

Award-winning educator and coach Dr. Elizabeth Wells, author of the book The Organized Academic, shares key strategies for making your career a more enjoyable, less stressful experience. Get ready for a new year with some tips on organization and productivity – with exercises and discussion around priorities and goals for a new year. This session focuses on “Why Am I Here?” – creating a compelling mission for your teaching, research, and service.

UPEI Panthers Men’s Hockey holiday gift packs are now available for purchase at the Eastlink Centre Box Office. The gift pack offers a great deal to watch one of the country's best hockey teams compete for an AUS title and a national championship.

Packages are $70 plus HST and include five individual tickets for the remaining 2022–23 regular season home games; $25 savings on a 2023 Cavendish Farms University Cup tournament pass; open ticket redemption; and the ability to hold a seat for the playoffs.

Consider purchasing a hockey holiday gift pack for the hockey lover on your list!

Overview: Communication is critical to success in every field, especially in business and the workplace. In this certificate program, participants will gain knowledge and practical experience in all key areas of communication, including proper workplace writing, public speaking and presentation skills, blog posts, websites, social media, and other forms of communication essential to functioning and growth in the professional world, as well as in-depth communication plans. This certificate is hybrid in nature – some content is online and asynchronous and some content is in-person. (Please note – if you already have completed the Intro to Workplace Writing course, you can take the rest of the certificate, and the price of the Intro to Workplace Writing course will be subtracted from the cost.)

Designed for: People who deal with communication in businesses/organizations and in the workplace, from administrative professionals to communication officers, entrepreneurs, and executives

Type of Delivery: Virtual and in-person

Duration: Three courses for a total of approximately twenty-eight hours

Facilitators: Christine Gordon Manley, Tracy Stretch, Ann Worth

For more information, visit https://www.upei.ca/professional-development/certificates/professional-communications-certificate. 

On Thursday, December 29, over 60 former members of the UPEI Wind Symphony, representing graduating classes from 1972–2022, will give two public performances--at dress rehearsal at 9:30 am and a formal performance at 7:30 pm. Tickets for the performances are $20 (cash only) and can be purchased at the door.

Under the direction of Dr. Karem Simon, the Wind Symphony alumni will prepare an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary wind band music featuring some of the treasured pieces from its repertoire. Included will be movements from “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” by Dutch composer Johan de Meij and “Medieval Suite” by American Ron Nelson. Classics, including Gustav Holst’s “First Suite in E-flat” and Percy Grainger’s “Shepherd’s Hey,” will be juxtaposed with “Skyline” by Charlottetown’s own Evan Hammell, and emerging composer who is a former UPEI music student and a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music Composition program. 

For more information, contact Dr. Simon at 902-566-0702.

Text or computer code generated by artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT is going to have a profound impact on student learning and assessment, bringing up many questions around academic integrity. If you missed Dr. Sarah Eaton's keynote when she visited UPEI at the beginning of the fall 2022 semester where she discussed the impact of these technologies, we have a recording. Click this link to watch Academic Integrity: Evidence-Based Insights and Key Issues. 

You might also be interested in attending the Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Online Symposium on February 8--9, 2023. For more details about the symposium or to read the call for proposals that was generated using ChatGPT, check out this link 

Dr. Greg Keefe, president and vice-chancellor (interim), invites, faculty staff, and students to the University’s 2022 Recognition of Founders ceremony on Monday, December 19, at 1:30 pm. During the ceremony, Dr. Douglas Dahn, Cathy Gillan, and Dr. Timothy Ogilvie will be honoured as Founders for their contributions to UPEI. The ceremony and reception will take place in The McCain Foundation Learning Commons, Atlantic Veterinary College. All are welcome to attend.

The excitement for the UPEI Panthers Gold Rush draw continues to grow! With no winners in the last NINE draws, the total pot has grown to more than $15,800—the highest it's ever been—with half going to the winner of Saturday night's draw.

Gold Rush is a virtual fundraising initiative that raises funds for UPEI’s athletic programs. 

Play today and every week for a chance to win! Download the UPEI Panthers app from the App Store or on Google Play, or play from your computer. The weekly draw is held at 8 pm every Saturday.

On Friday, December 16, 2022, ITSS will conduct required maintenance on the myUPEI portal and related services from 9 pm to 12 am (midnight). During this time, there may be intermittent access to and performance issues with myUPEI, Self-Service, Colleague, and Grade Submission.

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 directly using https://outlook.office.com.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITSS Help Desk at 902-566-0465.

Another Tea(ching) Break--this one about taking time to pause. A little warning: this article starts out with mention of chainsaws and woodchippers!  Something many of us recall vividly. Take some time and give yourself some grace to pause today in the busyness of exam marking and other end-of-semester work.  Read Don’t Give Yourself Any Space

UPEI Procurement Services is currently taking bids on a used 2012 Dodge Ram 1500. 

Bids are being accepted in the University's e-tendering portal "Bonfire" until December 16 at 2:00 pm. This portal requires you to register by creating a username and password as your UPEI credentials are not connected to this system. When registering for the Bonfire portal, please put your name in the Vendor Name and Contact Name fields.  You can access the information on this opportunity at https://upei.bonfirehub.ca/projects/60905/details

The annual call for applications for the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program is open. 

Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is a program under the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, which aims to provide flexible and holistic services to help all young Canadians develop skills and gain paid work experience to successfully transition into the labour market.

Applicants are able to seek funding to hire youth (people aged 15-30 years) between April 24, 2023, and September 2, 2023. Work placements must be full-time (30-40 hours per week) quality jobs with a minimum duration of six weeks and a maximum of 16 weeks.

Approved employers will be eligible to receive a wage subsidy reimbursement of up to 50 percent of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage of $14.50/hour.

For additional information and application information for this program, please click here.

To apply for this program, you will need to contact Human Resources:

Wendy Murphy at wmurphy@upei.ca (902) 628-4306, or

Monique Geurts at mgeurts@upei.ca (902) 566-0515.

The closing date for applications is January 9, 2023.

The UPEI Health, Safety, and Environment department (HSE) is offering Standard and Emergency First Aid/CPR training sessions:

Emergency First Aid/CPR
January 11, 2023
8:30 am–4:00 pm
AH 142

This basic one-day course offers lifesaving first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills. 

Standard First Aid/CPR
January 12 and 13, 2023
8:30 am–4:00 pm
AH 142

This comprehensive two-day course offers first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills for those who need enhanced training as a work requirement (high-risk areas such as labs).

The cost of registration will be covered by HSE for all UPEI faculty and staff, including students who require training for on-campus employment. Students who do not require training for on-campus employment are welcome to attend; however, the cost of registration will not be covered. Please note that lunch will not be provided.

As space is limited, please pre-register by contacting Jacky Buell by the end of the day Wednesday, January 4, 2023, via email (hse@upei.ca) or by phone (902-566-0901).