Show your Panther Pride and your support of our UPEI Panther athletes by wearing your green and white no matter where you are! On September 28, take a photo of you wearing your swag and post it to social media with the hashtag #UPEIHOCO for a chance to win some awesome UPEI swag.

While Green and White Day falls on Saturday this year, UPEI community members are encouraged to participate any day of the week during homecoming and have the opportunity to win a swag item from the UPEI Alumni Office!

Need some new green and white gear? The UPEI Bookstore has you covered! From Thursday, September 26, to Friday, September 27, save 30% on select Panther Gear!

Go Panthers Go!
 

UPEI has a current posting (for both internal and external candidates) for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Children, Youth, and their Educational Geographies.

The posting details are available on the UPEI HR site.

Please contact UPEI’s Research Services Office (mlsteele@upei.ca) for eligibility details, and consult the CRC Program for full program information, including further details on eligibility criteria (http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/program-programme/nomination-mise_en_candidature-eng.aspx). 

The UPEI Bookstore is once again selling orange t-shirts in support of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is on September 30. Our shirts are sourced locally from Mi'Kmaq Printing and Design here in Charlottetown. We have youth sizes available for $18.00 and adult sizes for $28.00. 

The Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, invites all to attend Sylvie Glisinski’s public dissertation defence presentation of her PsyD research titled "Examining the Associations Between ADHD, Callousness, Anxiety, and Antisociality in a Sample of Youth with History of Serious Antisocial Behaviour."

Please join us on Thursday, October 3, at 4 pm ADT through https://upei-ca-healthcare.zoom.us/j/64201681258?pwd=zmdZqMGSeat7ZoYJWATxffY2mOiQkJ.1

Meeting ID: 642 0168 1258

Passcode: 391696

The UPEI Philosophy Reading Group, facilitated by Dr. Max Schaefer, sessional instructor, Faculty of Arts, will hold its first meeting of the 2024–2025 academic year on Wednesday, September 25, from 7:00–8:00 pm, at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre, 97 Queen Street. 

At this meeting, the group will discuss a reading from Gernot Böhme’s The Aesthetics of Atmospheres. A theory of atmospheres first began to take shape in psychiatrist Hubertus Tellenbach’s study and treatment of certain mental disorders and has been a growing movement in philosophy in recent years. To date, atmospheres have been studied in relation to a variety of fields, including psychopathology, politics, advertising, architecture, and urban studies.

The group meets once a month at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre and is regularly attended by students and faculty across a range of disciplines. If you are interested in attending this upcoming meeting or any in the future, please contact Dr. Schaefer at mschaefer@upei.ca for more information.

Welcome to "Yes, Here Too," an educational display dedicated to exploring the profound and shameful history of Indian Day Schools and Residential Schools in Canada’s Maritimes. This exhibit aims to illuminate the experiences of Indigenous children and families who endured these institutions and to foster a deeper understanding of their generational impact. 

What You’ll Discover: 

1. Historical context: Learn about the origins and development of Indian Day Schools and Residential Schools in the Maritimes. Discover how these institutions were established as part of broader colonial policies aimed at assimilating Indigenous peoples and erasing their cultures. 
2. Cultural impact: Explore how these schools sought to suppress Indigenous languages, traditions, and identities, and the lasting effects this has had on communities. Understand the broader implications of these policies on Indigenous cultures and heritage. 
3. The 94 Calls to Action: Discover current initiatives and ongoing efforts toward reconciliation, healing, and justice for survivors and their families. Learn about the role of education, community support, and policy changes in addressing the legacy of these institutions. 
4. Interactive elements: Engage with interactive displays and multimedia presentations that provide deeper insights into the experiences of students and the historical context of these institutions. 

This display is a crucial step toward acknowledging and understanding the complexities of colonization. We encourage visitors of all backgrounds to attend, reflect, and engage in meaningful dialogue about reconciliation and the ongoing journey toward justice and healing.

Content warning: Subject matter and supplemental conversation include abuse, violence, assault, death, abduction, racism, sexism, classism, and cultural genocide. Conversation may also include suicide, substance use, and police brutality. The contents of this activity are based on real events in Canadian history and may be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. 

Location: Kelley Memorial Building, Rooms 115-118 (Building 11 on the campus map) 
Dates: September 23 to September 27, 2024 
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm 

The northeast entrance of the Kelley Memorial Building features an automatic door with a 36-inch clearance. The door swings outward and leads to a ramp that is 62 inches wide. Please note that the ramp makes a sharp right turn, after which the width reduces to 36 inches.

At the end of the ramp, you will find the exhibit entrance, which has a door clearance of 32 inches and a small bump at the threshold. We encourage all visitors to reach out if you require additional assistance or have any questions regarding accessibility.

All UPEI community members are invited to attend this event, which aims to bring awareness to reconciliation. All attendees are encouraged to wear their orange shirts on this day. For those who may have questions during this event, elders and faculty members will be on-site to talk with and engage in conversation. The event starts at 12:30, with the Grand Entry at 1:00 pm.  

Date: September 27, 2024 

Time: 12:30 to 3:30 pm

Venue: The Quadrangle, UPEI

This event will feature the LoneCry Singers as the host drum, with Michael Julian as the head male dancer and Kelly Sark as the head female dancer. 

Please come enjoy Indigenous artistry as well as cake and snacks!

UPEI will host Research on Tap with a presentation titled “Render unto Caesar: Catholics and the Alt-Right” on Wednesday, October 2, at 6 pm, at the Upstreet Brewery Taproom, 41 Allen St., Charlottetown, PEI.

Dr. Ariana Patey, assistant professor, Department of Religious Studies, is the guest speaker for the event.

“The Internet has facilitated the creation of an Alt-Right movement that includes Catholics,” she said. “This talk explores the ways in which such groups understand and use Catholicism (and the Internet) to attract followers to extremist and white supremacist movements.”

Dr. Patey’s presentation was originally scheduled for last March but had to be postponed at that time because of inclement weather.

Research on Tap is a discussion series featuring UPEI researchers and is open to students, faculty, staff, and the general public. There is no charge to attend. All are welcome to attend.
 

Robertson Library and the UPEI International Student Office (ISO) present Postcards Home!

On Tuesday, October 1, celebrate World Postcard Day from noon to 3:00 pm at the Robertson Library by writing a postcard to your family and friends back home. We provide the postcards, and we will mail them for free anywhere in the world. Last semester, we sent 166 postcards!

Everyone is welcome!

The Generative AI Taskforce (GAIT) will host two workshops in October for faculty interested in learning about GenAI. The first will be a GenAI basics workshop, which will include time to develop a GenAI statement for your course syllabus (or for a specific assignment in your course) on Tuesday, October 15, from 10:00 am to noon.

The second workshop will be tailored to the GenAI curious. Attendees will explore one or two GenAI apps and consider how GenAI might be used for course design, learning activity development, or the creation of a rubric. This workshop will be on Wednesday, October 16, at 1:30 pm.

Colleagues are encouraged to bring a device to these workshops, which will take place in the Teaching and Learning Centre.  An RSVP is not necessary.  

Don’t miss AVC’s Open House on Saturday, September 28, from 10 am to 2 pm. Everyone is invited to attend this free fun family event, featuring all kinds of demonstrations and exhibits. Learn about different dog breeds at the Dog Parade, check out farm animals, dress up like a surgeon, and much more.

Kids, bring your stuffed toys for a check-up and treatment at the Teddy Bear Clinic, get some temporary tattoos, and pick out your favourite balloon animal during the balloon animal adoption event.

Organized and run by AVC students, AVC Open House is one of the largest, most successful open houses in Atlantic Canada. The event is one of many activities taking place during Homecoming Weekend (upei.ca/alumni/homecoming).

For more information, call (902) 566-6786.

While sipping on cedar and chaga teas, we can start with digging into the Peace and Friendship Treaties, discussing what being a treaty person means.  Coming from a settler descendant perspective, Heathyr Francis hopes we will connect this discussion with two of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action: 

• 45)iii) Renew or establish relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future
• 62)ii) Provide the necessary funding to post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on how to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms. 

Heathyr plans to bring along some tactile objects to inspire conversation and some links to take away.  Join us in the TLC for conversations to shed some light on where else we need to go on these Calls to Action!

The UPEI Department of Music is hosting a performance by the Looking Glass Ensemble at 7:30 pm on Friday, September 27, in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall. 

The Looking Glass Ensemble is an interdisciplinary performance collective founded by clarinetist Christine Carter and dance artist Shannon Litzenberger. In collaboration with Canada’s trailblazing pianist Gregory Oh and award-winning cellist Vernon Regehr, the ensemble presents a program pairing newly imagined interdisciplinary creations, including Randall Woolf’s breathtaking “Everything is Green” and Arvo Pärt’s equally exquisite “Spiegel im Spiegel,” with whimsical repertoire for the clarinet, cello, and piano trio combination by Ludwig von Beethoven and Vivian Fung. 

Admission is $30 for adults and seniors and $10 for students payable by cash or cheque at the door. Accessible entry is available via elevator.

As UPEI begins the process of developing its next five-year strategic plan (2025–2030), we are launching a series of conversations and consultations to learn more about what matters to University members and priorities for the future.

UPEI faculty, staff, and students are invited to join in upcoming campus conversations hosted by UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Wendy Rodgers.

Bring your brown bag lunch and help us be forward thinking about our University’s future. Light refreshments will be provided, and door prizes will be drawn!

The first conversations will be in-person, small group ‘flipped’ sessions. The questions we will be exploring are provided below. Please come prepared to discuss and share your input on the topics.

Tuesday, September 24 
Topic: UPEI CULTURE 
11:30 am to 1:00 pm 
Schurman Market Square, Don and Marion McDougall Hall

Please think about the following: 
What are the key indicators of a positive, thriving culture? 
How will we know when we get there? 
How will we know if we are slipping in our efforts?

Thursday, September 26 
Topic: UPEI PRIORITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES 
11:30 am to 1:00 pm 
McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre

Please think about the following: 
Some of the key priorities that have emerged through consultations to date include sustainability; building trust; reconciliation; streamlined processes; and renewing university values. Other priorities such as student experience and success; budget transparency; and completing the UPEI Action Plan and subsequent Implementation Plan are also important to our University community.

What are UPEI’s greatest opportunities in these priority areas? 
How do we assess or measure these priorities?

Additional conversations and consultations, including hybrid sessions, are being scheduled for the Fall. All University members will have an opportunity to participate in providing input and feedback throughout the strategic planning process.  

UPEI has a current posting (for both internal and external candidates) for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Children, Youth, and their Educational Geographies.

The posting details are available on the UPEI HR site.

Please contact UPEI’s Research Services Office (mlsteele@upei.ca) for eligibility details, and consult the CRC Program for full program information, including further details on eligibility criteria (http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/program-programme/nomination-mise_en_candidature-eng.aspx). 

It's homecoming season at UPEI!

There are several great events in store for the Panther community from September 23–29, including

• Homecoming Art Gallery
• “What Can You Do with an Arts Degree?”, featuring comedian and storyteller Justin Shaw (BA’14)
• Music Through the Decades - Homecoming Trivia
• 33rd Annual Distinguished and Inspiring Young Alumni Awards
• UPEI Panthers Pep Rally

For the full homecoming schedule with event details, please visit upei.ca/homecoming

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the UPEI Alumni Office at alumni@upei.ca

Are you trying to find some dedicated time to finish a writing project that needs focused attention?  A "Time to Write" retreat will be offered from October 15 to 18, 2024, at the North Rustico Cottages in North Rustico.

"Time to Write" retreats offer concentrated time to support your writing efforts and can be instrumental in the initiation or completion of scholarly work such as an article, book or book chapter, grant proposal, curriculum or OER development, conference presentations, or other scholarly, creative projects. Time to work on writing projects away from home and campus for a few days can be incredibly productive. Participation in a writing retreat with colleagues at various stages of their career not only provides quiet, focused writing time away from teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, but it also offers mentorship and networking opportunities with colleagues from a range of disciplines. The retreat provides an opportunity to develop a supportive writing group with colleagues from across campus and join group discussions on writing and publishing. 

Participants must have a project (e.g., grant application, research publication) at a stage where sustained writing time makes sense with background research and/or data collection and analysis completed to the point that they are ready to write. Participants must be prepared to commit to the full program--a total of three days focused on writing--and contribute $300. The retreat is open to faculty (term and sessional faculty are encouraged to apply) and librarians in any academic unit at UPEI.

Interested participants will email an expression of interest consisting of a summary of the project they plan to work on and their writing goals for the retreat to TLC@upei.ca by 12:00 noon on September 27, 2024. Five participants will be accepted for this "Time to Write" retreat.  
 

The UPEI Philosophy Reading Group, facilitated by Dr. Max Schaefer, sessional instructor, Faculty of Arts, will hold its first meeting of the 2024–2025 academic year on Wednesday, September 25, from 7:00–8:00 pm, at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre, 97 Queen Street. 

At this meeting, the group will discuss a reading from Gernot Böhme’s The Aesthetics of Atmospheres. A theory of atmospheres first began to take shape in psychiatrist Hubertus Tellenbach’s study and treatment of certain mental disorders and has been a growing movement in philosophy in recent years. To date, atmospheres have been studied in relation to a variety of fields, including psychopathology, politics, advertising, architecture, and urban studies.

The group meets once a month at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre and is regularly attended by students and faculty across a range of disciplines. If you are interested in attending this upcoming meeting or any in the future, please contact Dr. Schaefer at mschaefer@upei.ca for more information.

Last year, the Chaplaincy Centre hosted eight Soup for the Soul free lunches for the campus thanks to the generosity of the UPEI community.  In other years, we had six. What a great problem--too many groups asking to host!  Easy solution--serve more soup!  So let's welcome our 10th anniversary with more. Can we reach 10 for 10?

On Wednesday, September 25, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, join the UPEI Student Union as we kick off our soup season with potato bacon chowder and butternut squash soup, complete with a dinner roll and butter. We leave it to the hosts to surprise us with a sweet treat to finish your lunch.  

And if you would like to host an event, please reach out. Four groups have booked dates, and others have spoken to me with expressions of interest. Hosts are responsible for soup choices, shopping, chopping, cooking, and serving.  We have volunteers and funding for the rest.  Email Sister Sue at sukidd@upei.ca to get in the tenth anniversary Soup for the Soul calendar. 

The UPEI Healthy Campus Commitee is extending your indoor track access at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre until October 3, 2025. Access is free, but you must register if you haven't before. Please read the following:

1. If you had signed up for the track access in the past year, you DO NOT need to sign up again. We will adjust it on our end, so you do not need to do anything.
2. If you never signed up for access to the indoor track, go to recreation.upei.ca. When signing in, ensure that you click on the UPEI LOGIN button and enter your UPEI email address and password, and go through the authentication process. Once you have logged in, go to the Wellness icon, click on the indoor track access and then on select, and follow the rest of the prompts.