If you are planning on visiting the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre and have been out of the province, you are required to have already self-isolated and had a negative test for COVID-19 on day 4 of your return to PEI (you will need to indicate whether you had a molecular (PCR) test or rapid antigen test). 

You will not be seen unless you have isolated and had a negative test result on day 4 following your trip. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to reduce the transmission of the Omicron variant/COVID-19 virus.

The UPEI Health and Wellness Centre is located on 2nd Floor North, W. A. Murphy Student Centre and is open from 8:30 am–4:00 pm, Monday to Friday (closed daily from 12:00–1:00 pm for lunch). Contact healthcentre@upei.ca or 902-566-0616 for more info.

The E-Learning Office and the Teaching and Learning Centre want to know what your most urgent needs are so that we can identify priorities for support — Do you need technical or pedagogical support? Do any of our existing resources meet your needs? Taking 1-2 minutes to complete this survey will help ensure you get support to help make the first weeks of the Winter 2022 semester a success for both you and your students.

The weekly COVID-19 Testing Clinics for partially and non-vaccinated faculty, staff, and students will resume on January 7th, 2022.  The clinics will be run out of the McMillan Room at the W.A. Murphy Building for the month of January from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. 

Please note:  These clinics are not meant for people with symptoms - if you believe you might have symptoms of COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, you will require a molecular test that is not provided at UPEI.  Please visit a Health PEI Testing Clinic:  https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/health-and-wellness/covid-19-testing-in-pei.

IT Systems and Services is preparing virtual student computer lab applications for the Winter 2022 Semester. We kindly ask that all Faculty and/or lab facilitators who require access to virtual lab applications for their courses please submit their requests via the form provided on the myUPEI portal.

Please complete this form if you are facilitating a course in the upcoming Winter 2022 Semester and your students will require virtual lab access to complete their course.

Please note that any virtual lab access previously provided for courses will be removed by January 30, 2021. If your students still require access during the Winter 2022 semester, please re-submit the above form.

In some specialized cases there may be costs and approvals associated with provisioning virtual labs, and in these cases ITSS will contact you to discuss next steps.

Yoga Instructor Pam Harris will guide you through a 45-minute class offering meditation and gentle yoga stretches. The meditation segment of the class creates more calm, inner peace, and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and overall health 

Thursdays 12:10–12:55 pm

January 13 - February 17

March 3 - April 7

The class is FREE and for UPEI employees only, provided by the Healthy Campus Committee and supported by the UPEI Employee Wellness Strategy. You do not need to have a sports centre membership in order to take this class. Staff/Faculty can only register for one of the sessions above per semester.     

Registration and to check if spots available be follow instructions below.

UPEI FACULTY/STAFF: Please sign in using your UPEI email address and password at our new portal: recreation.upei.ca. Then click on the Fitness Programs Icon. In the drop-down menu on the left, click on Campus Staff/Faculty Wellness programs. Sign up information is at that site.  Ensure you also click on January - April 2022 Semester.

Beat the New Years Resolution rush and sign up for small group training now.   Small Group Training is a fun and effective way to reach your fitness goals by training in a group of six under the guidance of a certified personal trainer.    We have a variety of options (once/week, two times/week, three times/week) at a great price for UPEI staff/faculty   $50 + hst  for 1 session (12 classes), regular price is $135 + hst.    If you have any questions, please contact Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca

For more details visit https://www.upei.ca/ar/fitness-classes

To register for small group training please log into our new online registration site.

UPEI faculty, staff, and students: 

• You can sign in using your UPEI email address and password at our new portal, recreation.upei.ca. 
• After signing in click on the Fitness Programming icon and following prompts.         

The E-Learning Office and the Teaching and Learning Centre want to know what your most urgent needs are so that we can identify priorities for support — Do you need technical or pedagogical support? Do any of our existing resources meet your needs? Taking 1-2 minutes to complete this survey will help ensure you get support to help make the first weeks of the Winter 2022 semester a success for both you and your students.

Starting in January 2022, science students at UPEI can register for a new 21-credit minor in biotechnology and two new associated courses, BIOT 1020: Field Studies in Biotechnology on PEI and BIOT 2020: Case Studies in Biotechnology.

The Faculty of Science has developed the new minor in partnership with the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) in response to new career opportunities for science and technology in the biotechnology sector on PEI.

The new minor combines the academic and laboratory components of students’ science degree program with hands-on skills development, and it complements existing programs on campus. Through industry-supported work-integrated learning placements embedded in all new UPEI biotechnology courses, students will gain experience and industry connections to kickstart a career in biosciences and biotechnology.

The new courses will give students an introduction to the biotechnology in local industry. BIOT 2020: Case Studies in Biotechnology is an online course where students will examine and solve research problems drawn from national and local biotechnology industry. BIOT 1020: Field Studies in Biotechnology on PEI involves field visits to local biotechnology industries. Both courses are open to all science students, and prerequisites are not required.

For more information, please contact Dr. Maria Kilfoil, associate professor, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, at mlkilfoil@upei.ca.

The weekly COVID-19 Testing Clinics for partially and non-vaccinated faculty, staff, and students will resume on January 7th, 2022.  The clinics will be run out of the McMillan Room at the W.A. Murphy Building for the month of January from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. 

Please note:  These clinics are not meant for people with symptoms - if you believe you might have symptoms of COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, you will require a molecular test that is not provided at UPEI.  Please visit a Health PEI Testing Clinic:  https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/health-and-wellness/covid-19-testing-in-pei.

Consider using elements of your course design to support your students during the soon-to-start  Winter semester. This summary resource compiled by the University of Calgary's Teaching and Learning Subcommittee of the Campus Mental Health Strategy uses mental health and wellness as a framework for teaching and learning.  To read more about the framework click here 

UPEI’s Department of Athletics and Recreation offers some great programming to faculty and staff—and even better—at a discounted rate!

• Specialty fitness classes include barre, gentle yoga, mat pilates, and yoga strength and flexibility, to name a few. Each session includes 12 classes. The cost for UPEI faculty and staff is $25 (plus HST) per person.

To register, go to recreation.upei.ca, click on UPEI Login, and sign in with your UPEI email address and password. After signing in, click on the Fitness Programming icon and follow the prompts. If you have any questions about fitness programming registrations, please contact Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca.

Folks in the Teaching and Learning Centre and E-Learning Office have been as busy as Santa's elves. We want to share some resources to help faculty and instructional staff prepare for online learning at the start of the winter 2022 semester. Here's a special edition newsletter to wrap up 2021 and help you start the new semester successfully. 

Starting in January 2022, science students at UPEI can register for a new 21-credit minor in biotechnology and two new associated courses, BIOT 1020: Field Studies in Biotechnology on PEI and BIOT 2020: Case Studies in Biotechnology.

The Faculty of Science has developed the new minor in partnership with the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) in response to new career opportunities for science and technology in the biotechnology sector on PEI.

The new minor combines the academic and laboratory components of students’ science degree program with hands-on skills development, and it complements existing programs on campus. Through industry-supported work-integrated learning placements embedded in all new UPEI biotechnology courses, students will gain experience and industry connections to kickstart a career in biosciences and biotechnology.

The new courses will give students an introduction to the biotechnology in local industry. BIOT 2020: Case Studies in Biotechnology is an online course where students will examine and solve research problems drawn from national and local biotechnology industry. BIOT 1020: Field Studies in Biotechnology on PEI involves field visits to local biotechnology industries. Both courses are open to all science students, and prerequisites are not required.

For more information, please contact Dr. Maria Kilfoil, associate professor, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, at mlkilfoil@upei.ca.

With the cancellation of the Festive Holiday Meals that were originally scheduled for December 20 and December 21, Chartwells has an overstock of Chicken Supreme and Sticky Date Pudding. Anyone interested in purchasing a box of chicken (16 pieces of chicken breast with bone-in) will receive 16 servings of sticky date pudding and sauce. Chef Dave has also prepared two recipes that will be included with your purchase as well! All this can be yours for the low price of one $60 payment! 

That is right--$60 for 16 breasts of chicken,16 servings of sticky date pudding, and two of Chef Dave's recipes!

To purchase this amazing deal, just visit the Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall between 10:00 am--4:00 pm on December 23 or 24. 

Methods of payment accepted are cash, debit, VISA, or MasterCard.

Please note: Chicken is frozen and split into two bags of 8/box (total of 16 servings). The Sticky Date Pudding is frozen and will be provided in two dishes of 8 (total of 16 servings).

For more information, please email Angela MacKenzie at angela.mackenzie@compass-canada.com

The UPEI Bookstore will be closed from December 24 to January 3. We will re-open on January 4 at 9:00 am.  

Thank you for shopping at the Bookstore, and we hope everyone has a good holiday! 

With the cancellation of the Festive Holiday Meals that were originally scheduled for December 20 and December 21, Chartwells has an overstock of Chicken Supreme and Sticky Date Pudding. Anyone interested in purchasing a box of chicken (16 pieces of chicken breast with bone-in) will receive 16 servings of sticky date pudding and sauce. Chef Dave has also prepared two recipes that will be included with your purchase as well! All this can be yours for the low price of one $60 payment! 

That is right--$60 for 16 breasts of chicken,16 servings of sticky date pudding, and two of Chef Dave's recipes!

To purchase this amazing deal, just visit the Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall between 10:00 am--4:00 pm on December 23 or 24. 

Methods of payment accepted are cash, debit, VISA, or MasterCard.

Please note: Chicken is frozen and split into two bags of 8/box (total of 16 servings). The Sticky Date Pudding is frozen and will be provided in two dishes of 8 (total of 16 servings).

For more information, please email Angela MacKenzie at angela.mackenzie@compass-canada.com

IT Systems and Services is preparing virtual student computer lab applications for the Winter 2022 Semester. We kindly ask that all Faculty and/or lab facilitators who require access to virtual lab applications for their courses please submit their requests via the form provided on the myUPEI portal.

Please complete this form if you are facilitating a course in the upcoming Winter 2022 Semester and your students will require virtual lab access to complete their course.

Please note that any virtual lab access previously provided for courses will be removed by January 30, 2021. If your students still require access during the Winter 2022 semester, please re-submit the above form.

In some specialized cases there may be costs and approvals associated with provisioning virtual labs, and in these cases ITSS will contact you to discuss next steps.

Due to the changing Covid regulations on campus, the food bank is adjusting how it serves students on Wednesday, December 22, 2021. 

Students who wish to use the food bank must complete this form, and will be assigned a time to access the food bank.

This is the final day the food bank will be open before the holiday break. Please follow UPEI Campus Food Bank on Facebook for details about when we re-open in January.

The Robertson Library’s OER Development Program is accepting grant applications for the creation or adaptation of open educational resources (OERs). The grant types include:

• Open Textbook Grant: up to $6000
  • the development of a new open textbook on a topic that is currently not covered by an existing open textbook; 
• Open Textbook Adaptation Grant: up to $4,000
  • the adaptation of one or more open textbooks to create a new version or edition of an open textbook (i.e. a Canadian edition of an existing open textbook);
• Supplementary Resources Grant: up to $2,000
  • the creation of ancillary materials for existing open textbooks, including, but not limited to test banks, slide decks, or interactive media, etc.

Applications that support first year courses will be given priority as they reach the most amount of students, but all applications will be reviewed and considered. The deadline for applications is Friday, March 25, 2022, with work expected to begin during Spring or Summer. More information is available at https://library.upei.ca/OERProgram/grants.

Questions about your grant idea? Contact Kim Mears at kmears@upei.ca. Questions about OERs? Read more at http://opencontent.org/definition/.

Student Affairs will be closed Wednesday, December 22 from 12pm to 4pm for a staff development event. If you have an on campus emergency contact security services 902-566-0384.