The title of this year's Murray Lecture is Water as Teacher: What water can teach us about hope in hard times

This year's distinguished speaker is Dr. Kari Grain, author of Critical Hope and teaches at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Education, where she leads the Master’s in Adult Learning and Global Change (ALGC) Program. 

For more information on the Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope in the Academy and the speaker Dr. Kari Grain, read the article UPEI’s 2025 Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope and the Academy explores water as teacher

The Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope and the Academy will take place on Monday, November 3, at 3:30 pm in SDU Main Building, Room 117. 

The Shannon K. Murray Lecture on Hope in the Academy was established in 2023 to celebrate Shannon's receipt of the Christopher Knapper Lifetime Achievement Award.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to scramble your way through a presentation you have no control over? It’s more fun than you think, and you can experience it yourself (or just come to watch!) on Tuesday, November 4, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship in 201 Robertson Library! No pre-registration required!

Note: If you would like to participate, please bring a phone or computer that can access wi-fi or cellular data.

The UPEI Campus Community is invited to join PEERS Alliance for the Inaugural Walk of The Red Ribbon Path on Saturday, November 1 at 1:00 pm, beginning at the Cultural Pavilion in Victoria Park.

The Red Ribbon Path is a new community art project that honours those impacted by HIV and celebrates our shared resilience. Six local artists have created installations along the route, each dedicated to a community deeply connected to the HIV story, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Black and People of Colour communities, Indigenous Peoples, people who use substances, healthcare workers, and women.

All this week, PEERS Alliance is highlighting each of these incredible artists on social media at 7 pm daily. We hope you’ll follow along, share their posts, and join this historic initiative on November 1 as we walk the path together, taking time to reflect, connect, and celebrate the strength of our community.

For more details, check out PEERS Alliance on social media @peersalliance, or their website www.peersalliance.ca 

Event Details:
Meet at: Cultural Pavilion, Victoria Park
Time: 1:00 pm
Warming Spaces: Beaconsfield Carriage House, 2 Kent Street and PEERS Alliance, 250B Queen St.

Calling all UPEI staff, faculty and students to join the Office of Student Culture and Community Standards as we come together to celebrate the UPEI Men's Basketball team, our 2024-2025 AUS Champions, at the Banner Raising Ceremony on Saturday, November 1, 2025. 

The event will feature the official AUS Banner Raising before the beginning of the men's game.

The event will begin at 1:30 pm, before the UPEI Women's Basketball game on the second floor of the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre. There will be food, beverages, free limited edition t-shirts, thundersticks, face-painting, photo areas and lots more for all attendees to enjoy!!

This is an event you do not want to miss!

Join us on November 13, 2025 at 12:30 pm for a flag raising ceremony and words by community members for Transgender Day of Remembrance 2025. We are honoured to have representatives from local non-profit, grassroot organizations, whose efforts continue to make Epekwitk a more dignified, equitable and joyous place for 2 Spirit and Gender Diverse people to live and thrive.  

Location: The ceremony will take place on campus at the three flag poles facing University Avenue

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual vigil to grieve and pay respects to 2 Spirit and gender diverse people who were murdered as an outcome of transphobia. To learn more about TDOR visit https://glaad.org/tdor/. For more activities during Trans Awareness Week visit the following sites:

• @peersalliance - www.peersalliance.ca
• @nativecouncilpe - www.ncpei.com
• @peitransnetwork - www.peitn.com

Additional Flag Raisings by Community Organizations:

• Charlottetown - November 13 10:00 a.m. Joe Ghiz park
• Summerside - November 14 11 a.m. City Hall
• Stratford - November 17 11 a.m. Town Hall

Please "save the dates" for the remainder of the President’s Town Hall series for the 2025–2026 academic year. More information on each event will be provided closer to each date.

• November 6, 2025 - Town Hall at 1:30 pm re: Budget Plan
• November 20, 2025 - Town Hall/Launch at 2:30 pm re: Strategic Plan
• January 21, 2026 - Town Hall at 10:00 am, topic to be confirmed
• February 12, 2026 - Town Hall at 3:00 pm, topic to be confirmed
• March 26, 2026 - Town Hall at 2:30 pm, topic to be confirmed

We look forward to seeing you!

Current UPEI Masters and Doctoral students and candidates are o-FISH-ally invited to visit the Graduate Studies and Research Services office to "Trick or Treat" for Halloween!

When: Friday, October 31, between 1:30-2:30 pm
Where: Kelley Memorial Building, outside Suite 101

Drop in for a treat. No Halloween costumes required, but they are welcome. Family friendly.

The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship invites you to join our biweekly speaker series. We are pleased to have Bethany Deshpande, Founder of SomaDetect!  SomaDetect is a cutting-edge sensor and software system that offers dairy producers a reliable suite of solutions directly from their milking line.

Bethany Deshpande will share the startup story of her company, SomaDetect, and the lessons learned along the way. Bethany explores why customer validation is essential—not just for product development, but also for fundraising and building trust with strategic partners. She highlights how design thinking and creative workshops can accelerate both product and company growth and reflects on what she would do differently today with the perspective she has gained over the years. She has secured over $20 million in funding from venture capitalists, grants, loans, and won $2M in pitch competitions alone!

More about the speaker: Bethany Deshpande is a science-driven entrepreneur and advisor with a PhD in Biology and deep expertise in technology, innovation development, and commercialization. As founder of SomaDetect, she led the development of a cutting-edge dairy monitoring platform. Today, she helps startups design great products and build go-to-market strategies across climate, agtech, and deep tech sectors.

Bethany Deshpande's talk will take place in 201 Robertson Library on Thursday, October 30 from 12-1pm, and food will be provided. Everyone is welcome to attend.

To attend the session, please sign up here.

The next deadline for submitting biosafety applications, including new applications, renewals, and/or amendments, is Friday, October 31, 2025. These applications will be reviewed at the November 20 meeting.

All research compliance applications, including biosafety application forms, must be submitted through the UPEI researcher portal. Information about the researcher portal, including instructions for using the site, is 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.

Did you know that you can use Moodle for online AND in-person quizzes? The offline quiz Moodle activity can be used to turn your existing online Moodle question bank into a scan-to-grade test. This can save you time grading and give you statistic insight into results, letting you review how students achieved on individual questions. This session will demo and cover how to use this tool in your courses. This lunch and learn will take place in the UPEI Teaching and Learning Centre located in the Robertson Library Annex (RL 230) on October 30 at 12:00 pm. 

Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/QZyN5uuYNG

Registration is not required, but you will receive an event invitation. 

On October 14, Health PEI implemented a universal masking policy across its facilities to help protect patients, staff, and the public from the spread of illness.

At UPEI, we encourage everyone to take proactive steps to stay healthy during the fall and winter months. These include

• staying up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccinations;
• staying home if you are experiencing symptoms;
• practicing good hand hygiene;
• wearing a mask if you are feeling unwell or have been exposed to respiratory illness.

For more details, please visit the UPEI Guidance For Respiratory Illness.

To help protect our patients and staff, masking is strongly recommended at the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre.

COVID-19 rapid test kits are available at both the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre and the UPEI Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) office.

Flu and COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Schedule:

• Wednesday, October 22, 9:00 am–3:00 pm, McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre
• Thursday, October 23, 12:00–7:00 pm, McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre 
• Wednesday, October 29, 12:00–7:00 pm, The McCain Foundation Learning Commons Atrium, Atlantic Veterinary College

Important Details:

• Vaccines are administered on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointment is necessary. 
• This service is free of charge for everyone.
• Please bring a valid provincial health card or student ID for registration.
• You are required to wait 15 minutes in the post-vaccine waiting area after receiving your flu shot to ensure you do not have an allergic reaction. Please plan your time accordingly.

Please Note: 

• We are unable to administer flu vaccines to children aged 2 and under.
• Flu Mist (nasal spray) is available only at the Public Health Nursing Community Vaccination Clinics for children 2 to 17 years of age.
• We are unable to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to children 12 and under. COVID-19 Immunization Clinics are located in communities across PEI.

Attention UPEI students, Pitch Battles is now open for applications!

Pitch Battles is an eight-day competition for UPEI and Holland College students from November 5 - 15 to develop a business idea, build a business model around it, and pitch it to a panel of judges for a chance at $4,000 in prizes! 

The catch? The theme remains a mystery, you won't know who your team members are, or who your industry mentor is until the competition starts.
The competition is open to any full-time UPEI and Holland College students, with an anticipated time commitment of 6-8 hours over the 8 days. You may request one person to be paired with, but they must register to participate and request you as well (but the pairing is still not guaranteed). 

Registration is open until Monday, November 3 at 7:00 pm. Register here!

Want to learn more about the competition? Attend our Pitch Battles information session on Thursday, October 23 at 5:00 - 6:00 pm in 201 Robertson Library.

Can you pitch your way out? Let's find out!

This week’s Tea(ching) Break spotlights a pilot program aimed at improving inclusive teaching in higher education. The study examines how targeted professional development equips faculty with strategies to address diverse student needs, enhance classroom inclusivity, and foster equitable learning environments, demonstrating the real-world impact of structured support for instructors. Inclusive Didactic in Higher Education: a pilot project to improve teaching practices.

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

• Open Educational Resource or Textbook Grant: up to $7000 
  • the development of a new open textbook on a topic that is currently not covered by an existing open textbook, or major adaptations of existing textbooks; 
• Open Textbook Adaptation Grant: up to $4,500 
  • the adaptation of one or more open educational resources or open textbooks to create a new version or edition of a resource (i.e. a Canadian edition of an existing open textbook); 
• Supplementary Resources Grant: up to $2,500 
  • the creation of ancillary materials for existing open textbooks, including, but not limited to test banks, slide decks, recordings, or interactive media, etc. 

All applications will be reviewed and considered, however, applications that meet either/both of the following criteria will be prioritised: 

• Applications that support first-year courses (as they reach the greatest number of students); and/or 
• Applications with evidence of consultation with the TLC and/or a Librarian.  

Applications close January 7, 2026. 

For more information, or to apply, visit https://library.upei.ca/OERProgram/grants. 

Questions about the grants, OERs, Pressbooks, or any other related topics can go to Keri McCaffrey, One Health and Scholarly Communications Librarian at knmccaffrey@upei.ca or Charlene VanLeeuwen in the Teaching and Learning Centre at cvanleeuwen@upei.ca. 

The Health, Safety, and Environment Department (HSE) is offering Basic (previously called Emergency) First Aid/CPR training sessions on the following dates:

• November 7, 2025, 8:30-4:00 pm. Registration cut off: October 31, 2025
• December 8, 2025, 8:30 am–4:00 pm. Registration cut off: December 1, 2025

**Seats are limited, please register early to guarantee your spot!

To register, please email HSE@upei.ca. Include your name, department, contact number and the session date you are registering for. 

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 by HSE. 

Intermediate (Previously called Standard) First Aid/CPR training is a comprehensive two-day course that offers first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills for those who need enhanced training as a work requirement. Please contact HSE at HSE@upei.ca if you require this training.

Every day, our colleagues go above and beyond to make our university a vibrant, supportive, and inspiring place to work and learn. “Recognizing Remarkable Colleagues” is your space to give a shout-out to those who embody our mission and values—whether they’re championing a new initiative, supporting student success, lending a hand to a teammate, or bringing positivity to the workplace. You can also use this program to congratulate a colleague on a new role or wish them well in retirement.

Let’s celebrate the big and small wins that make our campus shine! Submit your note of recognition, and let’s cheer on our amazing colleagues together.

How to submit:

Complete this short form: https://forms.office.com/r/766cg9JsT6 

You’ll be asked to share:

• Who are you recognizing? (Name and department/faculty)
• Why are you recognizing them? (Briefly describe what they did or the impact they made)
• Your name 

Submit your form(s) by the last Friday of each month. Human Resources will collect the submissions and work with Communications to feature them in the Campus Connector. Please note, we now have a dedicated page for this program on the Human Resources SharePoint: Recognizing Remarkable Colleagues.

Not a current subscriber to Campus Connector? Find out how to subscribe.

The deadline for our next issue is Friday, October 31, 2025

Please contact Human Resources at hrengage@upei.ca should you have any questions. 

The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship invites you to join our biweekly speaker series. We are pleased to have Bethany Deshpande, Founder of SomaDetect!  SomaDetect is a cutting-edge sensor and software system that offers dairy producers a reliable suite of solutions directly from their milking line.

Bethany Deshpande will share the startup story of her company, SomaDetect, and the lessons learned along the way. Bethany explores why customer validation is essential—not just for product development, but also for fundraising and building trust with strategic partners. She highlights how design thinking and creative workshops can accelerate both product and company growth and reflects on what she would do differently today with the perspective she has gained over the years. She has secured over $20 million in funding from venture capitalists, grants, loans, and won $2M in pitch competitions alone!

More about the speaker: Bethany Deshpande is a science-driven entrepreneur and advisor with a PhD in Biology and deep expertise in technology, innovation development, and commercialization. As founder of SomaDetect, she led the development of a cutting-edge dairy monitoring platform. Today, she helps startups design great products and build go-to-market strategies across climate, agtech, and deep tech sectors.

Bethany Deshpande's talk will take place in 201 Robertson Library on Thursday, October 30 from 12-1pm, and food will be provided. Everyone is welcome to attend.

To attend the session, please sign up here.

ITSS conducted their first AMA (Ask Me Anything) this week where anyone from the campus could come and ask questions directly to the ITSS Management team. Those in attendance agreed that it was useful and informative, and they should continue. Look for more ITSS driven AMA's in the future! 

Follow this link for a recap of the questions raised and the responses provided by the team:

• If the phone is for Live Critical Support only, what do I do if my account is locked?
• What are the hours of support for Help Desk? Is it only 8–4, Monday to Friday?
• What defines ticket priorities?
• What are the triage and escalation procedures for ITSS?
• Are Copilot questions/answers included in FOIP?
• Is there any guideline for the responsible use of AI?
• How do I learn about “speaking IT” if I’m not in IT and I’m trying to coordinate with ITSS and other developers?
• Is every IT computer asset purchased by employees tracked by ITSS?

The next deadline for submitting biosafety applications, including new applications, renewals, and/or amendments, is Friday, October 31, 2025. These applications will be reviewed at the November 20 meeting.

All research compliance applications, including biosafety application forms, must be submitted through the UPEI researcher portal. Information about the researcher portal, including instructions for using the site, is 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.

We are pleased to introduce UPEI’s new Exit Interview program, developed as part of the UPEI Action Plan: 

• 3.1.6.1: Develop a process to offer exit interviews for departing employees, and 
• 3.1.6.2: Develop a process to share aggregate information learned from exit interviews in confidential and appropriate ways. 

An exit interview is a voluntary opportunity for employees who are leaving UPEI or moving to a new department to share feedback about their work experience. This helps us better understand the employee experience and identify opportunities to strengthen our workplace. 

More information is available on the Human Resources SharePoint page, including: 

• The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlining eligibility and reporting 
• A sample questionnaire 

If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Employee Experience & Development Team in Human Resources at hrengage@upei.ca