The UPEI community is invited to attend the 2014 President’s Holiday Social and Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 4, 3:30-5:00 pm. The reception will take place in Schurman Market Square, Don and Marion McDougall Hall, where the new "UPEI Commits to Care" campaign will also be launched, followed by a tree lighting ceremony at 4:45 pm, between Kelley Memorial Building and the W.A. Murphy Student Centre. UPEI student Bridgette Blanchard will provide music during the social and appetizers and light refreshments will be served. UPEI food bank items and/or monetary donations are graciously accepted. The Office of the President will match all donations. Hope to see you there!

Panther fans are invited to drop off non-perishable food items to the UPEI Sports Centre or at Saturday's Men's/Women's Hockey home games. All contributions are appreciated!

At the Chaplaincy Centre, thoughts are with the students during exam time, their success, and yes, of course, the chili dinner. On the first two days of exams - Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 & 4 -between 11:30 am–1:30 pm, a chili dinner is served at the Chaplaincy Centre, free for the students. About 300 students show up each day with smiles and conversation on this busy week. We are looking for faculty and staff to help out and provide encouragement for students on their exams. If you are able to volunteer some time, sign up here: https://docs.google.com/a/upei.ca/document/d/1cDmfQL-5YHXAlWCCEQTUANKyn…

The Student Union office will be closed tomorrow, Friday, November 28 so staff can attend Mental Health First Aid training. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The past and present state of Island land use policy will be the subject of a Public Symposium to be held at UPEI’s MacKinnon Auditorium, Room 242, Don and Marion McDougall Hall. The event is rescheduled to Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 pm due to road conditions. The Symposium will begin with presentations by two veteran observers of Island public life over the past 30 years, Jean-Paul Arsenault and Ian Petrie. Mr. Arsenault’s talk will be entitled “Factors Affecting Land Use Decisions: What Were They Thinking?” and Mr. Petrie will address the topic “Why Farmers Fight Regulations.” Descriptions of their talks can be found at http://projects.upei.ca/iis/events/ Members of the public are cordially invited to attend. Admission is free. This event is sponsored by UPEI’s Institute of Island Studies, in conjunction with UPEI Research Services.

UPEI invites the nomination of candidates for honorary degrees to be conferred at Convocation in May 2015. Honorary degrees are conferred honoris causa, “for the sake of honour,” and are intended to recognize outstanding provincial, national, and international contributions in any field(s) of endeavour. Contributions should reflect extraordinary intellectual or artistic achievements or significant service to society at a standard of excellence that merits the University’s highest honour. Nominations can be made online or a form can be downloaded to mail at upei.ca/nominatehdr. For more information call (902) 566-6780 or email senateassistant@upei.ca. Deadline for nominations is January 2, 2015.

The Department of Pathology & Microbiology at the Atlantic Veterinary College invites you to attend a seminar given by Dr. Cora Gilroy from The Atlantic Veterinary College on Friday, November 28. Dr. Gilroy is interviewing for a tenure-track faculty position in clinical pathology and is presenting her seminar titled "Teaching and Diagnostics: Twists in the Road" at 10:30 am in Robertson Library, Room RL208. All are welcome.

The staff of Human Resources welcomes Susan Connolly as Associate Vice President of Human Resources who joins the University from Stewart MacKelvey. Sue can be reached at (902) 566-0704 or smconnolly@upei.ca. Also, Megan Gee has joined HR in Employee Services replacing Lacey Myers who will be on a leave for the coming year. Please contact Megan for any of your Employee Services needs at (902) 566-0605 or mgee@upei.ca. We wish both Sue and Megan well in their new roles at UPEI.

At the Chaplaincy Centre thoughts are with the students during exam time, their success, and yes, of course, the chili dinner. On the first two days of exams - Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 & 4 - between 11:30 am–1:30 pm, a chili dinner is served at the Chaplaincy Centre, free for the students. About 300 students show up each day with smiles and conversation on this busy week. We are looking for faculty and staff to help out and provide encouragement for students on their exams. UPEI Chaplaincy Centre and the Diocese of Charlottetown, through the generosity of Saint Dunstan's University Board of Governors, gladly sponsor this year's chili (and more) lunch! If you are able to volunteer some time, sign up here: https://docs.google.com/a/upei.ca/document/d/1cDmfQL-5YHXAlWCCEQTUANKyn…

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz cordially invites the University community to 'University Update 2014' on Thursday, November 27, 2:30-4:00 pm, in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium, room 242 in Don and Marion McDougall Hall. You're invited to join the President in conversation about the priorities and direction of the University. Your voice is important. All are welcome to attend. In case of inclement weather, a storm date has been scheduled for Monday, December 1, same time and same location. A further notice will be issued if necessary.

You're invited to a special event to unveil plans for the new School of Sustainable Design Engineering and Centre of Engineering Design & Industry Partnerships on Friday, November 28 at 1:00 pm in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre. The Hon. Gail Shea (on behalf of the Hon. Rob Moore, Minister of State at ACOA); the Hon. Robert Ghiz, Premier of Prince Edward Island; and UPEI's Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, President and Vice-Chancellor will be in attendance to announce the exciting plans! All are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to rjgass@upei.ca

UPEI invites the nomination of candidates for honorary degrees to be conferred at Convocation in May 2015. Honorary degrees are conferred honoris causa, “for the sake of honour,” and are intended to recognize outstanding provincial, national, and international contributions in any field(s) of endeavour. Contributions should reflect extraordinary intellectual or artistic achievements or significant service to society at a standard of excellence that merits the University’s highest honour. Nominations can be made online or a form can be downloaded to mail at upei.ca/nominatehdr. For more information call (902) 566-6780 or email senateassistant@upei.ca. Deadline for nominations is January 2, 2015.

The Department of Pathology & Microbiology at the Atlantic Veterinary College invites you to attend a seminar given by Dr. Cora Gilroy from The Atlantic Veterinary College on Friday, November 28. Dr. Gilroy is interviewing for a tenure-track faculty position in clinical pathology and is presenting her seminar titled "Teaching and Diagnostics: Twists in the Road" at 10:30 am in Robertson Library, Room RL208. All are welcome.

The staff of Human Resources welcomes Susan Connolly as Associate Vice President of Human Resources who joins the University from Stewart MacKelvey. Sue can be reached at (902) 566-0704 or smconnolly@upei.ca. Also, Megan Gee has joined HR in Employee Services replacing Lacey Myers who will be on a leave for the coming year. Please contact Megan for any of your Employee Services needs at (902) 566-0605 or mgee@upei.ca. We wish both Sue and Megan well in their new roles at UPEI.

At the Chaplaincy Centre thoughts are with the students during exam time, their success, and yes, of course, the chili dinner. On the first two days of exams - Wednesday and Thursday, December 3 & 4 - between 11:30 am–1:30 pm, a chili dinner is served at the Chaplaincy Centre, free for the students. About 300 students show up each day with smiles and conversation on this busy week. We are looking for faculty and staff to help out and provide encouragement for students on their exams. UPEI Chaplaincy Centre and the Diocese of Charlottetown, through the generosity of Saint Dunstan's University Board of Governors, gladly sponsor this year's chili (and more) lunch! If you are able to volunteer some time, sign up here: https://docs.google.com/a/upei.ca/document/d/1cDmfQL-5YHXAlWCCEQTUANKyn…

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz cordially invites the University community to 'University Update 2014' on Thursday, November 27, 2:30-4:00 pm, in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium, room 242 in Don and Marion McDougall Hall. You're invited to join the President in conversation about the priorities and direction of the University. Your voice is important. All are welcome to attend. In case of inclement weather, a storm date has been scheduled for Monday, December 1, same time and same location. A further notice will be issued if necessary.

You're invited to a special event to unveil plans for the new School of Sustainable Design Engineering and Centre of Engineering Design & Industry Partnerships on Friday, November 28 at 1:00 pm in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre. The Hon. Gail Shea (on behalf of the Hon. Rob Moore, Minister of State at ACOA); the Hon. Robert Ghiz, Premier of Prince Edward Island; and UPEI's Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, President and Vice-Chancellor will be in attendance to announce the exciting plans! All are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to rjgass@upei.ca

There will be a UPEI Basic Biosafety training session on Monday, December 15, from 1:00-4:00 pm in AVC, room 287N. Topics to be covered include: basic biosafety principles and how they are applied at the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as biosecurity training. Please note: only those who attended a training session after November 2012 are currently considered to be “up to date” in their training requirements. If you wish to attend, you must pre-register by contacting Rita Stanley, Research Services and Graduate Studies, before December 8, 2014 by email (rstanley@upei.ca) or by phone (ext. 4308). Please include your name, department, email address, and phone number in your email or voice message. If you have any questions on this training session, please contact Dr. Rhoda Speare, UPEI Biosafety Officer, by phone (ext. 5071), or e mail (rspeare@upei.ca)

MRJ Construction and Atlantic Roofers will be completing work on the flat roof above the west entrance of Dalton Hall. In order to complete this work, the main entrance on the west side of Dalton Hall will be closed from 8:00 am Wednesday, November 26 and re-open on Friday, November 28, no later than 5:00 pm, this entrance/exit will be emergency use only during this time. Access during this time will be through the east entrance. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jackie MacPhail at jmacphail@upei.ca or 6034.

The UPEI Jazz Ensemble presents its annual fall concert on Thursday November 27 at 7:30 pm in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall. The Jazz Ensemble will be joined by singers from Sung Ha Shin-Bouey’s vocal studio and will be featured on “Conga” by Sheila E. and Stevie Wonders' hit “You are the Sunshine of my Life.” Featured horn soloists will include saxophonist Lucas MacPhail performing Count Basie’s “Lonely Street “ and trumpeter Robyn Verhoeven with a solo feature on “Monday’s Child” by Lennie Niehaus. Other selections will include a big band version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Quincy Jones and the Buddy Rich version of “ Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” The Jazz Ensemble is under the direction of David Shephard. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available at the door, online at www.upeirecitals8.bpt.me, or in advance by calling (902) 566‐0507. In case of inclement weather, the fall concert will be postponed and a new notice will be sent out.