UPEI holds first annual Diversity Week January 19 to 24

The Diversity Office at the University of Prince Edward Island will hold its first annual Diversity Week from January 19 to 24.

Ruth Freeman, coordinator of the Diversity Office, envisions the week as an opportunity to explore and share the increasing diversity of the university community.

'The spirit of diversity recognizes, acknowledges and celebrates what makes us different from one another,' she says. 'But it also seeks to build on what we have in common and what unites us across boundaries of class, gender, ethnicity, religion, language, culture and ability.'

A highlight of the week will be an address called 'Working Across Cultures' by well-known speaker Ben Yang on January 22 at 1 p.m. in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre.

Yang is known throughout Canada for his insightful and inspirational talks on globalization and cross-cultural communication. He is currently director of the University of Toronto's International Student Centre and an instructor for the International Educator Training Program at Queen's University. He also serves as chair for the Canadian Bureau for International Education Immigration's advising committee.

Other activities will include the official opening of UPEI's new aboriginal student centre, a poetry slam, movies, displays, cultural activities, international foods, presentations and more.

Photographs submitted to the Diversity Office's photo contest, which was held in advance of the week, will also be displayed. The top three winners are Doreen Pippy, for her June 2008 photo of UPEI student Billy MacDonald playing with students from Kinyinjere School in Kenya; Shine Chung, for Pinwheels for Peace, created for International Peace Day by Diversity Office volunteers and the UPEI Buddy Program in September 2008; and Leslie Holt-Dalziel, for a photo she submitted of the UPEI Adult Connections in Education (ACE) program's peer luncheon held in April 2008.

All Diversity Week activities are free and open to the public. A schedule of events is available on the Diversity Office's website at www.upei.ca/studentservices/diversity-office. For further information, please contact Ruth Freeman at (902) 628-4332 or rfreeman@upei.ca.