The Island Studies Lectures Series gets under way for a new season on Tuesday, October 18, at 7 pm in the SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge on the UPEI campus. Kicking off the season is UPEI historian Dr. Edward MacDonald, who will present a public lecture, “The Romance of Prince Edward Island: A Tour Through the 1941 Visitors' Guide.”

Along with fellow Islander Dr. Alan MacEachern of the University of Western Ontario, Dr. MacDonald has been working for many years on a history of Prince Edward Island tourism. In 1941, for special reasons, Prince Edward Island dressed itself up as “The England of Canada” in a bid to attract war-wary American tourists. One visitor saved the guide, adding their own comments in the margins. Six decades later, that guide has come back to the Island. Its pictures, text, ads, and annotations provide a revealing glimpse into an industry that was still struggling to define itself.

Dr. Edward MacDonald teaches in the History Department at UPEI. His research focus is the social, cultural, and environmental history of Prince Edward Island. Along with Dr. Josh MacFadyen and Dr. Irene Novaczek, he is co-editor of Time and A Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island, co-published by Island Studies Press and McGill-Queen’s University Press. The best known of his seven books is If You’re Stronghearted: Prince Edward Island in the 20th Century (October 2000).

Admission to the lecture is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Watch for details for another lecture about islands–near and far–November 15. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902)894-2881.

UPEI’s vice-president academic and research spoke recently at the inaugural Cardiovascular Research Day at the Ontario Veterinary College. In addition to his many duties at UPEI, Dr. Robert Gilmour is also a prominent cardiovascular researcher. His lab focuses on the cellular mechanisms for the development and suppression of heart rhythm disorders, in particular ventricular fibrillation, which is the leading cause of death in developed nations. A collaborative multidisciplinary approach involving physiologists, physicists, computer scientists, and engineers, as well as human and veterinary cardiologists, is used to develop new and better methods of detecting and treating these life-threatening disorders. His talk was titled “Cardiac Defibrillation: It’s been a LEAP Year.”

The inaugural research day for the Centre for Cardiovascular Investigations (CCVI) at the University of Guelph brought together more than 100 researchers, students, and research collaborators. 

The UPEI Graduate Student Association (GSA), along with UPEI’s Vice-President Administration and Finance Jackie Podger and Vice-President Academic and Research Dr. Robert Gilmour, are pleased to announce that the GSA now has a student lounge. The lounge is located in room 403 of the Duffy Science Centre and is available for use by any student currently enrolled in a graduate program at UPEI. This is a great space to drop in, take a breather, and meet other graduate students on campus. Stay tuned for announcements from the GSA about upcoming events in our new lounge.

To celebrate the inaugural basketball season in the new stadium-style seats, UPEI Athletics and Recreation is offering reserved, personalized seats to all Panther Package holders for an additional $25.00. The best deal in sports on the Island just got better!

Your Panther Package gets you into every Panther home game of the 2016/2017 season (except men’s hockey). It costs $75.00 and includes a Panther coin and key chain, poster and pocket schedules, a piece of Panther swag (T-shirt or hat). These can be purchased on-line at gopanthersgo.ca, or at Panther Central (front desk of Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre).

Children are not charged admission to the games, but you can purchase a reserved seat for each child in your family, without the purchase of a Panther Package. Reserved seating will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Sales will commence on Thursday October 13 at 9:00 am.

Stop by Panther Central. Your seat is waiting!

Enrolment at the University of Prince Edward Island is reflecting an upward trend once again this year; in fact, UPEI tops the region.

The Atlantic Association of Universities (AAU) recently posted its annual survey of preliminary enrolments on its website, with data from universities around the region as of October 1, 2016.  UPEI has grown the most in terms of total full-time undergraduate and graduate enrolment with an increase over last year of 2.8 per cent. The regional average shows a decline of 0.5 per cent.

“We are working extremely hard in every way we can to highlight the excellent quality of our programs, our faculty, and our unique learning environment at UPEI,” said Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor.

“We take pride in our collective efforts to provide experiential learning opportunities to our students, to allow them to reach their full potential. This work is paying off in attracting new students, vitally important at a time when demographics are changing.”

One way that UPEI is overcoming declining high school numbers in the region is by being extremely successful in drawing students from around the world. This year UPEI saw a substantial increase of international applications, resulting in 894 international student enrolments, an increase of 19.5 per cent. Of UPEI’s total student body, 21 per cent is made up of international students.

“We warmly welcome this important diversity to our campus,” adds President Abd-El-Aziz.

As of October 1, a total of 4,433 students, both full-time and part-time, were enrolled at UPEI.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students to reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

Assocation of Atlantic Universities news release

The University of Prince Edward Island extends its condolences on the passing of Michael S. Schurman, LLD after learning of his sudden death over the weekend.

The 79-year-old retired business icon was a long-time friend of and donor to UPEI. He was past vice-chair of the UPEI Board of Governors, chair of the Building a Legacy capital campaign, and most recently served on the Advisory Council for the UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering. He was recognized by UPEI for his contributions to and leadership in the construction, business, education, charitable, and non-profit sectors with an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2009.

“The University has lost a great friend and tremendous supporter in Michael Schurman. Mike was passionate and steadfast in his commitment to post-secondary education and, in particular, to UPEI,” said Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, President and Vice-Chancellor. “On behalf of the entire UPEI community, I extend my most sincere sympathies to Mike’s wife, Pat and his daughters, Margo Thompson, Kim Horrelt, Pam Montgomery, and Jody Hollis, and their families.”

In 2008, Dr. Schurman and his family were recognized for their contribution to UPEI’s Building a Legacy campaign when the dramatic, two-level entrance and main feature in Don and Marion McDougall Hall was named “Schurman Market Square.” 

At that time Dr. Schurman said, “UPEI is such an important element of the cultural, economic, social, and educational life on Prince Edward Island. To support the University is the same as supporting the development and growth of the province. It is so easy to support UPEI because it benefits all Islanders.”

He also noted that UPEI's reputation for excellence in education and research had grown immensely, and would continue to grow. His prediction came true—he shared the vision of President Abd-El-Aziz for the new UPEI School of Sustainable Design Engineering.

“I’ve personally lost a great friend and mentor,” added President Abd-El-Aziz. “Mike provided wonderful guidance and support from the first day I arrived at UPEI. I can’t say enough about how much he helped UPEI achieve our dream of having the School of Sustainable Design Engineering and how he was continuing to contribute by serving on the engineering advisory council. I will greatly miss him.”

After completing his education at Acadia University (Commerce) and UNB (Civil Engineering), Dr. Schurman became involved in his family's construction, building supplies, and concrete business, M.F. Schurman Company, Limited, becoming president and general manager. His business acumen and ability for being at the forefront of technology was known across the country, and his wisdom was well sought. Dr. Schurman served on the boards of the Canadian Construction Association, Atlantic Business Development, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, Atlantic Opportunities Agency, Island Telecom, and Slemon Park Corporation. He was inducted as a laureate of the Junior Achievement of PEI Business Hall of Fame in 2000. The family business, which had expanded under Dr. Schurman’s leadership to include a dozen companies under the M.F. Schurman name, was sold to J.D. Irving Ltd. in 2004.

Among his many volunteer pursuits, he was a long time board member for The Fathers of Confederation Building Trust, most recently serving as treasurer. He also had served as an executive member of the Board of Governors at Acadia University and as vice-chair of the Holland College Foundation. The Michael S. Schurman Family Foundation also funded the Heart and Stroke Foundation of PEI's Change of Heart program.

Funeral arrangements for Michael S. Schurman, LLD have been entrusted to Belvedere Funeral Home. The University will lower its flags to half-mast position in his memory.

Every week, UPEI Athletics and Recreation recognizes two student-athletes for their hard work and dedication to their respective sports. Congratulations to Corneila Geib (women’s hockey) and Mohammad Jaber (men’s soccer), the UPEI Panther Subway Athletes of the Week for October 10-16! View the video.

Mohammad Jaber is a first-year Science student and a striker from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jaber scored both goals on five shots during the Men’s Soccer Panthers’ 2-0 win over Université de Moncton on Saturday.  During Sunday's 1-0 loss to the University of New Brunswick, Jaber pushed hard offensively, recording three goal chances.

“Mohammed was our number one scoring threat in both games this weekend,” said head coach Lewis Page. “He created numerous opportunities for us and he scored on two of them.”

Corneila Geib is a fourth-year Business student and a forward from Calgary, Alberta.  Geib scored two goals in the Women’s Hockey Panthers’ 5-1 win over Mount Allison University on Friday, and then, on Saturday, scored the overtime winner in the team’s 3-2 win over Dalhousie.

“Corneila's work ethic was extremely strong on the weekend,” said head coach Bruce Donaldson. "She took advantage of her veteran experience in the league.”

Congratulations Corneila and Mohammad!

It’s not too late to purchase your Panther Package, the best sports deal on Prince Edward Island! Your $75 season ticket gets you into every Panthers home game, in every sport (except men’s hockey). Find more details at gopanthersgo.ca.

The University of Prince Edward Island signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany on Monday, October 17, 2016.

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, accompanied by industry experts from the PEI Bioalliance, Vector Aerospace, BioFuelNet Canada, and BBSI Canada Ltd., met with TUM in Germany for three days of joint-research-cooperation meetings. These meetings have resulted in an MOU between UPEI and TUM, which will facilitate an exchange program for students from UPEI’s Department of Chemistry and TUM’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

President Abd-El-Aziz said he is encouraged by the signing of the MOU, that this was the priority of his visit and that the accompaniment of industry experts reinforced the importance of joint collaborations in the field of bioprocess engineering, aviation system engineering, and energy systems engineering.

“Our overall goal during these joint research cooperation meetings was to explore the possibility of a student exchange program,” said President Abd-El-Aziz. “The Technical University of Munich is a formidable institution and this new relationship will foster joint-research opportunities for our students while simultaneously exposing them to new approaches, another culture, and global networking opportunities.” 

President Abd-El-Aziz added that this new partnership will have positive impacts for both universities as well as the province of Prince Edward Island and will strengthen UPEI’s efforts to be a leader in research and discovery.

About UPEI’s Partner

The Technical University of Munich is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Freising-Weihenstephan. It is a member of TU9, an incorporated society of the largest and most notable German institutes of technology. The university has roughly 39,000 students and 9,800 academic staff. TUM's alumni include 13 Nobel laureates, 18 Leibniz Prizewinners and 10 IEEE Fellow Members. 

By Thomas Becker

When head coach Bruce Donaldson assembled his team, he wanted a group of people who could work well together and play as one.

During the preseason, in which the Panthers went 2-4, Donaldson gave each player one role that he believed they could succeed in in hopes of piecing together the challenging puzzle of building a contender.

For players who grew up as key contributors – playing multiple roles on their respective teams – the transition hasn’t been easy, but Donaldson said in time, the players will get accustomed to playing alongside one another while knowing each other’s roles on the ice.

“If everyone knows how they fit on this team, we’ll be successful,” the coach said.

Last season ended in disappointment as UPEI failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign. As a result, Donaldson overhauled his roster during the offseason and recruited nine rookies, who have already made an impression on their tenth-year coach.

“We have a very nice compliment of new and veteran players and it’s given us an opportunity to move lines around and make things happen.”

Of the 16 preseason goals the Panthers have scored, 90 per cent of them came from first-year players, Donaldson said.

“What’s great is it’s been different rookies each night, which is nice to have as a coach.”

Local standouts Maria Clinton (Souris) and Alisha MacDonald (Summerside) are two forwards who joined the program by way of the P.E.I. Female Midget AAA Hockey League. While rookie defensemen and Nova Scotians Kristen MacIntyre (Nepean Junior Wildcats of Ontario's Provincial Women's Hockey League) and Breah MacEachern (Ontario Hockey Academy) decided to commit to UPEI following stints in Ontario.

“To be able to attract Nova Scotia girls to this school is big for us,” Donaldson said. “Typically we would be vying with Saint Mary’s, Dalhousie and St FX for that level of talent.”

While the rookies bring a youthful energy to the team, the heart and soul of the Panthers still belongs to their seasoned veterans. Captain and last season’s leading scorer Kiana Strand (10 points in 24 games) and Atlantic University Sport (AUS) second team all-star Emma Martin have big upside and will be leaned on heavily to lead the young Panthers into battle.

Newcomer Sydnee Baker comes in with experience playing for the London Jr. Devilettes of the PWHL and provides Donaldson with a power forward who can help score for a team that ranked last with just 33 goals in 24 contests.

“I think as she gets accustomed to the league she’s going to have some big success,” Donaldson said of his young forward.

Offensively, Donaldson simplified his game plan to ensure more pucks find the back of the net.

“We’ve asked them to simplify the game and focus on getting pucks and bodies to the net,” he said. “If we continue to do that we’re going to have better success.”

Led by assistant captain Bria Harding and AUS second team all-star Marie-Soleil ‘Sunshine’ Deschenes in goal, the defence looks to take another step forward after allowing 61 goals (the third highest of the seven-team conference) a season ago.

With MacIntyre and MacEachern’s help behind the blue line, the defence figures to be much improved.

“We needed to get stronger in the back end, so we wanted to look for a couple defensemen that complimented our game.”

After a forgettable 2015-16, Donaldson is eager to show off his new team to the Panther faithful when they play their home opener on Oct. 21. Donaldson promises a more competitive team that can push top-tier teams like the defending champion Saint Mary’s Huskies and defensive powerhouse St. Thomas Tommies for playoff supremacy.

“They have a lot of maturity,” Donaldson said of his competition. “They both have good size and they’re well coached. We have to be able to match their physicality if we want to be there in the end.”

After taking their first two games on the road, the undefeated Panthers make their home debut on Oct. 21 against the St. Thomas Tommies at 7 pm.

The University of Prince Edward Island, along with the PEI Department of Education, Early Learning and Culture and the PEI Department of Health and Wellness, released today the results of the 2014-15 School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System (SHAPES-PEI) Provincial Student Health Profile. SHAPES-PEI gathers information from students in grades 5 through 12 about healthy eating, physical activity, mental fitness, bullying, and tobacco/substance use, in collaboration with the Canadian Student Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS), and the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact. This is the fourth release of data since SHAPES-PEI began in 2008.

“The findings from this fourth cycle of SHAPES-PEI tell us that researchers, schools, and communities must continue to fight for the health of our youth,” said Dr. Donna Murnaghan, co-principal investigator of SHAPES-PEI and adjunct professor of nursing at UPEI. “The flat or plateau results around physical activity levels point to no significant improvements in physical activity levels even though there have been concerted efforts to promote youth being physically active. The rising tobacco and alcohol use among PEI youth changes the conversation to we are not done yet with these risks. These are complex problems that require continued timely monitoring and surveillance to inform action for the future.”

“The information collected through SHAPES reflects students’ health and well-being not only at school, but within their homes and communities as well,” said Sterling Carruthers, School Health Specialist for the PEI Department of Education, Early Learning and Culture. “Although we are seeing some positive changes in both the mental fitness of students and a decreased consumption of ‘other foods,’ we need to continue our partnerships with student, teachers, parents, community, and government to support improved health and well-being for students in other areas identified in this report.”

Highlights from the 2014-15 SHAPES-PEI survey include:

• 71% of PEI students reported having high mental fitness, compared to 66% in 2008 (mental fitness describes a student’s sense of emotional and psychological well-being)
• 37% of PEI students (30% males, 42% females) reported being bullied in the past 30 days
• 45% of PEI students meet national physical activity guidelines (unchanged since 2010)
• 38% of PEI students reported eating fruit and vegetables more than six times the day before the survey (mostly unchanged since 2008)
• 15% of PEI students reported eating high fat/salty/sugary snacks or drinks seven or more times the day before the survey (down significantly from 2008)
• 58% of PEI students reported eating breakfast every day, while 12% of PEI students reported not eating breakfast at all in a usual school week (up from 8% from 2012)
• PEI has the second highest rate of current smokers (among 10-18 year olds) in the country at 6.6%, which is almost double the national average of 3.4%.
• In the last 12 months: 25% of PEI students reported using marijuana and—of the 43% of students who had a drink of alcohol—32% reported engaging in binge drinking, which are the highest rates in Canada.

“One of our three key education priorities is to support the social and emotional well-being of students, and this data is very useful in informing this work,” said Education, Early Learning and Culture Minister Doug Currie. “We continue to use the SHAPES data to develop priorities and policy, and to inform our collaborative work with parents and school communities on improving student well-being and achievement.”

“Instilling the values of wellness, such as healthy eating, avoiding tobacco use, regular exercise and activity at a young age is probably one of the greatest investments we could make for our young people, as they will lead to lifelong healthy choices,” said Minister of Health and Wellness Robert Henderson. “SHAPES-PEI provides valuable information which helps direct our decision making and long-term planning for health promotion in this province.”

Full copies of the 2014-15 SHAPES-PEI Provincial Student Health Profile are available by request, or by visiting:

discoveryspace.upei.ca/cshr/SHAPES

https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/information/education-early-learning-and-culture/school-health-action-planning-and-evaluation-system

https://www.uwaterloo.ca/propel/

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.