Nova Scotia veterinarian Helene Van Doninck is the winner of the Atlantic Veterinary College’s 2017 Award of Excellence in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Care.

Dr. Greg Keefe, dean of AVC, presented the award to Dr. Van Doninck at the Atlantic Provinces Veterinary Conference in Halifax on April 21.

“Dr. Van Doninck’s compassion and care for injured and sick wildlife exemplify what veterinary medicine is about,” said Dr. Keefe. “She is an inspiration to veterinarians, veterinary students, and others concerned about the health and welfare of wild animals.”

Dr. Van Doninck is an award-winning veterinarian, a member of AVC’s Class of 1991, and a lecturer at AVC and other educational institutions.

She dedicates her life to helping animals, particularly wildlife. She and her husband, Murdo Messer, established the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation in 2001, where they provide care for approximately 300 animals each year. Their bald eagle flight recovery centre—a large oval-shaped cage that allows eagles to fly naturally—is the first of its kind in Canada.

In addition, she is leading the charge in educating hunters about the dangers of lead shot to animals—many are now switching to non-lead ammunition and fishing tackle, reducing the amount of lead poisoning in wildlife.

She also works as an oiled wildlife response and emergency preparedness consultant and trainer. She works part-time at several veterinary clinics in Nova Scotia and contributes her knowledge to non-profit organizations, including the Nova Scotia Bird Society, Clean Seas, and the Federation of Nova Scotia naturalists. She has been a contributor to Nature Canada and has made a documentary titled “Saving Birds of Prey.”

Dr. Van Doninck was nominated for the award by Dr. Jane Corkum, with support from Dr. Ernie Prowse and Dr. Jennifer McKay.

A special guest lecture in the Island Studies Lecture Series takes place Thursday, May 3, at 7:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge in UPEI’s SDU Main Building. The lecture features David Earl from Alderney, in the Channel Islands, speaking about “Alderney: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats!”

Alderney is the third largest of the British Channel Islands, which are UK crown dependencies. According to the results of a census carried out in 2013, 50 per cent of the population (less than 2,000) is now aged 55 or over, while the number of young working-age persons on the island has dropped by 47 per cent since 2001. More worrying, the number of children under 15 has dropped by 50 per cent over the same period. Despite a 17 per cent drop in the Island’s population in the period 2001‒2013, the States of Alderney (the Island’s government) has, so far, failed to reverse the decline.

The aim of this lecture is to paint a picture of the island and its people, as well illustrating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The lecture will be followed by an opportunity for questions, answers and suggestions.

David Earl began his working life in the world of advertising and marketing but has spent much of his professional life in broadcast television and communications. He was recently awarded an MA in Modern War Studies from the University of Buckingham. David is visiting Prince Edward Island in order to learn more about the Island and the work of the Institute of Island Studies.

Admission to the lecture is free, and everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.

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.

The Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) has been granted full accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Education (COE) for the next seven years.

“This achievement by the College is a testament to the quality of our program and the people engaged in its delivery,” said Dr. Greg Keefe, dean of AVC. “This is an important milestone--one that will drive us forward as we strive to continuously improve.”

Dr. Keefe thanked the AVC faculty, staff, and students who helped prepare for or participated in the AVMA COE site visit last fall and those who ensure the quality of the College’s program.

“The accreditation process is rigorous and lengthy,” said Dr. Keefe. “To prepare for our site visit last fall, we began to prepare 16 months in advance. Last summer we submitted a detailed self-study to the AVMA COE. This was followed up by a week-long visit by a team made up of representatives from the AVMA COE, the AVMA itself, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, who interviewed faculty, staff, and students, and conducted a detailed evaluation of our programs and inspection of our facilities.”

While the actual site visit is important, said Dr. Keefe, accreditation is an ongoing process. The College’s programs are reviewed each year by the AVMA COE, and AVC works continually to achieve the high standards set by the accrediting body. AVC has achieved full accreditation since it was first eligible in 1990 with the graduation of its first class of veterinarians.

Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, president and vice-chancellor of UPEI, expressed his pride in AVC’s achievement.

“On behalf of the entire UPEI community, I congratulate everyone at AVC for achieving full accreditation,” said President Abd-El-Aziz. “Our veterinary medicine program, research agenda, and teaching hospital are second-to-none, and this reaffirmation by the AVMA is a testament to the excellence of the College’s programs and people.”

The accrediting body for veterinary colleges in North America, the AVMA COE assures that minimum standards in veterinary medical education are met by all AVMA-accredited veterinary colleges, and that students receive an education which will prepare them for entry-level positions in the profession.

The final presentation in the 2018 Island Studies Lecture series takes place on Tuesday, May 15, at 7:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building. Dr. Kate Scarth, Chair of L.M. Montgomery Studies and Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture, will present “Anne of Charlottetown and Summerside: L.M. Montgomery’s Urban PEI.”

This presentation follows Anne of Green Gables to Charlottetown and Summerside. In Anne of Green Gables, Anne goes to Queen’s College—a fictional version of Prince of Wales College—and in Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne is the principal of Summerside High School. Of course, Anne of Green Gables and its author L.M. Montgomery usually conjure up images of rural Avonlea and Cavendish, the beaches and farms of PEI’s north shore. Montgomery’s rural Island is reflected in her own writings, and later film and TV adaptations from Kevin Sullivan’s 1980s miniseries starring Megan Follows to CBC/Netflix’s recent Anne with an E, and the many tourist sites like Green Gables that celebrate the author. While the rural looms large in her life and work, Montgomery was also a chronicler of urban Canada. She wrote journals and letters about her life in Charlottetown, Prince Albert, Halifax, and Toronto, while three novels, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, and Jane of Lantern Hill, have significant urban settings.

In the early twentieth century, Canadian cities and their suburbs were growing and offered amenities and possibilities—electric lights, fashionable shops, ice cream parlours, secondary and post-secondary education—not available in the countryside. Montgomery’s towns include these urban offerings and as harbourside island towns, Charlottetown and Summerside are particularly linked to the wider, modern world; the ferry, for example, which brings Anne to the Island for the first time, comes and goes from the provincial capital. At the same time, Charlottetown and Summerside are at their best in the Anne books when they showcase PEI nature and rural life. Avonlea permeates Charlottetown: the capital’s exhibition showcases Avonlea goods and talents and the city’s newspapers describe Avonlea residents’ accomplishments. Anne continually seeks out the towns’ parks, graveyards, and the sea, reflecting a wider late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century movement towards public green spaces and suburbanization. This presentation then asks: how does one of the most insightful writers of PEI and Canada’s literary landscapes grapple with the tensions between modernizing, globally linked, and growing towns and a traditional rural, agriculturally based island? The presentation also offers an urban dimension to a writer usually steeped in rural tradition, but who was writing about a Canada starting to become the urban nation it is today.

Dr. Kate Scarth is the Chair of L.M. Montgomery Studies and Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture (ACLC) at UPEI.  Her research focuses on English and Canadian literature written from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, and she is particularly interested in fiction about urbanism and the environment. Her book, Romantic Suburbs: Sensibility, Ecology, and Greater London, is under contract with the University of Toronto Press. She is also leading a digital humanities, public engagement project about literary Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Admission to the lecture is free. Everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.

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.

UPEI’s Senate and Board of Governors have approved creating UPEI’s seventh faculty. The School of Sustainable Design Engineering (SSDE) is renamed, effective immediately, the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE). The new status recognizes the school’s achievements in research, teaching, and service in a few short years. The new faculty is independent from UPEI’s Faculty of Science and will have at its helm Dr. Nicholas Krouglicof, whose title changes from associate dean to dean.

“The evolution from a school to a faculty in under four years is a testament to the hard work of the engineering faculty and staff whose efforts have helped create an engineering program that is second to none,” said Dr. Krouglicof. “Our task has been made easier by the unprecedented level of support we’ve received from government, industry, and the community at large.”

It has been an exciting few years for engineering at UPEI. The School of Sustainable Design Engineering was announced in 2014 by Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor. Construction on a home for the school began that summer, with the School of Sustainable Design Engineering Building opening in August of 2016. The first graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering walked across the state at UPEI Convocation 2017.

“This is another exciting step for the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering,” said President Abd-El-Aziz. “I am continually impressed and proud of the accomplishments of the faculty, staff, and students of the FSDE. Every day, they show us the very best in Canada in learning, teaching, and service to the community.”

The FSDE has enjoyed many successes its short history. Its students have taken their studies to the sea as UPEI partnered with the Royal Canadian Navy this spring for an adventure of a lifetime. Its researchers are innovative and engaged and have been recognized with funding and support.

The FSDE is a different type of engineering school. Students learn through doing. From the first week of the first year, students get their hands dirty with the business of learning, designing and building. They work closely with industry and community partners to help solve the latter’s unique design challenges. And the final results of their work make a real difference in the world.

Congratulations to the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering at the University of Prince Edward Island!

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.

The Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice (PDEP) has re-accredited the University of Prince Edward Island’s Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition program, as well as the Dietetic Internship program. The accreditation extends the training in these excellent programs to 2025.

The Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition prepares students for their future, opening doors to careers as food scientists, product developers, policy makers, and countless other paths including graduate education.

Students in the Food and Nutrition program may apply for admission to the Integrated Dietetic Internship program. The integrated approach to professional training enables students to build upon and apply theoretical knowledge gained from their academic program. On successful completion of the program, students will have fulfilled the competencies required to challenge the national exam and practice as registered dietitians.

“The renewal of our accreditation will allow the Department to continue offering high quality programming consistent with Canadian standards and will ensure that our students receive excellent training as they prepare to enter the workforce or continue their education,” said Dr. Dany MacDonald, chair of the Department of Department of Applied Human Sciences at UPEI.

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.

The University of Prince Edward Island is growing its international footprint in bold, new, and exciting ways, Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UPEI’s President and Vice-Chancellor announced to the campus community today at University Update 2018. With a vision endorsed by the UPEI Senate and Board of Governors, UPEI will now deliver degree programs in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

President Abd-El-Aziz indicated to over 250 faculty, staff, and students that he has been working closely with the Vice-Presidents, Deans, Senate, and Board of Governors over the last year on these initiatives and wanted to make the entire campus community aware of the great strides UPEI is making beyond Island shores.

“UPEI has been an outstanding provincial university and is now expanding its presence on the international stage,” said Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UPEI’s President and Vice-Chancellor to an audience of over 200 people. “It is fantastic that Canadian education is being delivered around the world, and that we are playing our part. This academic year, UPEI has close to 1,200 international students on our campus, and now, with these exciting developments in Dubai, Cairo, and Madrid, we will be able to provide a quality UPEI education to so many more.”

Last week, UPEI signed an agreement with the Canadian University of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to jointly deliver degrees in Environmental Studies and Climate Change and Adaptation.

Dr. Katherine Gottschall-Pass, interim Dean of Science, said, “Programs at UPEI are future-focused, highly experiential, and project-based. These features are embedded in all of our science programs, making these offerings really attractive to both Canadian and international students.”

UPEI began discussions for an offshore academic program offering in Egypt a year ago after a Canadian parliamentary delegation visited the North African country to explore establishing a university complex in New Cairo. Several other Canadian universities have also begun to develop campuses as part of the University of Canada, Egypt (UCE) consortium. The UPEI initiative is being funded entirely by UCE.

Officials with the University of Canada, Egypt recently visited Prince Edward Island to develop a framework to offer UPEI degrees at its new international UPEI campus in New Cairo, Egypt beginning in September 2018. UPEI will offer its Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering; three BSc degrees in mathematical and computational sciences (financial mathematics, actuarial sciences, and data analytics); Bachelor of Environmental Studies; Bachelor of Climate Change and Adaptation; and Bachelor of Business Administration.

“As with the science programs, UPEI’s business administration curriculum is taught in a manner that encourages creativity, unleashing potential and developing solutions,” comments Dr. Jurgen Krause, Dean of the Faculty of Business. “A ‘case’ in point is our unique case competition program that offers global learning opportunities—our approach is innovative and differentiates us from other schools, and will be welcomed in Egypt.”

Dr. Robert Gilmour, Vice-President Academic and Research, visited the new campus a few weeks ago to finalize the plan and commented, “UPEI will have exclusive jurisdiction over program delivery to ensure UPEI admission and degree requirements are met at UCE. Everyone is excited about the prospect of granting UPEI degrees outside North America.”

In another bold step, UPEI has signed a five-year agreement to become Universidad Rey Juan Carlos’ (URJC) partner in delivering a joint, one-year Master in Global Affairs degree as well as collaborate in areas of common interest and research. URJC, based in Madrid, has offered a multidisciplinary, professional master’s program in global affairs for several years and will now offer a joint degree option with UPEI where students will study for their first semester on Prince Edward Island and then move to the URJC campuses in Madrid and Strasbourg.

UPEI Interim Dean of Graduate Studies Larry Hammell said, “Both URJC and UPEI believe in providing outstanding academic programs and experiences that fully engage and develop our graduate students to be well-rounded leaders of tomorrow. Our joint-delivery model will help students attain the knowledge and insights needed to help address and solve the most critical challenges facing our world.” 

The program will begin in September 2018 and be anchored at UPEI in the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

President Abd-El-Aziz added, “I look forward to our students—those in Dubai, Cairo, Madrid, around the world, and in Canada—developing to their full potential in our classrooms and our communities.”

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.

President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz delivered University Update 2018 to the campus community on Thursday, May 3, 2018. He addressed questions and highlighted a number of exciting initiatives and areas of growth for UPEI. The presentation focused on new programs; investments in staff, faculty and students; the proposed Operating Budget for 2018-19; and expanding UPEI’s global reach. He capped the town hall meeting by announcing plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of UPEI in 2019.

President Abd-El-Aziz credited the University’s success to UPEI's community members, many of whom filled the auditorium, “It is thanks to their dedication and talent that UPEI provides world-class education for our students so that they can reach their full potential in the classroom and in communities around the world.” 

View the presentation (pdf)

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced today the 15 schools chosen to design, build, and operate tiny satellites known as a CubeSats. UPEI’s “SpudNik-1” will be the creation of undergraduate and graduate students from the Department of Physics and the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering.

SpudNik-1 will measure just 20 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm, but will utilize an advanced imaging system for precision agriculture. The system will be able to capture precise soil and crop data (texture, topography, moisture content, weed and disease infestations, crop damage, etc.) as well as verify the effectiveness of herbicide and fungicide applications, monitor physical damage due to insects, inundation, wind and hail, and schedule an irrigation plan. The goal is to develop better monitoring systems to promote greater sustainability in agriculture.

“The main design challenge is integrating all of the required subsystems including power, attitude control, communications, image processing, and the mission payload into such as small space,” said Dr. Nicholas Krouglicof, dean of the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering. “To reduce the development time, we’ll be applying the principles of concurrent engineering with multiple design teams developing the various CubeSat subsystems simultaneously rather than consecutively. We’ll also be applying state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques including metal 3D printing.”

SpudNik-1 will be capable of capturing images at a resolution of between two and ten meters on the ground. This technology has an advantage over drones, as a satellite can capture a greater amount of georeferenced data over a large area in a relatively short amount of time.

SpudNik-1 is a multi-year project, and will provide design projects for several senior and junior teams at the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, as well as optical design projects for students in Physics.

“Designing an optical system to capture two-metre resolution images of agricultural fields from a satellite the size of a toaster, 350 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, presents a significant challenge,” said Dr. Bill Whelan, chair of the Department of Physics at UPEI. “Our students will use their knowledge and understanding of physics to design, fabricate, test, and analyze lenses and other optical components, and fit everything inside the toaster.”

The opportunity to work on a real space mission from start to finish, including operating the satellites and conducting science experiments in space, gives students useful experience and skills they need when entering the job market. Students will gain science and engineering expertise from building a satellite destined for space as well as valuable expertise in project management, concurrent engineering, leadership, and communications.

A total of 15 teams composed of 36 organizations will participate in the Canadian CubeSat Project, thanks to several inter-regional, inter-provincial and international collaborations that even include universities from Europe, Australia, and the USA.

CSA experts, as well as representatives from the Canadian space industry, will guide the teams throughout the Canadian CubeSat Project, to optimize the success of each mission.

Once tested and ready for space, the 15 CubeSats, including SpudNik-1, will be launched to and deployed from the International Space Station in 2020–2021.

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.