UPEI’s Mental Health Week Committee has unveiled its jam-packed, five-day schedule for UPEI Mental Health Week 2019, January 28 to February 1.

Based on feedback from the community, the Committee moved the weeklong program, themed ‘relationships matter’, from March into January, which also aligns with Bell Let’s Talk Day on January 30.

“We’re excited about the change in dates for Mental Health Week as we know that the beginning of a New Year and new semester can be a source of stress. Our hope is to build a culture of care that nurtures and celebrates mental health and wellness of everyone in our UPEI community,” says MHW committee co-chair Anne Bartlett. “The events and sessions encourage students, staff and faculty to help themselves and each other by connecting and building relationships with others.”

Adds MHW committee co-chair Keith Lawlor, “We hope to instill the idea that at UPEI, no one is alone—there is always someone who can help.”

The week will begin with a Kick-off and Keynote Address by Jeremie Saunders on Monday, January 28 from 12:00–1:30 pm in McMillan Hall at the W.A. Murphy Student Centre.

Saunders, whose “Sickboy” podcast has garnered international attention, draws on his experience living with cystic fibrosis for over 31 years and brings real people with life-altering illnesses to a growing audience. In an unparalleled combination of what he calls “bro-science,” humour, and compassion, Saunders inspires us to move beyond euphemism and platitude to speak directly of the things that matter most.

In his presentation at UPEI, “Open Up Wide. No, Wider. Cultivating Happiness Through Vulnerability”, Saunders will break down the importance of building community when striving for happiness and the vital role vulnerability plays in building the trust needed to strengthen the foundation of support we need as we strive to live our lives to the fullest.

Light snacks and refreshments for the Kick-off event have been kindly provided by UPEI’s Healthy Campus Committee.

The full schedule for UPEI Mental Health Week 2019 can be found at upei.ca/mentalhealthweek.

In a message to the campus community, Vice-President Administration and Finance Jackie Podger announced the University of Prince Edward Island’s latest sustainability initiative—“Back to Tap”.  Read the message

Vice-President Podger wrote, “As a University we are always open to suggestions to reduce our carbon footprint. It is my pleasure to introduce our newest initiative—“Back to Tap”—intended to support a greener campus.”

UPEI has demonstrated its commitment to fiscal, environmental, and cultural sustainability over the years. Environmental sustainability initiatives have been weaved into UPEI’s teaching and research platforms. From the creation of the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, to the launch of the Bachelor of Science in Applied Climate Change and Adaptation, UPEI continues to put sustainability at the forefront of its plans.

UPEI’s newest initiative is “Back to Tap”, which promotes the use of reusable water bottles and containers, and filling them at water fountains or fill stations.

Aside from the money being spent when clean drinking water of comparable quality is available from the tap, there are also many environmental issues associated with bottled water cooler dispensers, such as emissions and energy consumption associated with extraction, transportation, distribution, and storage—all of which have a significant impact on the University’s carbon footprint.

“Our goal, through education and behaviour change, is to eliminate the use of bottled water cooler dispensers on campus and reduce the associated costs, energy use, and greenhouse-gas emissions,” added Vice-President Podger.

Effective December 31, 2018, all bottled water cooler dispensers on campus will be removed. Instead the campus community will be encouraged to use reusable water bottles and containers at one of the 59 water fountains/fill stations currently located on campus. These are available on most floors of the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre; Cass Science Hall; Central Utility Building; Dalton Hall; Don and Marion McDougall Hall; Duffy Science Centre; Health Sciences Building; K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre; Kelley Memorial Building; Memorial Hall; Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre; Robertson Library; Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering building; SDU Main Building; Steel Building; W.A. Murphy Student Centre; Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall; Atlantic Veterinary College and the Clubhouse adjacent to the artificial turf sports field.

Please join us on Wednesday, November 14 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building for a symposium presented by the students of MUS 4220—Global Musics.

Students will present their research-in-progress on a diverse range of topics, from South Indian classical music, to Mexican punk rock, to the relationship between bagpiping and Scottish identity on Prince Edward Island. This symposium is part of a major research project that students in MUS 4220 are undertaking this semester, and they would greatly appreciate support and feedback.

Students from other courses are welcome to present their own work at the symposium, but there is limited space in the schedule. Please contact music@upei.ca.

All are welcome!

UPEI Men’s and Women’s Basketball kicks off the 2018–2019 season with a pair of games each against Memorial University, and UPEI Men’s Hockey looks to pick up a win at home against the Université de Moncton.

UPEI Men’s Hockey kicks off the weekend Friday at 7:00 pm at MacLauchlan Arena. Coach Forbes MacPherson said this is a big game for the Panthers.

“We have a split of home and away games this weekend, so we have to take care of our home-ice opportunities,” said MacPherson. “U de M is coming off of a huge win against UNB, so they will be confident and on a high. It will be important for us to have a great start.”

UPEI Basketball’s two-day home stand against Memorial University begins Saturday. The women’s game against MUN begins at 6:00 pm in the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre.

“The team has been working hard for the past two months as a group,” said Coach Matt Gamblin. “We are excited and ready to kick off the regular season this weekend.”

The men tip off Saturday evening at 8:00 pm. Coach Darrell Glenn said he and his staff are thrilled about the young team and its potential for growth.

“Fifteen players make up our active roster and ten of those players are either in their first or second season with the Panthers,” said Glenn. “The most notable returnees are fifth-year small forward Milorad Sedlarevic and fourth-year point guard Amin Suleman. Also returning home via transfer from Cape Breton University is Jack MacAulay, who will bring some much-needed shooting from the three-point line. AUS All-Rookie team member Moshe Wadley will lead a talented group of sophomores, and Dawson College CEGEP graduates Nudy and Judy Georges will headline our talented freshmen class.”

Women’s and Men’s Basketball will get a second shot against MUN on Sunday. The women’s game begins at 1:00 pm. The men begin at 3:00 pm.

Be sure to pick up your season pass for UPEI Basketball! Your pass gives you entry to ten double headers during the regular home season for $90, or $81 for seniors. Visit gopanthersgo.ca/tickets for details, or drop by Panther Central.

As usual, all UPEI students get into home games for free! Come on our and cheer on your Panthers!

Go Panthers Go! 

The next Theology on Tap will commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War. Dr. Mark McGowan, a professor of history at the University of Toronto, will discuss “the Roman Catholic Church and the Great War: Ideas of Peace, Patriotism, and the Paschal Mystery” on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:00 pm in the Pourhouse above The Old Triangle Ale House at 189 Great George Street, Charlottetown. All are welcome.

Dr. Mark G. McGowan is professor and deputy chair of history at the University of Toronto. He served as principal of St. Michael’s College from 2002 to 2011 and in several university administrative posts since. He is the author of numerous award-winning books on religion, culture, and migration, with a special focus on the Irish. His latest book is The Imperial Irish: Canada's Irish Catholics Fight the Great War, 1914–1918 (MQUP, 2017). His current research is on Irish Famine orphan children and their reception and settlement in British North America and the United States. Dr. McGowan is also the recipient of four university teaching awards. He is known in Catholic education circles for his work on the history of Catholic schools in Ontario, his duties as a trustee for the DCDSB in 2014, and his advisory work for the Institute for Catholic Education. In the Spring of 2019, Novalis will be publishing his new book It’s Our Turn: Carrying on the Work of the Pioneers of Catholic Education in Ontario. He lives in Whitby, Ontario with his wife Eileen. Their five children have fled to careers in teaching, archaeology, study, management, and ownership of the only board game pub in the Durham region. They have two grandchildren, which they spend much time and energy spoiling.

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.

South Shore resident JoDee Samuelson will launch her new book The Cove Journal on Thursday, November 15 at 7:00 pm in Beaconsfield Carriage House. Samuelson will be joined by fiddler Roy Johnstone, accompanied by Margie Carmichael on guitar.

For the last eight years, Samuelson has been publishing a column in The Buzz called “The Cove Journal”. This monthly column captures the soft edges of rural life on Prince Edward Island. Published by Island Studies Press, The Cove Journal gathers seven years of her writing and original illustrations into a collection that celebrates the passing of the seasons, the rise and fall of gardens, the friendship with neighbours, and simple daily life in “the Cove.”

If “The Cove Journal” is the first thing you turn to when you open a copy of the latest Buzz, now you can experience Samuelson’s insights, imagination, and humour all over again,” says Peter Richards, Managing Editor of The Buzz. “If you are new to PEI, or Samuelson’s column, you will enjoy her reflections and how she captures the essence of rural life on PEI.”

Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, filmmaker, and artist JoDee Samuelson has lived on the beautiful South Shore of Prince Edward Island for the past thirty years. Her animated films have been shown at festivals around the world, winning numerous awards for this Island filmmaker. She is a member of the Canoe Cove Women’s Institute, a wood carver, painter, gardener, and a baker of delicious bread.

Please join Island Studies Press and JoDee Samuelson in celebrating this new book. For more information about the book or the launch, please contact Bren at ispstaff@upei.ca or call (902) 566-0386.

Sponsored by the Swedish Embassy in Ottawa and Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare, Sounds of Sweden will be a celebration of Swedish classical music, marking the 100^th anniversary of the Swedish Society of Composers. Curated by composer Jim O’Leary, the concert will feature music by the foremost Swedish composers living today, like Jan Sandström and Karin Rehnqvist, alongside classics by Hugo Alfvén and Ingvar Lidholm, performed by three leading Island groups.

eklektikos, led by artistic director Dale Sorensen on trombone, Morgan Saulnier on flute, and Jacqueline Sorensen Young on piano, will perform chamber music, together with the Nicole Strum and Tristan De Borba Duo on saxophones. The Luminos Ensemble will present highlights from the extensive choral repertoire of Sweden, singing music in four languages, under the direction of Margot Rejskind, artistic director.

Sounds of Sweden will take place at the Dr. Steel Recital Hall at UPEI on November 10 at 7:30 pm. Admission is free of charge.

Jim O’Leary is a composer, based in Charlottetown. After many years in Sweden, O’Leary returned to Canada as the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra’s first ever composer-in-residence from 2011 to 2013. His music has been performed by leading ensembles and orchestras throughout Canada and internationally.

eklektikos is a chamber music ensemble from Charlottetown that is dedicated to presenting contemporary chamber music. Founded in 2002 by artistic director and trombonist Dale Sorensen, the instrumentation is flexible and determined by the needs of each performance situation.

Luminos Ensemble is a Charlottetown-based choir of trained vocal soloists who are passionate about small ensemble performance. Formed in 2017 by artistic director Margot Rejskind, Luminos presents a series of three concerts a year.

The Strum-DeBorba Duo is a collaboration between saxophonists Nicole Strum and Tristan De Borba. Each musician is one of Canada’s preeminent classical and contemporary saxophonists and together, they bring new saxophone repertoire to life.

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.

A new book by Dr. Joshua MacFadyen, an associate professor in the Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture program in the Faculty of Arts at UPEI, examines the story of flax, a plant that went in a few decades from a specialty crop to one of the most commercially important farming products in a rapidly industrializing North America. Flax Americana: A History of the Fibre and Oil that Covered a Continent is published by McGill Queen’s University Press.

“Flax Americana touches on topics as diverse as Canadian Mennonites making homespun linen, escaped slaves and First Nations labourers participating in Ontario’s industrial transformation, and oilseed empires driving precarious agriculture into North and South American grasslands for the production of a luxury good—paint,” explained Dr. MacFadyen. “However, the book is really about what a deep dive into a single plant and the places that produced it can tell us about the emergence of commodity frontiers, industrial capitalism, and the modern world itself.”

From the publisher’s website:

“Farmers feed cities, but starting in the nineteenth century they painted them too. Flax from Canada and the northern United States produced fibre for textiles and linseed oil for paint—critical commodities in a century when wars were fought over fibre and when increased urbanization demanded expanded paint markets. Flax Americana re-examines the changing relationships between farmers, urban consumers, and the land through a narrative of Canada’s first and most important industrial crop.

“Initially a specialty crop grown by Mennonites and other communities on contracts for small-town mill complexes, flax became big business in the late nineteenth century as multinational linseed oil companies quickly displaced rural mills. Flax cultivation spread across the northern plains and prairies, particularly along the edges of dry-land settlement, and then into similar ecosystems in South America’s Pampas. Joshua MacFadyen’s detailed examination of archival records reveals the complexity of a global commodity and its impact on the eastern Great Lakes and northern Great Plains. He demonstrates how international networks of scientists, businesses, and regulators attempted to predict and control the crop’s frontier geography, how evolving consumer concerns about product quality and safety shaped the market and its regulations, and how the nature of each region encouraged some forms of business and limited others.

“The northern flax industry emerged because of border-crossing communities. By following the plant across countries and over time Flax Americana sheds new light on the ways that commodities, frontiers, and industrial capitalism shaped the modern world.”

Congratulations, Dr. MacFadyen!

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.

Dr. Christina Murray, Associate Professor of Nursing with UPEI’s Faculty of Nursing and Dr. Barb Neis, Project Director for the On the Move Partnership were recently awarded the 2018 Mirabelli-Glossop Award for Distinguished Contribution by The Vanier Institute of the Family.

Nora Spinks, CEO of The Vanier Institute, congratulated Drs. Murray and Neis, lauding both women for their work as leaders, scholars and collaborators.

Dr. Murray was praised for her work and dedication to the creation, development, planning, and execution of the inaugural Families, Work and Mobility Symposium. Spinks described the symposium, held at UPEI in May 2018, as a highly successful event that created great momentum for future collaboration and “provided a rich, inclusive, positive, welcoming and collaborative learning environment” for everyone involved.

Ms. Spinks referenced Dr. Neis’s leadership with the On the Move Partnership, noting that “as a result of On the Move, those who employ and support ‘families on the move’ can draw from a rigorous and robust knowledge base to develop evidence-based policies, programs and practices.”

The Mirabelli-Glossop Award for Distinguished Contribution is presented in recognition of exceptional and sustained contributions to the work of The Vanier Institute of the Family. Award winners are recognized for significant contribution to advancing the understanding of families in Canada, in all of their diversity.
Ms. Spinks presented the award to Drs. Murray and Neis at the People, Place and Public Engagement Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador on October 25, 2018.
 

Every week, UPEI Athletics and Recreation recognizes two student-athletes for their achievements and dedication to their respective sports. Congratulations to Reese Baxendale and Jamesly Jerome, the UPEI Panther Subway Athletes of the Week for October 29 to November 4.

Reese Baxendale is a second-year science student from Sussex, New Brunswick and a guard on the UPEI Women’s Basketball team. The Panthers kicked off the 2018–2019 season with a two-game home stand this weekend against Memorial University. Baxendale scored 28 points, made six rebounds, four assists, and three steals in Saturday’s 79–75 win, and scored 22 points—including the game-tying three-point shot—in Sunday’s 62–60 win. “Reese made the plays we needed at the times we needed them, all weekend,” said coach Matt Gamblin.

Jamesly Jerome is a first-year arts student from Montreal and a forward on the UPEI Men’s Basketball team. The Panthers picked up their first two wins of the season over the weekend, toppling Memorial in two straight games. Jerome pulled down 13 rebounds and scored 14 points on Sunday, notching the first double-double of his AUS career. “Jamesley led all teammates in minutes played, playing 31 of 40 minutes,” said coach Darrell Glenn. “His competitive spirit is something that our team hopes to embrace as part of our identity.”

Go Panthers Go!