UPEI Presents the fourth annual 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) Competition on Tuesday, March 28th at 7:00 pm at the Wave Campus Pub, W.A. Murphy Student Centre, UPEI. Please come out and support all of the 10 participants for this year's 3MT. You will learn about these Graduate Students' theses in just three minutes! Join us for lots of fun and lots to learn!

All graduate students are encouraged to attend the Spring AGM for the UPEI Graduate Students' Association.   The AGM will be held April 27, 4:30-6 pm, in AVC 286A N.  

The Psychology department at UPEI is hosting another lecture in the Fiona Papps Colloquium Series entitled "How music shapes the mind: Benefits of experience and costs of deprivation." Jonathan Wilbiks, PhD, a McCain Postdoctoral Fellow at Mount Allison University will present on Friday March 31, 3:00 - 4:00 pm in Memorial 308. All faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend!  This colloquium is part of the annual series of talks to discuss research and ideas in the study of human conduct, thought, and experience. We also acknowledge support from AIRS (Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Singing), SSHRC, and MCRI.

In keeping with one of the Institute of Island Studies' goals to see Prince Edward Island through the lens of other islands, PEI's Chief Justice David Jenkins will share with Prince Edward Islanders what he's learned as a member of Bermuda's Constituency Boundaries Commission. He will deliver a lecture Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m., in the UPEI Main Building Faculty Lounge. All are welcome. While Prince Edward Island goes through the process of updating its electoral boundaries, over the past several months Justice Jenkins has been on hand as Bermuda underwent a similar process. This is his second stint: in 2009 he was invited to do the same thing based on the jurisdictional similarities between PEI and Bermuda – an Overseas Territory of the UK comprised of 36 electoral districts and a population of approximately 65,000 people. Justice Jenkins had also chaired the federal boundaries commission in 2003. A statement released by Secretary Tenia Woolridge, on behalf of Bermuda's Commission, described the need for the review. “The Constitution requires that, from time to time, the Commission review the constituency boundaries and report thereon to the House. In deciding whether or not to recommend any changes in the boundaries, the Commission has to ensure that the constituencies contain, as far as reasonably practicable, equal numbers of persons qualified to be registered as electors. This is to achieve equality of votes. The Commission has to consider the constitutionally prescribed factors; as geographical features, natural boundaries and contiguity of constituencies.” Both in 2009 and 2016 the Commission process was harmonious and the decision unanimous. While both the governing party – the one Bermuda Alliance – and the Opposition Progressive Labour Party have their own respective views on constituency  boundaries, they both elevated above those party concerns to the higher national interest in promoting the mission of the Constitution. The Honourable Gerard Mitchell, who is chairing Prince Edward Island's Electoral Boundaries Commission, will be on hand to provide the PEI context of reviewing its 27 electoral districts, including the boundaries and the names. The Honourable David H. Jenkins is the Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island. He is an Islander! After attending Charlottetown schools and Prince of Wales College, he graduated from Dalhousie University with his BComm in 1970 and LLB in 1973. He practiced law in Charlottetown with Scales Jenkins and McQuaid, which became Stewart McKelvey, in a general practice focused on business, administrative law, labour and employment and related litigation. He was appointed as Queens Counsel in 1986, has been President of the Law Society, and has served on national legal organizations including Federation of Law Societies of Canada President (1986), and as Secretary of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association until his appointment as a judge. He sat as a trial judge in the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 2008, when he was appointed as Chief Justice of the province and of the Court of Appeal. He has served nationally as president of the Judges' Counselling Program, the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association, and is currently a member of the Canadian Judicial Council. David has always been involved in the Island and Charlottetown community. He is a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Hillsborough, and a Governor of the Confederation Centre of the Arts. His involvement as the judicial member of the Bermuda Constituency Boundaries Commission in 2009 and again in 2016 was a volunteer in response to an invitation from the Governor of Bermuda pursuant to the Bermuda Constitution. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

The next featured author in the Winter’s Tales Reading Series is Meags Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is a Montreal-based graphic novelist and memoirist, comic book artist, illustrator, story-teller, and improv comedian. She will give a presentation of her work at Charlottetown Rural High School on Friday, March 31, at 1:50–3:15 pm. Her talk is open to the public, but please do not park in front of the school, where buses will be arriving. Fitzgerald’s graphic memoir, Long Red Hair, is “a fascinating take on relationships, sexuality, attraction and individual boundaries” (The Comics Journal). CBC Books named it one of the “10 Great Canadian Books to Read during Pride.” She calls Photobooth: A Biography a “non-fiction graphic novel.” A long-time photo-booth lover, she researched these once-vital and rapidly “fleeting machines” in North America, Europe, and Australia. She constructed a biography of these booths through the eyes of owners, technicians, collectors, and devotees such as herself. Fitzgerald’s comic books include Waxing Moon, about the intimate friendship of two girls, and The Village Under the Clouds, about an agrarian society, created by “harmonious” gods, which “relied heavily on trade, co-operation and trust” for generations, and which is threatened when malicious “second-rate gods” take over. Her presentation is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and the UPEI Faculty of Arts and Department of English, with generous cooperation from Charlottetown Rural High School. For further information phone 902-566-0389.

The April Island Studies Lecture is Tuesday, April 18, at 7 p.m. in the SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge on the UPEI campus, featuring Master of Arts in Island Studies student Owen Jennings speaking about Saint Helena: An island in flux. The allure of islands relies on some often inaccurate assumptions. These imaginary islands are small, remote, and, more often than not, tropical. Where most islands fall well short of that imagined island, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena reaches towards it. Over the past decade this island has been gifted a new connection to the world: an airport. While its opening for commercial traffic is still delayed, this will, it is anticipated, reduce the travel time to South Africa from five days down to a few hours. The Saints, as the islanders call themselves, have long been caught between their home's isolation and many connections to the outside world, and soon they will be able to travel in a way that most similar island communities take for granted. This lecture considers the experience of travelling to and being a researcher on Saint Helena, and what being a Saint might mean as the island's connection to the rest of the world changes dramatically. Owen Jennings is a Master of Arts in Island Studies student at UPEI. He is studying remoteness and access on the island of Saint Helena, and, last November, had the opportunity to travel to Saint Helena to do his field research. Before coming to PEI, he studied politics for his undergraduate degree in the UK. Admission to the lecture is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Watch for details for another lecture about islands – near and far – May 16! For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.

On Thursday June 22, 2017 we hope you can join us at Belvedere Golf Club! All funds raised will go towards UPEI Alumni Engagement Athletic Awards which are granted annually to deserving members of our varsity sport teams who demonstrate an interest in furthering public and alumni interest in their respective sports. Along with an excellent day of golf and friendship, the registration fee also provides you with a registration gift, green fee, golf cart for two, box lunch, a great meal at the end of the day, four free beverages PLUS all the benefits of those game enhancers such as a team Mulligan, the putting string, survivor ball and the three-putt putting green game!   Deadline for registration is June 12, 2017.  Registration form and complete information can be found at upei.ca/panthergolfclassic.

UPEI’s Department of Athletics and Recreation invites you and your family to an open house to celebrate the grand opening of new fitness studios in the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre! The open house runs 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, Saturday, April 1. The new studios include a new, two-storey 2,400 square-foot activity training centre, which features a lower floor to accommodate general fitness classes and an upper-level training area equipped with stationary bicycles and interval training capabilities. The new studios are available for private fitness classes, such as spin and yoga. “We are excited to showcase our newly renovated fitness studios in addition to welcoming the general public into our facilities,” said Chris Huggan, Director of Athletics and Recreation. “We want as many families and individuals to come see and experience what we have to offer in a quality venue and fitness centre and our programs and services including fitness classes, recreational programming, event hosting and our Panther Academy programs.” Use of the fitness centre during the open house will be free. Join us for a tour of the facility at 10:30 am and noon, and take part in free fitness classes in the new studios. The gym will feature a Kids Zone with camp counsellors, face painting, and activities to entertain the kids while parents explore the facilities. Information will be available about all of the programs and services at the UPEI Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre. Community memberships will be available! The new fitness studios are made possible in part by generous support from the Government of Canada. Find more information about the facility at gopanthersgo.ca!

Speaker:  Logan MacIntyre, Biomedical Sciences Title:  Co-cultures of marine fungi as sources of novel cryptic natural products

Dr. Hayden Woodley, a candidate for a tenure-track position in the Faculty of Business (Management) will present a public presentation of research and scholarship on "Connecting Personality and Team Performance: The Mediating Role of Attitude Towards Teamwork."  The presentation will be held in MCDH 329 at 9:00 am. Dr. Woodley's teaching demonstration, "Contingencies in Organizational Behaviour and/or Management," will follow at 11:00 am, also in MCDH 329. All are welcome to attend both events.