Mercury will move in front of the Sun on Monday, May 9 in what is called a "transit". We'll be setting up our solar telescope near the W.A. Murphy Student Centre to view this special astronomical event and we invite you to come have a look for yourself. The viewing is weather-dependent and the viewing hours may change from the tentatively scheduled 12:00 - 1:30 pm time-slot to other hours if intermittent clouds are blocking the view of the Sun. Check for updates at UPEI's Astronomy website

Master of Science (MSc) Thesis Defence Monday, May 9, 2016 1:00pm to 4:00pm Don and Marion McDougall Hall, room 318 Master of Science in Enviornmental Sciences, Thesis Defence Ashley Alberto "Monitoring Stream Sediment Loading and Biological Responses on PEI"

UPEI's Faculty of Education is proud to be hosting PEI's inaugural Digital Pedagogy Lab institutefrom July 13-15, 2016. Faculty, sessionals, graduate students, and staff are welcome at this in-depth exploration of the role and application of digital technologies in teaching. UPEI is also invited to engage in the event via the #digped hashtag and the public keynote by celebrated edtech writer and critic Audrey Watters, 3pm July 13 in McDougall Hall. #DigPed participants choose between one of two tracks - Networks and Digital Literacies - and work collaboratively in small workshop-style classes. The learning community that participants create together will give educators hands-on experience with key digital tools AND concepts to engage in successful, sustained innovative practice.  To register, click here. Registration fees include HST, and are eligible for both faculty Professional Development Travel Reimbursement and for UPEISU Student Academic Enrichment funding. There are also a limited number of full #DigPed fellowships available to UPEI faculty and sessional faculty thanks to the Office of the Vice President Academic and Research. If you are interested in applying for fellowship support, please fill out and submit this form by Friday May 20th. Successful applicants will be notified by May 31st and given a code to secure a free EventBrite ticket. Save the date and join us for this community- and capacity-building event at UPEI!

The 2016 UPEI Panther Golf Classic, presented by Stewart McKelvey will take place on June 16 at the Belvedere Golf Course. 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. Early Bird registration - any team that registers and makes payment prior to April 1, 2016 will have their team entered into draw to receive the team registration fee back. The draw will be done at the supper event. Alumni incentive - All individual golfers who are UPEI alumni and have graduated within the last 10 years will be offered a $25.00 discount off the $175.00 individual registration fee (maximum discount per team is $50.00 off $700 team fee). Deadline for registration is June 1, 2016. Registration is open from 12:00 - 12:45pm on June 16 with a shotgun start at 1:00pm.  Cost per team is $700.00 or $175.00 per golfer.  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, a great meal at the end of the day and a chance to win some wonderful prizes! To register your team, please submit your information in the online registration form, or for more information, contact: Bruce Donaldson, Associate Director Department of Development and Alumni Engagement 902-566-0354bdonaldson@upei.ca

The Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI will celebrate the achievements of its graduate students and researchers at its 24th annual Graduate Studies and Research Days (GS&R Days) event on Thursday, May 12, and Friday, May 13, in Lecture Theatre A. During the two-day celebration, 20 graduate students and six post-doctoral fellows at AVC will present their research findings. New students will present their research plans. Their presentations cover research topics ranging from terrestrial and aquatic animal health to environmental health and biomedical sciences. Read more about GS & R Days and the R. G. Thomson Lecturer, Dr. Dorothee Bienzle, who will speak at 9:20 am on Thursday, May 12.

The University of Prince Edward Island and Health PEI welcomes participants from across the Island to its annual nursing research conference held on the UPEI campus. This year, Dr. Wendy Austin and Gord McNeilly are the keynote speakers. The theme of this year’s conference is 'Taking Care of You to Take Care of Others' and includes sessions that speak to the challenges and opportunities in present day practice.  

Do You See What I See? Can You?: Contemporary World-View and Perspective Through the Eyes of an Indigenous Poet and Scholar The UPEI Multidisciplinary Graduate Research Conference presents Rebecca Thomas, Indigenous scholar and poet, as our keynote speaker.  This event is open to the public.  Rebecca Thomas is a Mi'kmaw woman living in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. She is the daughter of a residential school survivor whose family is rooted in Lennox Island First Nation, Prince Edward Island. Rebecca is outspoken when it comes to confronting Aboriginal stereotypes, as well as educating her colleagues and the general public about cultural safety and integrity. Through her work as coordinator for Aboriginal Student Services at the Nova Scotia Community College, and also as a Slam Poet, Rebecca encourages people to think before they speak. Having Captained the Nova Scotia Slam poetry team for the third year in a row she was able to bring her voice, along with three other Nova Scotians, to the national stage. Having been named HRM's most recent Poet Laureate, most of her work focuses on the relationships between Canada's First Peoples, their relationship with the federal government, and how First Nations' people are perceived publicly. Rebecca is on a life long journey to promote understanding and empathy for Indigenous people and marginalized communities.  

Graduate students from across Canada, at all stages of their research, will present both oral and poster presentations. Our theme this year is “Different Ways of Knowing.” Our keynote speaker, workshops, and presentations will reflect our theme.

The Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI will celebrate the achievements of its graduate students and researchers at its 24th annual Graduate Studies and Research Days (GS&R Days) event on Thursday, May 12, and Friday, May 13, in Lecture Theatre A. During the two-day celebration, 20 graduate students and six post-doctoral fellows at AVC will present their research findings. New students will present their research plans. Their presentations cover research topics ranging from terrestrial and aquatic animal health to environmental health and biomedical sciences. Read more about GS & R Days and the Zoetis Lecturer Dr. J McClure, who will speak at 9:00 am on Friday, May 13.

Prometheus Reconsiders Fire, a new book of poetry by Dr. Brent MacLaine, will be launched at a public event on Wednesday, May 25, at 7:30 p.m., in the North River Fire Hall’s Ember Room. A native of PEI, MacLaine is professor emeritus and a 3M Teaching Fellow in the Department of English at UPEI. In addition to numerous academic articles on modern literature, he has published four volumes of poetry. His awards for poetry include a League of Canadian Poets prize, the Prince Edward Island Book Award, and the Atlantic Poetry Prize. In Prometheus Reconsiders Fire, MacLaine undertakes an exploration of fire. The title poem establishes Prometheus as the poet’s persona, a voice that is dedicated to the reconsideration of fire in both its benevolent and malevolent aspects. Formal and elegant, Prometheus plots a trajectory between the classical and the local, a bearing that will be familiar to readers of MacLaine’s earlier work, Athena Becomes a Swallow. Wide-ranging in its geography, the new book is wrapped ’round by “The Fire Hall Suite,” which begins and ends the book. The poems in the collection respond to the “drive-by wisdom” created by the anonymous “Sign Person” who speaks to the local community by way of the fire hall’s roadside sign. Framed by the “Suite,” the poems of Prometheus move between city and country. A naturalist in the city, MacLaine brings to the urban environment the acutely observing eye that has always characterized his Island nature poems. The book is published by Nimbus Publishing. Everyone is invited to attend the launch of Dr. MacLaine’s newest book. The Ember Room is upstairs in the North River Fire Hall, Trans Canada Highway, North River, PEI.