UPEI welcomes BBA alumna Shannon MacDonald back to campus as a special guest speaker for the UPEI Executive MBA Summer Speaker Series on Tuesday, August 19, 4:30-6:30 pm, in Schurman Market Square, Don and Marion McDougall Hall. Shannon will speak about her personal journey and successes. Shannon is a UPEI BBA alumna; Partner with Deloitte who is currently lead on the firm’s work with the Government of Ontario. She also sits on Deloitte’s Global Board of Directors and is the company’s Chief Inclusion Officer. Shannon has been recognized in the past as one of the Top 50 CEOs in Atlantic Canada and one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

Join people around the world observing the Moon on this night. Volunteers from the Physics Department and Charlottetown RASC will teach you about the Moon, help you identify some of the Moon’s features using just your eyes or binoculars, and show you stunning telescope views of the lunar surface. This event will take place on Saturday, September 6, from 8:00-10:00 PM. Guests are asked to come to Memorial Hall Room 417. This event is weather dependent and may be cancelled if clouds block the view of the Moon. Updates will be provided on our website at http://physics.upei.ca/astronomy, on our voice-mail at 566-0745, or on Twitter @UPEIAstronomy. It is necessary to climb the stairs from the 4th floor up to the observatory which houses our telescope, but an elevator can be taken up to the 4th floor of Memorial Hall. For this special event, we will have some on-the-ground viewing opportunities that will be more accessible to those with mobility issues.

All UPEI faculty are invited to this year's Let's Talk Teaching Day, Tuesday, September 2. We have no fewer than eight sessions planned -- presentations, workshops, activities -- and, of course, morning coffee and lunch will be provided. There will be sessions on test preparation, Writing Across the Curriculum, performing the "role" of professor, and much more! We will also be celebrating UPEI's numerous award winners from this last year. Join your colleagues for a day of discussion and inspiration. The day begins in HSB 104 with coffee and unofficial registration at 8:30, and we will finish up at about 2:30. A full schedule will be sent around later this week. We hope to see you all there!

UPEI's Deirdre Kessler will launch her latest children's book on Thursday afternoon, August 28, 3:00-4:00 pm at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. The book is a 48-page story set in 1864. BORN! A foal, five kittens, and Confederation is illustrated by Brenda Jones and published by the Acorn Press. The book is a PEI Literacy Alliance project funded by the 1864 Committee. All are welcome to attend the book launch. The author will read from the story, the illustrator will bring some of the original paintings, and refreshments will be served. Deirdre Kessler teaches children's literature, creative writing, and the course on L.M. Montgomery with the UPEI Department of English, and is a full-time writer and poet.

UPEI's Orientation Week Coordinator invites the campus community to laugh, learn and listen to the inspiring words of our world class and TEDx featured speaker Drew Dudley! Drew Dudley creates cultures of leadership by helping organizations and their people "plan to matter." Students, staff, and faculty are invited to listen to our world-class speaker on Tuesday, September 2 in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre at 10:00 am. In Drew’s current role as the Founder and Chief Catalyst of Nuance Leadership Inc., he works with organizations around the world to empower people to increase their leadership capacity. His clients included some of the world’s most dynamic companies and organizations, including McDonald’s, Proctor & Gamble, JP Morgan Chase, and over 75 colleges and universities. Drew has spoken to over 100,000 people on 5 continents, been featured on The Huffington Post, Radio America, Forbes.com, and TED.com, where his “TED talk” has been voted “one of the 15 most inspirational TED talks of all time” and viewed over a million times.

Students, staff, and faculty are all invited to take part in the Shine Day Kick-off at the W.A. Murphy Student Centre from 8:30-9:30 am on Saturday, September 6. Discover what Shinerama is about and what UPEI is doing to help! Immediately following, Shine Day will begin on UPEI campus and in the Charlottetown area. You will find UPEI students washing cards, shining shoes, singing songs and doing backflips all in an effort to raise money for cystic fibrosis treatment and research! Show your support this Shine Day!

Join Sister Susan Kidd and Paula Campbell (Catholic Student Association) for an Open House on Sunday, August 31 beginning at 6:00pm, with Mass to follow. Enjoy "sundaes on Sunday" following Mass. All are welcome.

Kieran J. Hennessey will present his Master of Education thesis defence on Friday, August 29, at 1:00 pm in room AVC 286A N. Thesis title: College Students from the Margins: Journeys of Persistence and Early Leaving. All are welcome to attend.

Dr. Doug Sobey, a research associate of the University’s Institute of Island Studies, and formerly at the University of Ulster, will give an illustrated public talk on the results of a study carried out by himself and William Glen (formerly of the Forestry Division), into the forest descriptions found on manuscript maps housed in the P.E.I. Public Archives dating from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dr. Sobey will discuss what the descriptions on the maps reveal about the Island's forest-types before their destruction by clearance and fire. His research has been carried out with the support of both the Institute of Island Studies and the Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division of the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and the lecture will include the launch of a recently published research report on the subject.

Please join Island Studies for an Open House on Monday, September 8 from 4:00-6:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge, room 201 of SDU Main Building. Welcome Master of Arts in Island Studies Students, see books from the Island Studies Press collection, celebrate the announcement of MAIS scholarship winners and hear about projects and events planned by Master of Arts in Island Studies Students and the Institute of Island Studies. For further information contact Andrea Bird at abird@upei.ca.