UPEI women's basketball coach Dave MacNeill has retired from coaching at the university level.

MacNeill has been coaching the women's basketball team since 2006 after having retired from the position in 1993. He returned on what was supposed to be a temporary basis to fill a gap in the coaching staff. Three seasons later, he is still coaching the team, but he now has a demanding full-time position with the 2009 Canada Games as CEO of Operations.

'In order to be success and fair to the athletes, one needs to spend time developing a team,' he says. 'With my full-time job with Canada Games, that is not possible. I would like to thank all of the players and other support staff for their dedication and hard work over the past three years. It has been a pleasure to work with them.'

UPEI Athletics Director Ron Annear praised MacNeill for his work with the women's basketball team.

"I thank Dave for his time and effort developing and coaching women's basketball at UPEI,' says Annear. 'Dave is a UPEI Sport Hall of Fame Coach who symbolizes commendable traits all young coaches aspire to, sport knowledge, teacher, motivator, competitor, commitment, character and pride. We are very appreciative of Dave's dedication over the years and wish him well with 2009 Canada Games and his future beyond."

MacNeill has a long history with athletics at UPEI and St. Dunstan's University (SDU), one of UPEI's two founding institutions. A basketball player in the 1960s for SDU, he coached the UPEI women's basketball team from 1978 to 1993, with a break from 1980-1983 and again from 1990 to 1991.

In 1978-79, his first year of coaching, he was named AUS Coach of the Year. The following year, he coached the women to a 14-2 record, and first place in the NB/PEI division of the AUS before losing to Dalhousie in the playoff semi-finals before losing to Dalhousie in the playoff semi-finals.

Over the next 10 years, he coached four AUS Championship teams, including three in a row from 1986 to 1989. MacNeill was named AUS Coach of the Year five more times and coached 26 players to AUS All-Conference honours.

The high point of MacNeill's coaching career came in 1988-89, when he coached UPEI to a silver medal at the CIS, losing to the undefeated Calgary Dinos in the championship game. The following year, he returned to lead his team to a 10-6 record and a berth in the nationals as UPEI hosted the CIS women's tournament. In 1992-93, UPEI, under MacNeill's leadership, once again captured the AUS title and represented the Conference in Victoria.

MacNeill was inducted into the UPEI Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

The UPEI Co-operative Education Student of the Year Awards for 2008 were awarded to three students on Wednesday, March 25, at a special event held in Don and McDougall Hall.

The guest speaker of the event was Dave Perry, Director of Radiology Information Systems Research and Development, for Carestream Health Group in Summerside. His presentation focused on the importance of having interdisciplinary skills, coming to work with the right attitude and being able to work well in a team.

The 2008 Co-op Student of the Year Award for Business went to Julie Mutch of Earnscliffe, who recently completed her 2007-2008 work term at the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce. As special events and communications assistant at the Chamber, she worked on several projects including monthly business mixers, fundraising and sponsorship events, and the members' magazine. Previous work terms included working with UPEI's Advancement Services and Service Canada's Communications Division. She will graduate in May 2009 with her Bachelor of Business Administration from UPEI. She is currently employed with Service Canada in its Nova Scotia-PEI Integrity Services Division and is involved in her community.

Nathan Christensen of North Wiltshire, received the Co-operative Education Student of the Year Award for Computer Science. A third-year mathematics and computer science student, Christensen worked at in the Provincial Treasury's Infrastructure Information Technology Shared Services Division for his 2007-2008 work term. He produced an online database for the division that has proven to be a valuable tool for the server team. He is keenly interested in computer gaming and was pleased to experience the infrastructure behind a large organization. This May, he will begin an eight-month work term with Longtail Studios, a developer of video games, at their Charlottetown studio in the Atlantic Technology Centre. He will graduate in 2011.

Carolyn Ward of Springfield, Nova Scotia, won the Co-operative Education Student of the Year Award for Physics. A fourth year physics co-op student, Ward worked at Defense Research & Development Canada in Dartmouth in 2007-2008 where she was involved in a complex sonar classifier project. Her work earned her recognition as co-author on a paper being presented to the Acoustical Society of America. Previous work terms were at Omega AAT Wind Site in Quebec and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth. An award-winning student, she tutors grade 10-12 students in math and physics. Ward is a member of the UPEI Physics Society and the Atlantic Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy Conference planning committee, and is involved in her community. She will graduate in 2010.

The recipients are selected based upon a variety of achievements -- job performance, academic performance, academic/school involvement, writing skills, responsibility, and particular contributions to their employers during co-operative education work terms.

For more information, please contact the UPEI Co-operative Education Office at (902) 628-4395.

Photo: Award recipients from left are Carolyn Ward, physics; Nathan Christensen, computer science; and Julie Mutch, business. Looking on is guest speaker Dave Perry (right), Director of Radiology Information Systems Research and Development for Carestream Health Group in Summerside.

Sheep-for-Wheat Productions is staging Eugene Ionesco's absurdist one-act play, The Lesson, at The Guild on April 2, 3 and 4 at 8:00 p.m.

The actors are Chris Doiron, Meaghan Blanchard, and Kelsey Moore. Stage direction is by Rob Reddin; stage management is by Ashley Clark; and the music is by Keith Baglole. Co-producers Fraser McCallum and Chera-Lee Hickox round out the company. Everyone involved is a past or present UPEI student.

Written in 1951, the critically acclaimed play was one of the French playwright's most distinguished works, as well as one of the most notable in the history of the Theatre of the Absurd genre. It revolves around a strange study session between a naive young student (Blanchard) and a delirious yet powerful professor (Doiron).

Sheep-for-Wheat Productions is an independent theatre company based in Charlottetown. This is their second production after great success in staging the Harold Pinter drama, The Dumb Waiter.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance at the box office (902-620-3333) or at showtime. Come one, come all!

The Chair of UPEI's English Department, Dr. Brent MacLaine, is on the shortlist of poets whose books have been nominated for the prestigious Atlantic Poetry Prize, to be given out at a gala awards presentation on May 8, during the ATLANTIC INK Writers' Festival.

MacLaine's Shades of Green, published by Charlottetown's Acorn Press, is his third collection of poetry. Whether emerging from the local landscapes of memory or the present-day streetscapes of Manhattan, the poems record the poet's attempt to seize the chromatic complexity of experience.

Also shortlisted for the 12th annual Atlantic Poetry Prize are Breaker by Sue Sinclair (Brick Books) and Sky Atlas by Alan R. Wilson (Fitzhenry & Whiteside).

MacLaine is a Professor of English and a 3M Teaching Fellow at UPEI where he teaches 20th-century literature. His previous volumes include Wind and Root (Vehicule 2000) and These Fields Were Rivers (Goose Lane 2004). He also co-edited Landmarks: An Anthology of New Atlantic Canadian Poetry of the Land (Acorn 2001). He lives with his family in Rice Point where he grew up.

MacLaine will give a public reading from his work on May 6 at 7:30 p.m. along with shortlisted authors Douglas Arthur Brown and Alan R. Wilson. Hosted by the PEI Writers' Guild, the reading will be held at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Everyone is welcome.

The ATLANTIC INK Writers' Festival is a week-long fanfare from May 4 to 9, recognizing the 12 finalists for this year's Ann Connor Brimer Children's Literature, Atlantic Poetry, Thomas H. Raddall Fiction and Evelyn Richardson Non-fiction book prizes. The festival includes readings, signings, school appearances, writing workshops, and panel discussions in the four Atlantic provinces. Prince Edward Island plays host to Philip Roy, author of the shortlisted children's book, Submarine Outlaw (Ronsdale Press). He will visit schools from May 4 to 6.

The awards ceremony will be held at Saint Mary's University Sobey Building in the Scotiabank Theatre. Acclaimed Cape Breton writer Alistair MacLeod will deliver ATLANTIC INK's first keynote, 'A Writer's Life: Geography as Inspiration,' as a prelude to four readings by the winners of this year's book prizes.

More than 300 young scientists will come together at the provincial science fair Thursday, April 2nd to showcase their science abilities and connect with other young scientists from across the province.

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Gerard Greenan encouraged the public to attend the fair.

'Participating in the school science fair is an excellent opportunity for Island students to think critically about science and get hands-on experience running a science experiment,' said the minister. 'Being invited to the provincial science fair is a great achievement and Islanders are encouraged to come out and celebrate the students' success.'

The theme, Celebrating Science on PEI, was chosen to highlight how every year parents, family members, educators, elected officials, community leaders, donors and volunteers from across the province come together to celebrate student curiosity, the type of curiosity that has led to many incredible discoveries.

The fair will be held at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre at UPEI. Parents, family members and friends are invited to attend after 2:00 p.m. The awards ceremony begins at 4:00 p.m.

Over $10,000 in specialty prizes and awards has been donated by government, industry, community groups and organizations across PEI.

PEI Science Fair Coordinator Bill Whelan says participating in the science fair can have a lasting positive outcome.

'Research shows that a positive science experience in elementary school can build a positive attitude towards science in the junior and high school years, and ultimately attract many to the field of science as a career,' he said.

The provincial fair is run by a team of dedicated volunteers who have a passion for science.

Once again, UPEI scientists will open up their research laboratories to science fair participants in the afternoon. There will also be innovative engineering demonstrations and activities throughout the day.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, which is the largest supporter of the provincial science fair, covers most of the expenses to put on the fair.

This year the top five students will represent PEI at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Winnipeg.

Last year at the Canada-Wide Fair in Ottawa, Prince Edward Island students walked away with some of the top awards.

• Rebecca Wolfe from Three Oaks Senior High won the prestigious Manning Innovation Achievement Award ($4000 sponsored by the Ernest C Manning Foundation).
• Simon Trivett from Stonepark Intermediate won the Bronze Medal in the Engineering Category and a $1000 Scholarship to the University of Western Ontario.
• Brandon Doyle from East Wiltshire won the Silver Medal in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences Category and a $1500 Scholarship to the University of Western Ontario.

'This level of success on the national stage is remarkable,' said Bill Whelan.

For more information, visit the PEI Science Fair website at http://scifair.upei.ca

Contact:

Jean Doherty
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
902 368 6449
jmdoherty@gov.pe.ca

Bill Whelan, Provincial Science Fair Coordinator
UPEI Department of Physics
902 566 0419
wwhelan@upei.ca

This release is distributed by Island Information Service at the request of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Photo: Brian Simpson

For the second year in a row, a group of fourth-year marketing students at UPEI's School of Business have been learning first-hand the business of bioscience, and as a result have earned recognition for their efforts from the Island's bioscience industry. Working with three local bioscience companies, eleven teams of business students have been designing marketing strategies for the companies' products and services that may be used in national and international promotions and sales activities.

This is the second year for the program, organized by the PEI BioAlliance and the UPEI School of Business. The purpose is to engage local bioscience companies and UPEI business students in a project that gives the students real marketing experience with products being produced by the growing PEI bioscience industry for global markets.

"This project is a terrific learning exercise for our students, and provides a great opportunity for them to showcase their talents," says Dr. Don Wagner, acting dean of the UPEI School of Business.

Rory Francis, Executive Director of the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance, said the interest and response was so positive last year, that both companies and faculty were anxious to incorporate the program into the UPEI Business curriculum again this year.

"We want the students to see and feel for themselves the exciting business opportunities that bioscience companies are creating here in PEI. Bringing new products to life is challenging and fascinating, and we hope this experience motivates these students to be part of PEI's future prosperity."

The National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) provides support to the BioAlliance in carrying out this and other initiatives that help grow small and medium sized bioscience enterprises in PEI.

Awards were presented for the Best Marketing Strategy for each of the three companies' products, and to overall winners at a reception held at the UPEI School of Business yesterday. The overall winning team included: Cayla Leger, Jennifer MacLean, and Brad Gallant for their marketing strategy developed for AquaBounty Canada Inc..

Participating companies for the Second Annual UPEI School of Business/PEI BioAlliance Marketing Strategy Competition included: AquaBounty Canada Inc., Atlantic AgriTech, and Tube Fab Ltd.

The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance is the cluster of individuals and organizations dedicated to building the bioscience-based economic sector in PEI, with an emphasis on collaborative initiatives in research, business, education, and supporting infrastructure.

For more information about the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance, contact rose@peibioalliance.com or by calling (902) 367-4403.

Photo: Rory Francis, Executive Director of the PEI BioAlliance (far left), and Valerie Barbosa, AquaBounty Canada Inc. (far right), present the BioAlliance Award for the UPEI School of Business Best Bioscience Marketing Strategy to the winning team comprised of Cayla Leger, Jennifer MacLean and Brad Gallant.

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) at UPEI's School of Business has released two reports based on the 2007-2008 Visitor Exit Survey. The first looks at summer visitors (July and August 2007) and the other examines fall visitors (September and October 2007).

Visitor origin shifts slightly in the fall. Of total travel parties, the percentage visiting from Quebec and Ontario decreases substantially, but the remaining markets (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the rest of Canada, US, international,) all make gains. This is not to say, for example, that there are more international travel parties in the fall, but they increase as a percentage of total travel parties.

One of the biggest differences noted between summer visitors and fall visitors was party composition. The family market is still very important for P.E.I. tourism, but it is not as prevalent in the fall season. Most of the fall visitors travel in parties of two adults.

The shift in travel party type is also reflected in the increase in the age of the average visitor. Unlike visitors in the main season, of whom the majority were between the ages of 35 to 54, visitors in the fall were largely over the age of 55. Only those of New Brunswick origin were slightly more likely to be in the 35 to 54 age bracket.

'The mature adult market in the fall is an opportunity for P.E.I.,' said Dr. Paul Lewis, Director of the TRC. 'We would do well to create sophisticated tourism experiences aimed at this market, and certainly things seem to be moving in this direction with initiatives like the Shellfish Festival and Fall Flavours. Opportunity also lies, however, in growing the fall-season family market. Though the fall presents more difficulty for families because of school schedules, family-oriented weekend getaway packages or similar tourism experiences might prove attractive to these visitors, particularly those from the Maritimes.'

Despite a perception that P.E.I. is a summer-only destination, fall-season visitors from New Brunswick, Ontario, the US and other international countries actually record longer stays in P.E.I. during September and October than in the main summer season. In addition, fall visitors from Ontario, Quebec and international countries (excluding the US) spend more per person per night than visitors from those regions in the main summer season.

In terms of activities, the percentage of travel parties going on a sightseeing/driving tour remains relatively constant over the two seasons, and it is still the most participated-in activity. Naturally, going to the beach and visiting national/provincial parks is less popular in the fall along with other traditional tourist activities. Overall, a higher percentage of parties visit family or friends in the fall, and a higher percentage of travel parties from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec play golf.

Both reports are available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website: www.trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. Further information about the report can be obtained from the Tourism Research Centre, School of Business, University of PEI, at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.

Dr. Randolph Seidler, Head of Corporate Department, Research and Development, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc., will give a public presentation at the University of Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, April 14.

Seidler's presentation, entitled 'Research and Development at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health-Innovation as a key driver for success,' will take place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium (Room 242), McDougall Hall. The UPEI School of Business and the Atlantic Veterinary College, in collaboration with the Province of Prince Edward Island, NSERC and the P.E.I. BioAlliance, are hosting this event.

The veterinary pharmaceutical and vaccine industry has worked together with clinicians and academic experts to improve patient care and greatly contributed to finding new treatment modalities. Seidler will give an overview about the requirements for drug discovery and development in the veterinary industry and the framework for bringing innovative and improved treatments to patients.

Seidler received his training in veterinary medicine from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. He did his PhD research at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and LMU in the area of cardiac physiology and pharmacology. He joined Boehringer Ingelheim's (BI's) R&D group in Biberach, Germany, and worked in the area of general pharmacology and cardiovascular drug discovery. This was followed by an assignment at BI's R&D center in Ridgefield, Connecticut, in the field of cardiovascular research. During this time, Seidler headed a group of scientists in the area of heart failure research and led several drug discovery projects that progressed to clinical development. In July 2007, he was appointed head of Corporate Department, R&D, at BI's Animal Health, overseeing global R&D. The R&D group at BI Animal Health currently consists of approximately 190 employees located on three continents.

Lunch will be provided in Schurman Market Square. To register, please contact Tammie Rose by Wednesday, April 8, at (902) 566-0564 or tmrose@upei.ca.

Mothers who are in Canada's prison system are usually separated from their children, but the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saint John New Brunswick has a program that keeps the connection between mothers and children alive through reading.

For the past nine years, the society, which is dedicated to supporting women who are in prison or at risk, has operated a program called Mother/Child Read Aloud. Mothers in prison record themselves reading children's books, using books and equipment provided by the society. Those books, the recording and the equipment to play the recording are given to their children, so that they can have books read to them in their mothers' voices.

Dr. Shannon Murray, professor of English at the University of Prince Edward Island, heard about this project and decided to get her students and the campus involved. She asked Elizabeth Fry Society representatives Marianna Stack and Denise Durette if they would speak to two of her classes before the end of the semester. When they agreed, Murray put out a call for new children's books and ended up with a donation of 130 for the project.

'Anyone who has ever read to a child knows how powerful and important that experience is. I was thrilled with the response of UPEI and its students to this wonderful program,' says Murray.

Stack and Durette were elated to get the new books.

'It has been a struggle to secure funding and new books since we began in 2000,' she says.'We have received many wonderful one-time donations of books from authors and publishers. Often people who hear about this program donate. Every bit helps.'

She estimates that through this volunteer-run program, the society has reached over 1,000 children and 500 mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, godparents and friends.

'We cannot even begin to measure the others that we reached such as older siblings, caregivers, school friends, etc. The list could go on and on.'

In 1999 Stack, who volunteered with women in prison, learned about a similar program for women in prison in Oklahoma. An educator, she felt that it had possibilities for mothers in prison in New Brunswick. She received permission from the original creator in the U.S. to go ahead with it in Canada, and after eventually securing funding from the Greater Saint John Community Foundation, Mother/Child Read Aloud was born the following year.

Since then, the program has grown to include the Nova Institution in Truro, Nova Scotia, in addition to mothers in prison in New Brunswick, says Stack. In New Brunswick, four to six women in the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre read to their children each week, and then the society mails the books throughout it and other provinces where the children are living. Volunteers also take the program to the Nova Institution six times a year. On their last visit they sent 190 books, tapes and Walkmans to 63 children in seven provinces and even to faraway Portugal.

Stack is proud to say that the Mother/Child Read Aloud program is expanding. After attending a workshop given by the New Brunswick group, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec now offers the program in a provincial jail and in the Joliette Institution for Women in Quebec.

Families who have been involved in the program show their appreciation through letters, pictures and cards, which are carefully preserved in scrapbooks.

'I was at the post office two weeks ago, mailing books, when a former woman prisoner came in with her teenage son,' she says. 'We were chatting, and she said to him, ‘Do you remember all the books and taped stories you got in the mail when you were little? Well, this is the lady who sent them.' He remembered. It made it all worth it for me.'

Photo: Dr. Shannon Murray (left), of UPEI's Department of English, and Marianna Stack (centre) and Denise Durette (right), of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saint John New Brunswick, display some of the 130 children's books collected by the UPEI campus community for the society's Mother/Child Read Aloud program.

With interest in water problems increasing across Prince Edward Island over the past few years, there is still much to learn about protecting and enhancing this important natural resource. As an aid to this learning process, award-winning author Marq de Villiers will give a talk about water issues in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium (Room 242), McDougall Hall at UPEI on Friday, April 24, at 7 p.m.

In his book, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, de Villiers says water is still undervalued, but it is becoming more precious. It's not that the world is running out of water, he says, but "it's running out in places where it's needed most."

First published in 1999, the book is now in print in 11 languages. It won a Governor General's Award and earned glowing praise from such respected figures as Maurice Strong, now of the Earth Council, who called it 'timely, authoritative, and eminently readable.' Water also won the 1999 Canadian Science Writers Award and was nominated for the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction. Copies of the book can be purchased at the talk.

One reviewer noted that 'de Villiers has a keen eye for detail and a solid command of the scientific literature on which his argument is based. He's also a fine storyteller, and his wide-ranging book makes a useful companion to other works that call our attention to a globally abused - and vital - resource.'

A veteran journalist, magazine editor and writer, de Villiers has worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, South Africa and other places. He has travelled extensively, especially in Africa, and has written 13 books on travel, history and natural history. He lives in Nova Scotia.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island, the Environmental Studies Program at UPEI and the provincial Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry. There is no charge for admission, and everyone is welcome.