A new focus within the Master of Education (MEd) program at the University of Prince Edward Island is making it easier for experienced adult educators and leaders to pursue advanced study that relates specifically to the modern community college environment.

UPEI is delivering an executive-style Master of Education through a combination of online courses and face-to-face summer institutes, making it practical for students from across the Atlantic region, and elsewhere, to combine work and study. Most of the participants in the inaugural class come from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and PEI. The class also includes students from communities in Ontario and Manitoba.

The first of three intensive summer institutes for the new MEd cohort was launched at UPEI in early August. It is addressing theories of research and learning in community colleges, and educational leadership. UPEI's tenured and adjunct faculty will present online courses throughout the winter and spring semesters for the next two years using a highly interactive distance delivery program.

Dr. Miles Turnbull, Co-ordinator of Graduate Studies for the UPEI Faculty of Education says that the new focus on the interests of community college leaders reflects the University's commitment to provide educators with access to a full range of educational options, and to foster the development of a vibrant educational research community.

'The community college post-secondary environment is undergoing significant change,' says Dr. Turnbull. 'This innovative and responsive approach will support the development of expertise that is urgently needed to meet new demands and ensure leadership succession for the future.'

An advisory committee that includes representatives from UPEI, Holland College and Nova Scotia Community College is guiding the development and delivery of the program. The students are expected to graduate with their Master of Education degrees in May 2012. More information is available at upei.ca/education.

It's hot, it's exciting, it's a jungle out there - that's the New Student Orientation theme this year at UPEI - and the sense of anticipation is getting stronger every day. NSO registration is already open, and 70 student volunteers are working feverishly to make sure this year's program is an unforgettable experience for everyone attending UPEI for the first time.

'Through NSO, new students get to know the campus, our facilities, some of our faculty, and the city of Charlottetown. It is the perfect way to experience campus life and to get to know one another before the semester even starts,' says Patrick Greco, one of this year's NSO co-ordinators. 'Last year everyone had a blast. The only major complaints came from people who were disappointed that they didn't sign up.'

NSO 2009 activities include everything from Tarzan and Jane's Jungle Gala, to a Baboon Brunch, to a Picnic Face Comedy Hour, to a mesmerizing performance by Damian the Hypnotist. And during their annual Shinerama campaign, new students will spread their high spirits around the bustling streets of Charlottetown to raise funds to help conquer Cystic Fibrosis.

This year New Student Orientation will continue well beyond the traditional welcome-week activities. The University has expanded the program to include one NSO event every month, from October through to the end of March.

Students can now sign up for NSO 2009 online at upei.ca, via Campus Login. More information about the schedule is available at upei.ca/nso

Visitors from the U.S. usually travel to PEI to enjoy the Island's golden beaches and pastoral landscapes. Lisa McClellan was drawn to Prince Edward Island by a different type of beauty. She elected to spend her summer here as a participant in a unique research project at UPEI that focuses on two areas that she loves-music and psychology.

Lisa is a senior psychology student at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where she is working on a thesis about children's singing ability and interest. Bates College awarded her a Hoffman research support grant to allow her to travel to PEI to benefit from the University of Prince Edward Island's growing expertise in the field of music psychology. Since June she has been participating in the Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS) project, led by UPEI's Dr. Annabel Cohen.

AIRS explores the development of singing ability, the connections between singing and learning, and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing. Researchers are integrating new multidisciplinary knowledge about singing from the perspectives of psychology, music, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and education, assisted by computer science and audio engineering.

Lisa helped organize an international AIRS conference that included many of the researchers who are contributing to the project. She also designed her own study, building on the honours theses of recent UPEI psychology graduates Marsha Lannan, Jenna Coady and Emily Gallant. Focusing on a test "battery" developed by Professor Cohen and her students to assess people's ability to listen, process and produce sung pitches, Lisa recorded her own voice to use as a baseline for testing pitch accuracy and melodic understanding.

'Being at UPEI with people devoted to this field has been perfect for me. We don't have music cognition or music psychology specialists at my school,' she says. 'I learned a lot about conducting research, and I made contacts with researchers from around the world through the conference. I am really glad I did it.'

AIRS is a seven-year initiative that co-ordinates the work of more than 70 researchers from across Canada and many countries around the world. They will present and develop their work audiovisually, using a digital library and virtual research environment established at UPEI. The project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

UPEI's 2009 Fulbright Visiting Chair in Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Steven Casper, delivered his lecture today, The P.E.I. Bioscience Cluster: on the Road to Sustainability?, to key players in bioscience development from both the public and private sectors. Dr. Casper is an internationally renowned expert in comparison of emerging technology clusters, and Director of the Master of Bioscience Program at the Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, California.

'It's a refreshingly diverse group of companies,' says Dr. Casper. 'You have a group deriving anti-inflammatory agents from sea coral, and another developing a simple test kit to help dairy farmers rely less on antibiotics. What you don't have are diverse sources of revenue.'

Dr. Casper points out most companies and research are funded by government agencies such as ACOA.

'And that's not a bad thing. These are early days for bioscience on the Island. And there are positive indications that's changing. Multi-national companies are buying Island companies, bringing with them expertise and private money. Ten years will make a big difference to this cluster.'

Dr. Casper also notes Island bioscience companies would benefit from boards of directors, and scientific advisory boards -- something they don't have now.

'These changes in governance would allow them to make important links outside of Atlantic Canada, and bring in fresh ideas,' says Dr. Casper.

"The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program is very pleased to support Dr. Steven Casper, the inaugural Fulbright Visiting Chair in Biomedical Sciences, 'says Michael Hawes, Executive Director of the Canada - U.S. Fulbright Program. 'Over the past few months, Dr. Casper has been undertaking cutting edge research on new technology clusters in collaboration with his new colleagues here at UPEI. We look forward to what this unique partnership will produce in the years to come."

'Dr. Casper has challenged the Island's bioscience cluster in a way that will help it grow and sustain itself,' says Dr. Katherine Schultz, UPEI's Vice President of Research and Development. 'As a centre of bioscience research and expertise, UPEI takes Dr. Casper's message to heart as we move forward on research commercialization. We are honoured to have partnered with Fulbright in facilitating this research.'

The Fulbright Visiting Chair in Biomedical Sciences is hosted by UPEI's School of Business, and is made possible in part by the generous contribution of the John and Judy Bragg Family Foundation.

The second annual International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry will be held in Charlottetown from October 15 to 18.

The registration deadline is September 1. The three-day symposium includes academic sessions, presentations, poetry readings, informal discussions and social gatherings. It is open to anyone interested in poetry and poetic inquiry.

Regional and international poets and scholars will be showcased, creating a culturally rich, international event. The symposium is being co-hosted by the UPEI Centre for Education Research and the Centre for Arts-informed Research, OISE at the University of Toronto, in cooperation with the UPEI Faculties of Arts and Education, the Confederation Centre of the Arts, the League of Canadian Poets, the UPEI Department of English and the PEI Writers' Guild.

Full conference rates, as well as specific day rates, are available. For more information, please contact Christine Gordon Manley (cgmanley@upei.ca; 902-566-6784) or visit the conference website at http://ocs.vre.upei.ca/index.php/ispi/

The year was 1969; the place, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; the event, the first Canada Summer Games.

The young Canadian runners tore down the track in the 100-metre race, but it was Bill McKinnon, an arts major at the University of Prince Edward Island, who broke the tape to take the gold medal for his home province of P.E.I.

Today McKinnon, the only UPEI alumnus to date to have won a gold at the Canada Games, donated his coveted Games medal to his alma mater.

McKinnon came to the 1969 Canada Games athletics event just after having won the 100-metre race at the Eastern Canadian Championships. Understandably, he felt pressured to follow one success with another. He says he was slow coming off the blocks, and last at the halfway mark, but he won that race in 10.5 seconds, taking the gold for P.E.I.

'I still remember touching the tape,' he says.

Following on the heels of his Canada Games win, he took a gold and a bronze at the inaugural Pacific Conference Games in Japan later that year. Those medals were included in his donation today. In between the Canada Games and the Pacific Conference Games, he won a silver medal for the 200-metre race in the Canadian Championships.

After graduating from UPEI in 1970, McKinnon went on to earn a degree in physical education and has taught in many Island schools, including Montague Regional High School where he teaches today. He was inducted into the PEI Sport Hall of Fame in 1971, and he has been awarded The PEI Soccer Association Administrator of the Year and a Hockey Canada Recognition Award. He has been involved in many associations, including the PEI Canada Games, PEI School Athletic Association and the PEI Physical Education Teachers Association to name a few.

He and his wife Heather MacLure, who passed away in 2008, were married for 32 years. They have two sons, Kris (Tammy) and Shawn (Melissa), and two grandchildren, Zach and Alexis.

"UPEI is proud of Bill McKinnon's athletic accomplishments as a Canada Games pioneer and in other competitions," says President Wade MacLauchlan. "This gift of his historic medals means that they will be shared with UPEI students, alumni and the P.E.I. community in perpetuity."

The three medals donated by McKinnon will be on display in the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place VIP lounge during the 2009 Canada Games. The display will also include other athletics memorabilia from UPEI, St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales College.

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) in the School of Business at UPEI has released a new report profiling visitors to PEI by entry and exit points. This report is based on the results of an exit survey conducted from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.

The report examines the profile of visitors according to how they arrived in and departed PEI. In all, five groups were examined: those who arrived and departed solely by air, bridge or ferry, and those who used a combination of bridge and ferry or a combination of air and bridge or ferry.

The Confederation Bridge was the most popular means of entering and departing PEI. Seventy (70) per cent of visitors to PEI both arrived and departed using the Confederation Bridge. The majority of these visitors were from New Brunswick (40 per cent) and Nova Scotia (32 per cent), which may also help to explain the high rate of repeat visitation by this travel group (84 per cent had previously been to PEI) and the high frequency of repeat visitation (an average of five trips in five years). By providing year-round ground accessibility to PEI, the bridge is critical to PEI's tourism industry.

'The bridge will play a crucial role in developing our most proximate markets since most bridge travellers came from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,' noted Dr. Paul Lewis, Research Director at the TRC. 'It will also play a vital role in developing PEI's significant elderly adult couples market because 49 per cent of bridge traveller parties were adult couples and about 64 per cent of all bridge users were over 35 years of age.'

A combination of bridge and ferry was how 16 per cent of travel parties entered and exited PEI. This combination was quite popular in the shoulder seasons with 25 per cent using this combination in the fall and 19 per cent in the spring. The majority of these visitors had been to PEI in the current or previous year.

There are several pieces of evidence that suggest PEI is part of a larger Maritime itinerary for those using a combination of bridge and ferry to travel to and from PEI. The most apparent reason is that visitors are entering PEI from one neighbouring province and departing to another, allowing them to visit three provinces on one trip. In addition, PEI was not considered the primary destination of the trip for 38 per cent of these travellers, and stays in PEI account for only three nights of an average eight-night trip.

About eight per cent of travel parties arrived and departed by air. This group primarily consisted of visitors returning to PEI to visit family and friends. They come to PEI frequently, with 71 per cent having been to PEI earlier in the year in which the survey was conducted.

Most travel parties entering and exiting by air were from Ontario, were over the age of 35, were female, and stayed an average of 5.5 nights. This relatively small group of travellers accounted for the second highest average spending per party per visit ($942.42). This is likely due, in part, to their longer stays. Given weather conditions in the winter season, air travel will be important for the winter tourism market.

The ferry was the mode of arrival and departure for six percent of travel parties. With 91 per cent of these travel parties hailing from Nova Scotia, it seems that the ferry is a convenient way for older Nova Scotian couples and families to take frequent short trips to PEI. This group had the highest degree of repeat visitation (85 per cent), and almost all considered PEI to be their primary destination. With an average length of stay of three nights, it appears that the ferry caters to a predominantly short-haul market seeking relatively brief holidays. Despite their short stays, these visitors had the highest levels of spending on accommodations, restaurants, local transportation, recreation and entertainment.

A combination of air and ground transportation was not common for visitors to PEI. Less than one per cent of travel parties used this combination. Those that did were primarily from Ontario (33 per cent) and international origins outside the US (26 per cent). This group had the lowest rate of repeat visitation to PEI but stayed the longest (an average of 6.9 nights). Perhaps a reflection of their longer stays, these visitors had the highest average spending per party per visit ($1,153.49). Given the unique combination of arrival and departure transportation, PEI is likely to be part of a larger travel itinerary for this group.

This report is available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website: www.trc.upei.ca/exitsurvey. More information about the report can be obtained from the TRC at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.

Future plans include developing a similar mobile theme for Moodle, the university's virtual learning environment.