UPEI student Landon Holmes is overwhelmed by the traffic driving by his house to see his Christmas light display.

The 18-year old from Stratford said, 'It's a cool feeling to know so many people are coming by to see the lights and donate to the cause.' Close to $1500 has already been raised for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Holmes estimates about 300 vehicles have been driving by each night since the light show was launched on December 11.

Holmes and two friends decorated his family home and yard over the course of 300 hours. The impressive display is a computer-programmed light show set to music that runs in a loop between 5 and 11 pm nightly and features over 10,000 lights.

Inspired by a house decorated near the Charlottetown airport and several YouTube videos, Holmes said that the presentation and the idea to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation 'all came together'. He added, 'A neighbour passed away in June after suffering a stroke and I just knew it was something I wanted to do.'

Inge Dorsey, who teaches Holmes in her University 100 class, says, 'Landon is a wonderful young man and has demonstrated a generous spirit with this community project. I can think of many other things an 18-year old might do with his money. He actually invested $2500 of his own funds into this display.' Dorsey added that Holmes is big-hearted in many ways-he recently acted as Santa Claus at the International Students' Christmas Dinner.

Holmes' spectacular display can be seen at 13 Beacon Hill Drive, in Stratford. The light show will continue through to January 5, 2011.

Wade MacLauchlan, UPEI President; Fred Hyndman, UPEI Board of Governors Chair; Perlene Morrison, UPEI Alumni Association President; and President-designate Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz welcomed over 500 alumni and friends in Don and Marion McDougall Hall at the UPEI New Year's Levee held Saturday, January 1, 2011.

This year's event marked the second time for the levee to be held on the UPEI campus-- prior to McDougall Hall being built, it was held downtown.Members of the Prince Edward Island Regiment travel through the receiving line at the UPEI New Year's levee.

Visitors included the Honourable Barbara A. Hagerman, Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island; Members of Parliament, Shawn Murphy and Wayne Easter; Premier Robert Ghiz, and several members of his caucus; members of the Prince Edward Island Regiment; a cadet corps from HMCS Queen Charlotte; and UPEI Student Union President, Rob Livingstone.

Research on Tap returns Tuesday, January 11, at 7:00 p.m. in Mavor's Bar in the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Dr. Carla Di Giorgio, associate professor of Education at UPEI, will lead the discussion, 'Do gifted students need special attention? Addressing the high end of the educational spectrum in PEI's school system.'

'There's a common attitude that gifted children don't need extra help in school,' says Dr. Di Giorgio. 'But gifted students get bored easily if their intelligence isn't being stimulated. They often drop out if their needs aren't met by school, and as a result, don't go on to university.'

Di Giorgio will also discuss the International Baccalaureate program at UPEI, which will graduate its first Island class at the end of this school year.

Research on Tap is a series of public discussions led by UPEI researchers. For more information, click here.

Jim Randall, Vice-President, Academic is pleased to announce that Laura Lee Noonan has been appointed interim director of Student Services, effective January 4. Laura Lee comes to us from the provincial Department of Education and Early Childhood Development where her most recent position was as Youth/Student Services Coordinator.

Laura Lee brings with her considerable experience in the areas of student counselling and career development, and has established strong relationships within the Island school system. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UPEI and a Master of Arts from Dalhousie in Sociology and Social Anthropology. Noonan worked at UPEI in the late 1990s, both as a sessional instructor in Sociology and as the Coordinator of the Adult Connections in Education (ACE) program.

After a successful offering in O'Leary, UPEI is offering its new University Preparation Certificate for Adult Learners in Charlottetown and Montague this February. The program is designed to help adult learners explore their interest in university studies and provide them with skills and strategies for a successful transition to post-secondary learning.

'The Centre for Life-Long Learning is pleased to be partnering with the Webster Centre for Teaching and Learning on offering this new program. Feedback from the participants in O'Leary was very positive and the program helped remove some of the fears associated with coming back to school and entering university. Most found they already have the skills to be successful in university study but the program gave them the confidence to take the first step,' says Jeanette MacAulay, Director of the Centre for Life-Long Learning.

Targeting adults who have been out of school for some time or graduates of upgrading programs, the program will offer critical thinking and writing skills, orientation to online learning, goal setting, and research skills, among others.

'At the Webster Centre, we recognize that everyone learns differently and those who may not have been ready to enter university out of high school may be ready after some experience in the workforce. We want to help those who may have an interest in entering university by making it the most positive experience possible,' says Dr. Barbara Campbell, Director of the Webster Centre.

Learners will meet over six consecutive Saturday mornings from 10:00 am-12:00 pm. The Charlottetown program will begin on February 5, 2011 with the Montague offering beginning February 26, 2011. The cost for the full program is $50 and registration is limited to 20 participants.

All are welcome to attend an information session on January 13, 2011 from 6:30-7:30 pm in McDougall Hall at UPEI, or on February 3 in Montague (location to be determined). For more information, contact the Centre for Life-Long Learning at (902) 566-0336, or visit www.upei.ca/lifelonglearning.

The project is funded, in whole or part, through the Canada-PEI Labour Market Development Agreement and/or the Labour Market Agreement.

UPEI celebrates its third annual Diversity Week from January 17 to 21, and everyone is invited to take part in the events. All events are open to the public and are free of charge.

'Diversity Week is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics-both visible and invisible-that make individuals unique, in an atmosphere that promotes inclusion and celebrates individual and collective achievement,' says Ruth Freeman, equity outreach coordinator at UPEI.

The week kicks off with the ‘International Pavilion' on Monday, January 17, in the concourse of the W. A. Murphy Student Centre from 10 am-3 pm. Organized by UPEI's international students, the Pavilion will feature cultural exhibits, and at noon, a popular and tasty event makes its return, ‘Taste Dips from Around the World'. Monday evening, from 6 -10 pm, two movies will be shown at Room 104 at KC Irving Building: Hotel Rwanda and Live and Become.

Also in the concourse, on Tuesday, January 18 from 11 am-2 pm, UPEI student societies and groups will have a chance to show the many reasons why people might like to get involved. One such group, the Bod Squad-Family and Nutritional Sciences students who promote positive messages regarding body image-will exhibit images of ‘Body Pride'. That evening at 7 pm, a GLBTQ panel discussion, ‘Being gay at UPEI', will take place in McMillan Hall.

On Wednesday, January 19, a Muslim/Christian dialogue will take place at 12 noon in the Chaplaincy Centre, hosted by campus chaplain, Sister Sue Kidd. Panellists will follow the guidelines for language of interfaith conversation. Also on Wednesday, everyone is also welcome to show off their trivia skills at ‘Diversity Trivia @ The Wave', beginning at 7 pm.

On Thursday, January 20 at 3 pm, ‘Merry Meet', a social networking session to meet new people and discuss spiritualism, will be held at the Chaplaincy Centre. Beginning at 6 pm, a culturally diverse menu, served buffet-style, will be offered at the Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall for $9 per person. Members of our UPEI community will also demonstrate a variety of international dances at the dinner and will encourage attendees to take a spin out on the dance floor for ‘So you think you can dance, international?'

On Friday, January 21, UPEI students, faculty, and staff are invited to come to the third annual ‘Sound-off and Open Mic' at The Wave from 4-5 pm, and have their five-minute say on the subject, censorship.

To cap off the week, at 7 pm on Friday, the Men's Hockey Panthers take on St. FX at MacLauchlan Arena. At intermission, there will be a ‘Sledge Hockey Demo' and throughout the evening, representatives of ParaSport & Recreation PEI will be on hand to answer questions regarding the many ways people with physical disabilities can access sport opportunities.

Click here for the full schedule. For more information, please contact Ruth Freeman at (902) 628-4332 or rfreeman@upei.ca.

The University of Prince Edward Island builds on its strong record of publication with the launch of eight new books from the Faculty of Arts. The launch is Friday, January 28 from 4-6 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI's Main Building.

The titles launched at this event include books, journals, and CDs with Arts Faculty members as authors, performers, or primary editors. They are:

• 'Island Enclaves' (McGQUP, 2010) by Godfrey Baldacchino,
• 'Homecare: One Woman's Journey' (VDM Verlag, 2009) by Lorraine Begley,
• Volume 20 of the Journal 'Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain' (2010), edited by Annabel Cohen. The volume is a special double issue entitled 'A history of music psychology in autobiography.' It includes a DVD (with the technical assistance of Robert Drew of the Psychology Department),
• 'Soundscapes of Spain' (CD, 2010) by Frances Gray,
• 'Burning House' (Wolsak and Wynn Publishers, 2010) by Richard Lemm,
• 'The Landscapes of Confederation, Charlottetown 1864' (P.E.I.Heritage Foundation, 2010) by Ed MacDonald (with Catherine Hennessey and David Keenlyside),
• 'The Atheist's Primer' (Broadview, 2010) by Malcolm Murray,
• 'Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924-1951' (Academic Studies Press, 2010) by Henry Srebrnik.

Each title will be available to purchase at the launch. Refreshments and a reception will follow. For more information, contact Lisa Chilton at lchilton@upei.ca, or 566-0692.

The UPEI Student Union (UPEI SU) launched a new website recently for societies and campus events.

The website allows student union-ratified societies to have a common place to post content and communicate with members. Developed in partnership with Integrated Communications, the project was a collaborative effort between representatives from various societies, and UPEI SU Vice-President Communications, Kate VanGerven.

'It was truly a group effort, and we can't thank Dave Cormier and his team at Integrated Communications enough for guiding us through this project,' says VanGerven. 'Not only will the website be an excellent resource for student societies, but we've also learned skills in how to manage a web project.'

Cormier, Manager, Web Communications and Innovations added, 'After receiving a number of requests from individual societies to help build sites, we approached the Student Union to discuss the idea of creating a portal for their sanctioned groups. But while we provided the technological support, we let the student representatives really manage the direction of the site. It's been a great collaboration."

Click here to visit the site .

On Thursday, January 20, 2011, the UPEI Wind Symphony was presented with Music PEI's award for 'Best Classical Recording of the Year' for its CD, Cathedrals.

The CD, recorded throughout the 2009 - 2010 academic year, includes the title track, 'Cathedrals' by Katheryn Salfelder, 'Pictures at an Exhibition' by Modest Moussorgsky, 'Bugs' by Roger Cichy, and 'Scootin' on Hardrock' by David Holsinger, among other works.

Cathedrals is the Wind Symphony's twelfth CD, the result of the annual recording project, initiated in 1998 as a means of archiving most of each year's performance repertoire. The Wind Symphony is under the direction of UPEI music professor Karem J. Simon.

The UPEI Music Department Recital Series is proud to present the ‘2011 Music Performance Competition Finals Concert' on Friday, January 28 at 7:30 pm in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall.

The concert will feature seven finalists who were chosen by a panel of seven Music Department faculty members during the preliminary round of the competition. This year's competition category was open.Justin Fitzsimmons, Bachelor of Music major.

The seven finalists are Dominque Blais, soprano, a fourth-year Bachelor of Education major; Sarah Doran, saxophone, a fourth-year Bachelor of Music Education major; Justin Fitzsimmons, horn, a second-year Bachelor of Music major; Laura MacLeod, trumpet, a third-year Bachelor of Music major; Echo Lau, piano, a second-year Bachelor of Music major; Natalie Sullivan, soprano, a third-year Bachelor of Music major; and Cora Wong, flute, a first-year Bachelor of Music major.

Dr. Frances Gray, a music faculty member, commented, 'We were all very impressed with the high calibre of performance and the initiative that these students showed in tackling repertoire often challenging both interpretively and technically. We are very proud of their achievements and look forward to an interesting and rewarding ‘Finals' evening.'

Sarah Doran, Bachelor of Music Education major.The judges for the final competition have been selected from the musical community of Charlottetown: Shirley Anne Cameron, voice; Rowan Fitzgerald, saxophone; Mark Ramsay, piano; Madeline Kapp, violin; and Peter Bevan-Baker, trumpet. Works by Mozart, Chaminade, Ibert, Chopin, Strauss, Handel, Arutunian, and Tesori will be featured.

Admission is $10.00 ($5.00 for students and seniors). Tickets are available at the door.