The UPEI Music Department is proud to present the 2013 Music Performance Competition Finals Concert on Thursday, January 24 at 7:30 pm. The concert will feature six UPEI music students who were chosen by a panel of Music Department faculty members during the preliminary round of the competition.

The judges for the final competition, Christie Beck, Alan Dowling, Don Fraser, Ron Murphy, and Claire Caseley Smith, are all well-known musicians and educators in the PEI musical community.

Tickets are $15/$10 (students/seniors). For tickets and information, contact Susan Stensch at 566-0507 or music@upei.ca

Good luck to all finalists!

More about the student performers:

Neuromuscular neurologist and author Dr. Kevin Nelson will be on campus on January 28 and will present 'In the Borderlands of consciousness: spirituality arising from the brain in crisis' from 7-9 pm in AVC's Lecture Theatre A.

He is the director of medical affairs, assistant dean for clinical affairs, and professor of neurology at the University of Kentucky located in Lexington. Nelson has a PEI connection as he's married to Rustico native, Dr. Anne Steele (nee Gallant). Steele, who is a child psychiatrist, is also a UPEI alumna. Nelson and Steele enjoy vacationing at their summer cottage in Cymbria, PEI.

He is the author of The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain: A Neurologist's Search for the God Experience. Oliver Sacks, physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine explains that Nelson's book 'gives us a sense of how evolutionarily based mechanisms in the brain can serve the highest religious functions' and describes the book as 'an eloquent and compassionate landmark in our understanding of human nature.'

Nelson has practiced clinical neurology and neurophysiology for more than 25 years and has been published in scientific journals including Muscle and Nerve, Neurology, the New England Journal of Medicine, and in the popular publication Psychology Today. Currently, Nelson oversees the medical and surgical practice of 1,300 University of Kentucky Healthcare Enterprise physicians and healthcare providers. He is also active in the national society devoted to the study and practice of neuromuscular medicine.

Nelson will discuss the remarkable phenomena of near-death experiences and life-altering events, and how the brain is working during these moments. The lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.

This lecture is hosted by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science with assistance from the departments of psychology, philosophy, and religious studies.

In response to recent media coverage, the UPEI Board of Governors has issued the following statement.

'The University of Prince Edward Island takes allegations before the Human Rights Commission very seriously, and considers all employee matters confidential. We are cooperating fully with the Human Rights Commission and expect the matter to be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved,' said Tom Cullen, chair of the Board of Governors.

'The University of Prince Edward Island endeavours to provide a safe and harassment free work environment for all employees, faculty and students,' he concluded.

On Saturday, January 26, UPEI will host the sixth annual UPEI Men's Hockey Alumni Night. Former Panthers from across generational lines will lace up and compete in ‘Green and White' games starting at 4:00 pm in the MacLauchlan Arena. Due to overwhelming numbers, both ice surfaces will be used, and more than 40 players will be broken up into four strong teams.

The alumni action wraps up around 5:30 pm as everyone gets set to watch the UPEI men's hockey team take on Saint Mary's University at 7:00 pm, while the women's hockey team hosts St. Thomas University at 7:30 pm.

Before the men's game, Michael O'Brien (SDU'63), former SDU hockey player who has since helped to build the men's Panther hockey program will be honoured. O'Brien will drop the celebratory puck and will be joined on the ice by the current and former Panther players as his jersey is raised.

An alumni reception will take place during the UPEI Panther games in the viewing area of Arena 'A' and is open to all UPEI alumni. This is a great chance to re-connect with former classmates, teammates, and chat with former Panthers!

The weekend hockey action begins on Friday, January 25, with the UPEI men's team facing off against the St. FX X-Men at 7:00 pm in the MacLauchlan Arena. The UPEI women's hockey team will play the St. FX X-Women on Sunday, January 27 at 4:00 pm in Antigonish.

The UPEI Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Karem J. Simon, will perform on Sunday, January 27 at 3:00 pm in the Homburg Theatre at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. This special performance is done collaboratively with the PEI Intermediate Honours Band.

Among the highlights of the afternoon, the Wind Symphony will perform 'Mars,' the first movement, from Gustav Holst's orchestral suite 'The Planets.' Since its completion in 1916, it has been widely performed and frequently recorded. Each of the seven movements is named after a planet of the solar system. Subtitled 'the Bringer of War,' 'Mars,' the first movement of the suite, captures the full horror of warfare. The music possesses strong thematic content, pounding rhythms, harsh brass, and percussion.

Virtuoso saxophonist Kevin MacLean will be the featured soloist in a performance of Claude T. Smith's 'Fantasia,' a concertino for alto saxophone and wind ensemble. This work exploits the technical and expressive elements of the modern saxophone. MacLean's commanding performances of this work during the fall semester were met with enthusiastic audience responses.

Comprised mostly of UPEI music majors, the Wind Symphony has been critically acclaimed for its performance standard and innovative programming. During the past 14 years, the Wind Symphony has produced an annual CD featuring selected repertoire from each year's performances. Its 2010 CD, Cathedrals, was recipient of the Music PEI Award for best classical recording. Its two most recent CDs, Freebirds (2011) and The Lord of the Rings (2012) have received much praise. Each year the Wind Symphony tours selected areas of the region to provide its membership with additional performance experiences and share its music with a wider audience. Last semester's performances in Montague and Summerside, and Saint John, NB were well-received.

Since 1992, the PEI Intermediate Honours Band has featured a select group of band students to meet for an intensive weekend of rehearsals under the direction of an acclaimed conductor to advance and enrich their music-making. This year's Honours Band consists of over 100 instrumentalists and will be under the direction of Maestro Jasor Caslor, director of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Concert Band.

Performances of the UPEI Wind Symphony have generated much interest and the opportunity to hear this ensemble at the Homburg Theatre is eagerly awaited. Tickets for this performance ($10 Adults & $5 students) may be purchased at the Confederation Centre Box Office. All are welcome to attend.

The University of Prince Edward Island extends its condolences on the passing of UPEI honorary degree recipient and founder Frank Zakem after learning of his death after a long illness. He was 81 years old.

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, 'Our University has lost a great friend in Mr. Zakem. He was a special man and a champion of Prince Edward Island post-secondary education; arts, culture, and heritage; and many community causes. On behalf of the entire UPEI community, I want to pass on my most sincere sympathies to Mr. Zakem's wife Janet, family, friends, and colleagues.'

Frank Zakem received his education at Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's University earning Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Arts, and Bachelor of Education degrees. He also spent two years at the Grand Seminary of Montreal and completed the Management Development Program for College Administrators at Trent University.

After working in the family food and real estate business, he spent 26 years in administration and served for ten years as Principal of Holland College. For six years, he was seconded to work in various jobs in the office of Premier Joseph Ghiz.

Zakem's life has always been about leadership and service, as evidenced by his long career in, and dedication to post-secondary education, including teaching at St. Dunstan's University, helping both UPEI and Holland College honour their institutional heritage, and working in cooperation with the SDU Class of 1954. With the Class of '54, he helped secure donor funding from the SDU Board and alumni that allowed UPEI's Robertson Library to launch its digitization program in 2004; this has grown into islandarchives.ca, one of the most ambitious and innovative digital collections' programs in the country.

A well-known municipal politician, Zakem served fourteen years as a councillor, deputy mayor, and mayor of Charlottetown. As Mayor (1975-77), he promoted a set of heritage guidelines for the promotion and development of the cultural legacy of the city, and oversaw the creation of the Charlottetown Development Corporation. Much of the revitalization seen in the city today can be traced to Zakem's initiatives. In the 1990s, he served as director of the Federation of PEI Municipalities. Through his many contributions to community, Frank Zakem has demonstrated a deep commitment to serve the people and the province of Prince Edward Island. He was a recipient of the Order of PEI in 2009, was honoured as Founder of the University of Prince Edward Island in 2011, and received an honorary degree in 2012.

Recent UPEI business graduate Emma McPhail met with Zakem in 2011, and said in the citation she prepared for his installation as a founder, 'For Frank Zakem, such involvements are as natural as breathing. There are three types of people, Frank is fond of saying, ‘Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who don't know what happened.' Mr. Frank Zakem rightly categorizes himself in category number one. This penchant for ‘making things happen' has earned him our recognition today as a Founder of UPEI.'

Mr. Zakem was married to Janet (Kousaie) and they have four sons: Steven, Kenneth, Bruce, and Albert.

For more information, visit: http://remember.upei.ca/founder/frank-zakem

http://news.upei.ca/media/2012/04/04/upei-award-three-honorary-degrees-may-convocation

UPEI business students Parker Baglole and Ryan Cassidy recently placed first in the ethics section of the 35th annual Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (I.C.B.C.)-Canada's premier undergraduate business case competition. Baglole and Cassidy are the first UPEI students to win a section of the I.C.B.C. case competition.

Entry into this prestigious competition is achieved after a five-page paper submission is reviewed and approved. Over 180 entries are received for the eight events, with only the top six teams for each section invited to attend and compete in the competition hosted by Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

Baglole recalls the five-and-a-half-hour time limit they had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on a case they had never before seen, having no access to the Internet for guidance. 'It was a lot of hard work, and I know we wouldn't have accomplished this success without the support from the School of Business, our faculty advisor, Edward Gamble, and our case competition peers,' said Baglole. 'It was awesome to help UPEI be recognized on a national level against some of the biggest schools in Canada and from around the world.'

The ethics case dealt with undisclosed sponsorships in the blogosphere. While currently not illegal and an extremely cheap and effective way to market products, teams had to determine whether or not a particular company should pursue an action like this. If a team were to recommend that the company not market products in this way, which Baglole and Cassidy did, they had to come up with other strategies that would cause no harm to the business or violate any business interests.

The ethics section finalists included teams from UPEI, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, Saint Mary's University, and the University of New South Wales (Australia). UPEI placed first in the ethics event with the University of New South Wales (Australia) in second-place, and the University of Calgary in third.

For Cassidy, the I.C.B.C. awards banquet the following evening was surreal and memorable. 'It was a tremendous feeling hearing UPEI's name called, and knowing all our preparation and work paid off,' he said.

Edward Gamble, the team's faculty advisor, was proud to witness a first-place finish from a UPEI case team. 'This is the result of focused efforts from our case students, professors, and the Dean,' he said.

UPEI's dean of the School of Business, Alan Duncan was thrilled to hear of the case team's exciting news. 'Congratulations to Parker and Ryan on such an outstanding achievement,' he said. 'This is one of the pinnacles of case competitions, and their achievement reflects their effort, dedication, hard work, and knowledge gained through the business program.'

For more information, visit http://www.icbconline.ca/

A multidisciplinary team of researchers on PEI recently completed an anonymous, provincial, population-based study to determine the incidence of prenatal fetal alcohol exposure in PEI newborns. The team consisted of researchers and clinicians from the University of Prince Edward Island, the Queen Elizabeth and Prince County hospitals, the PEI Reproductive Care Program, and the Motherisk Laboratory at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

The PEI Meconium Study, facilitated by the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres (CAPHC) with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, was led by Dr. Janet Bryanton, associate professor, UPEI School of Nursing and Dr. Kathy Bigsby, pediatrician, QEH.

Prior to this study, PEI had no reliable data about the incidence of alcohol use during pregnancy. It is well-known that alcohol use in pregnancy can cause a range of disabilities; however, it is highly challenging to accurately determine the incidence of prenatal alcohol use in a population. The heavy stigma associated with drinking in pregnancy results in both under-reporting by pregnant women and reluctance on the part of their health-care providers to ask about prenatal alcohol use.

Meconium samples (i.e. a baby's first bowel movements) were anonymously collected from the diapers of all babies born to PEI mothers over a one-year period, including those born at IWK in Halifax. Samples were tested for biomarkers of prenatal alcohol exposure (FAEE), a unique laboratory test developed at the Motherisk Laboratory in Toronto. Close to 1,300 samples were collected and tested; the study results show that at least 3.1% of PEI babies were exposed to frequent prenatal alcohol consumption after the first trimester of pregnancy, placing these children at risk for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). It is expected that approximately 40% of exposed babies (1.3% of babies born in this population or at least 16 babies) will have FASD.

This is the first province-wide study in Canada to comprehensively evaluate the incidence of prenatal alcohol exposure. Regional studies conducted in other areas of Canada show similar rates of prenatal alcohol exposure, demonstrating that Islanders are dealing with a similar public-health impact of prenatal alcohol exposure as the rest of the country.

Whereas not drinking is the best choice for a woman who is or might become pregnant, there are many complex factors that may influence why a pregnant woman may use alcohol. The results of this study provide a basis upon which to begin discussion about a multifaceted approach to addressing prevention, early identification, and intervention for FASD.

Sister Sue Kidd, UPEI chaplain, will deliver the first talk in the UPEI University 100 Vern Smitheram and Andy Robb Leadership Development Speakers Series Winter 2013, on the theme of 'Leadership, A Call to Service' on Tuesday, January 29, 1:00-2:15 pm in UPEI's Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Room 328.

Prior to serving UPEI as chaplain, Sr. Sue's career included high school teaching in Toronto, parish and community renewal, serving as vocation director for her religious community, and two years of youth ministry in Cameroon, West Africa. She has also appeared as a CBC guest commentator with Peter Mansbridge for the papal visit of 2002 for World Youth Day, and the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

'Leadership, A Call to Service' is an opportunity to engage students and the community in important conversations about the theory and practice of leadership. An informal discussion period will take place following the talk. All are welcome to attend.

On Tuesday, January 29 at 7:30 pm, the UPEI Music Department Recital Series presents Canadian pianist Julien LeBlanc. Renowned for his great musical sensibility and his talent as a communicator, Julien will present a solo recital featuring the works of Scarlatti, Schumann, and Ravel.

Julien is a well-sought-after soloist, chamber player, and accompanist. Based in Montreal, he tours the country extensively allowing audiences from coast to coast to enjoy his performances with different formations, as well as in solo recitals.

He was artist-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton from 2005-2009. He holds a post-graduate diploma in accompaniment from the Royal Academy of Music (London, UK), a doctorate in piano performance from the Université de Montréal, as well as an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School (Toronto) where he studied with André Laplante.

The performance will take place in UPEI's Dr. Steel Recital Hall. Tickets are available at the door for $15 and $10 (students and seniors).