A UPEI PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education is seeking non-francophone parents of children in French schools to complete a short survey as part of a research project. The involvement of parents is known to be important for children's education and social success. For this reason, this project seeks to explore the experience and involvement of non-francophone parents with children in French schools.

To participate, complete the 10-15 minute survey here

For more information, or to request to participate in the survey by phone or by a paper copy, contact Mary MacPhee at mmmacphee@upei.ca or (902) 892-4658.

For information:
Dave Atkinson, Research Communications Officer, UPEI
(902) 620-5117, datkinson@upei.ca

UPEI celebrated its third annual MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing event today in recognition of the importance of effective writing as a foundational skill for academic success and lifelong learning. The award-presented to 51 students and two faculty members this year-was established in 2011 by the MacLauchlan family to honour H. Wade MacLauchlan's contributions to the University and his 12 years of service as UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor from 1999-2011.

UPEI's Vice-President Academic, Christian Lacroix, acted as the event's master of ceremonies. 'It's an honour for me to host the MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing again this year,' said Lacroix. 'By celebrating writing excellence, these awards send a powerful message on the collective importance of writing across all disciplines. Congratulations to this year's award recipients.'

Student readers included Christian Norton, a third-year science student, and Brittany Thompson, a fourth-year arts student. Norton read his submission, which told the story of his interest in biology, how it started at such an early age, and continues today. His submission also describes his future plans, upon graduation, which include medicine and dermatology studies. Thompson then read an excerpt from her University 203: Introduction to Leadership e-portfolio.

Dave Atkinson, journalist, writer, broadcaster, and author was the event's special guest speaker. 'Being able to communicate clearly and effectively with the written word is, for me, the most important thing you can learn in school and in life,' Atkinson told the crowd. 'We write to inform, to entertain, to teach, and to inspire. I'm honoured to be affiliated with the MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing.' Atkinson also read an excerpt from his new book 'Wereduck.'

The MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing distribute up to $30,000 annually in awards. The family has made previous contributions to the Harry W. MacLauchlan Scholarships in Entrepreneurial Leadership, MacLauchlan Arena, Robertson Library, athletic scholarships, and student prizes in mathematics and entrepreneurship.

Congratulations to all UPEI award recipients!

2014 award recipients:

Faculty of Arts: Lydia Banks; Jessica Cameron; Vanessa Chew; Jocelyn Claybourne; Julie Collier; Vanessa Fehr; Adam Francis; Elliot Ince; Shen Si Jiang; Yumi Kanayama; Keri McCaffrey; Brandon MacKenzie; Connor Mycroft; Michael Pass; Marc Pineau; Sierra Roberts; Brett Roche; Joseph Sentance; Courtney Starkman; Brittany Thompson; Chris Thompson; Marianne Tremblay-Abel; and Blair Vessey

School of Business: Ryan Cassidy; Lucas Currie; Elysia Drost; Lan Guo; Nathan Hood; Lingye Hu; Katherine Koughan; Ryan McCarvill; Sara MacKay; Melanie McKenna; Dylan McIsaac; Krista Lee Oliver; Caroline Reid; Jessica Smith; Ryan Taylor; and Ogechi Worji

Faculty of Education: Stephanie Coles; and Ruifang 'Freya' Qi

School of Nursing: Jessica MacKinnon; Julia MacMillan; Katherine Slysz; Robyn Soulsby; and Elizabeth Thomson

Faculty of Science: Katie Fullerton; Christian Norton; Ayodeji Ebenezer Ogunmadeji; and Jessica Reynolds

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine: Nancy Brochu

Faculty and Staff recipients: Bill Chalmers; and John Cameron

The UPEI Panther Athletes of the Week for the week of November 10-16 are Amy Gough, Women's Basketball; and Tyler Scott, Men's Basketball. UPEI Athletics and Recreation showcases these talented athletes to recognize their hard work and dedication to their respective sports. UPEI Athletes of the Week are also nominated to Atlantic University Sport and Canadian Interuniversity Sport for possible recognition in the region and/or country.

Who: Amy Gough, Women's Basketball; and Tyler Scott, Men's Basketball

What: UPEI Panther Athletes of the Week

When: Week of November 10-16

Where: University of Prince Edward Island

Why: Gough, a fifth-year nursing student from St. John's, Newfoundland, averaged 12 points and nine rebounds during the team's two wins over CBU this weekend, by scores of 61-57 and 62-48. On Saturday, Gough had a breakout game with 18 points and nine rebounds, in only 26 minutes of play.

Scott, a second-year business student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, averaged 33 pts, five rebounds, and three and a half assists in two wins over CBU, who is currently ranked sixth in the nation. Scott earned the winning free throw with 3.4 seconds left in the close 107-106 victory for UPEI. Scott shot 24/36 (67%) from the field over the two games, 10/15 (67%) from three-point range, and 8/10 (80%) from the foul line, and added three steals over the two games.

For information:
Ron Annear
UPEI Athletics and Recreation
(902) 566-0991, annear@upei.ca

Amy Gough, Women's Basketball

UPEI invites the nomination of candidates for honorary degrees to be conferred at Convocation in May 2015. Honorary degrees are conferred honoris causa, 'for the sake of honour,' and are intended to recognize outstanding provincial, national, and international contributions in any field(s) of endeavour. Contributions should reflect extraordinary intellectual or artistic achievements or significant service to society at a standard of excellence that merits the University's highest honour.

Nominations can be made online or a form can be downloaded to mail at upei.ca/nominatehdr. For more information call (902) 566-6780 or email senateassistant@upei.ca. Deadline for nominations is January 2, 2015.

UPEI men's basketball player, Tyler Scott, is this week's CIS male athlete of the week for the week ending November 16, 2014. Scott, a second-year business administration student from Halifax, averaged a remarkable 33 points per game to lead the UPEI Panthers (3-1) to a pair of home wins over the Cape Breton Capers (2-2), ranked sixth in the country going into the doubleheader.

The 6-foot-2 guard was unstoppable in Friday's 93-85 victory with a game-high 38 points, as well as eight rebounds and three assists, and was once again the top scorer in Saturday's 107-106 win with 28 points, including the game-winning free throw. The talented sophomore currently leads the CIS with an average of 28.8 points per contest.

Scott was also named the UPEI male athlete of the week for the week of November 10-16.

Congratulations, Tyler! Go Panthers Go!

UPEI's Robertson Library is pleased to announce that President emeritus Wade MacLauchlan's new book, 'Alex B. Campbell: The Prince Edward Island Premier Who Rocked The Cradle' is now available in both eBook and Audio Book formats. The audio version will be available for MP3 players, as well as CD, and USB versions.

Prices:
eBook Download: $14.95
Audio Book Download: $19.95
Audio Book with MP3 Player: $29.95
eBook & MP3 Audio Book on USB Drive: $34.95
Audio Book CD package: $39.95
Printed book and Audio/eBook package: $49.95
Autographed printed book and Audio/eBook package + gift card/packaging option: $59.95

To purchase, please visit http://alexbcampbell.ca/ or visit your local bookstore! For more information, please contact UPEI Librarian Mark Leggott at mleggott@upei.ca or (902) 566-0460.

The past and present state of Island land use policy will be the subject of an upcoming public symposium held at UPEI. The event begins at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, December 2 in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium, room 242 of Don and Marion McDougall Hall.

Islanders who are concerned about issues surrounding the use and abuse of Island land are urged to attend. The symposium will begin with presentations by two veteran observers of Island public life over the past 30 years: Jean-Paul Arsenault and Ian Petrie. The event is co-sponsored by UPEI's Institute of Island Studies and UPEI Research Services.

Petrie spent three decades with the CBC, in three provinces, covering resource issues, mainly agriculture. He's lived for 34 years in Iona, eastern Queen's County. Arsenault served as Executive Secretary to the Round Table on Resource Land Use and Stewardship and the Commission on Land and Local Governance and was a member of the team providing support to the Commission on the Lands Protection Act.

Mr. Arsenault's talk will be entitled 'Factors Affecting Land Use Decisions: What Were They Thinking?' He will present three examples of recent property developments in rural Prince County-in the communities of New Annan, Northam, and Saint Nicholas-and the impact each has had, favourable or otherwise. Would stricter controls on land use be good for Prince Edward Island, or is the status quo the better option?

Mr. Petrie will address the topic 'Why Farmers Fight Regulations.' He has covered agricultural stories on the Island since the late 1970s, during which time he has seen the bond of understanding between producers and consumers continue to break down. During this period, consumers enjoyed cheap and abundant food, while profit margins on farms continued to shrink. This may help explain the negative response by farmers to proposed new land regulations. Is there a way out of this impasse? Mr. Petrie will propose one.

Members of the public are cordially invited to attend. Admission is free. Following the presentations, there will be ample time for discussion and questions from the floor. For more information, see upei.ca/iis.

For information:
Dave Atkinson, Research Communications Officer, UPEI
(902) 620-5117, datkinson@upei.ca

The University of Prince Edward Island continues to see a steady incline in the percentage of international students, stated a recently-released 2014 report from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).

CBIE, Canada's national voice for promoting Canadian international education indicated that while all regions saw growth in international students attending post-secondary education institutions between 2011 and 2013, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and Ontario saw the strongest growth. During that timeframe, UPEI's international student population was at 13 per cent; this year's statistics were not reflected in the 2014 report.

For the 2014-15 academic year, 16 per cent of UPEI's total population is made up of international students, which is a 17.5 per cent increase from last year. Director of International Relations Barbara Campbell said, 'UPEI is focusing international recruitment efforts on existing markets like Hong Kong, mainland China, and the Middle East, but we are increasing our prospecting efforts in relatively new-to-UPEI locations such as India and South America, and receiving very positive feedback.' She added, 'I expect that CBIE's next report will position us even higher among the top provinces seeing strong international student growth.'

As noted by CBIE, the Government of Canada has put forward its very first international education strategy, which aims to double the number of international students choosing to study in Canada by 2022. UPEI continues to do its part as it strengthens its international student population, working towards its Strategic Plan's recruitment strategies to increase enrolment.

President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, 'One key strategy in the UPEI Strategic Plan 2013-18 is to open new pathways to increase enrolment and to increase student supports to improve retention. Our International Relations Office is working diligently to accomplish these goals and we are seeing tremendous results; for example this year, we welcomed over 700 international students from 70 countries to UPEI.'

For the second consecutive year, UPEI School of Business undergraduate students placed first in the Ethics in Action Case Competition hosted by Dalhousie University, November 14-15, 2014.

Founded in 2003, the Dalhousie Business Ethics Case Competition (DBECC) has evolved into the Ethics in Action Case Competition with a goal to equip tomorrow's business leaders with the tools necessary to make strategic business decisions, while adhering to ethical principles. Student teams are challenged with complex and realistic ethical dilemmas where they work together to analyze and then present their proposed solutions to a panel of industry experts.

UPEI's winning team consisted of fourth-year business students Trevor White, Malary Schurman, and Cait Wright, and third-year business student Erin Devine. White, Wright, and Devine are all specializing in accounting, while Schurman is specializing in entrepreneurship.

Teams from Dalhousie, Acadia, Saint Mary's, Concordia, Queen's, Elon, Guelph, and the University of Alberta all competed in the national case competition.

'Not only was it cool to compete against some of the best business schools in North America, but it was neat to see how everyone approached the exact same case,' said White. 'I couldn't be more proud of my teammates and my coach for what we accomplished this past weekend.'

UPEI's Dean of the School of Business Juergen Krause echoed his pride in the team. 'Being able to attend a high profile case competition is a privilege in itself, to win it is a great honour, but to win it in consecutive years against very strong competition is spectacular,' said Krause. 'This is a testimony of the capability of our students and the quality of our faculty and coaches.'

Mary Whitrow, UPEI's Case Competition Coach agreed with Krause. 'This competition is a prime example of the many opportunities that the case class offers,' she said. 'The team put in a tremendous amount of work, competed against some of the best schools, and came out on top. I am very proud of their accomplishment and look forward to seeing UPEI compete again in the New Year.'

UPEI congratulates the case competition team and the School of Business on another great case competition result!

PEI fans of Michael Crummey, Newfoundland novelist and poet, will welcome the news that his new novel, 'Sweetland,' is a finalist for the 2014 Governor General's Award for Fiction. Crummey will read from 'Sweetland' and sign books on Thursday, November 27, at 7:30 pm in the Confederation Centre Art Gallery.

After his first two, historical novels, 'River Thieves' and 'The Wreckage,' Crummey further enhanced his reputation and popularity with the mythic, multi-generational novel 'Galore,' crafted from Newfoundland's history and folklore. In 'Sweetland,' he brings us to the present day and a small Newfoundland fishing community devastated by the ongoing cod moratorium. 'Sweetland' is the name of both a small island and the main character, Moses Sweetland, former lighthouse keeper and cod fisherman, and eighth generation descendant of an ancestor who gave the island its name. The government will relocate residents, but only if all residents agree to move. Moses refuses to leave, and will not explain why.

' 'Sweetland' is a compelling depiction of a community...coming together and coming apart simultaneously. Drawing on history, memory and dream. Crummey creates a vivid portrait...of the world around him, both human and natural. It is a love song and a paean to a life and a history, and an elegy for its disappearance,' said Robert J. Wiersema of the National Post.

Michael Crummey is one of those Atlantic Canadian writers who, like Alistair MacLeod and Donna Morrissey, inspires a warm, kindly, loving-hearted mood when he's present. His writing inspires readers and listeners to travel deeply and powerfully into the tragic, heroic, and bittersweet lives of the people of his island, of our region.

His reading is sponsored by the UPEI English Department with the generous collaboration of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery.

For information:
Dr. Richard Lemm, Department of English, UPEI
Winter's Tales Authors' Reading Series
(902) 566-0592, rlemm@upei.ca