There will be a basic biosafety training session on October 12, 2023, at 1:00 pm in AVC 287N. Topics will include basic biosafety principles and how they are applied at the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as biosecurity training. This session is open to everyone, including graduate students.

To attend, you must pre-register by contacting Jacky Buell, by the end of the day on October 10, 2022, by email (hse@upei.ca) or by phone (902-566-0901). Please provide your name, department, your supervisor’s name (if applicable), email address, and phone number in your email or voice message. Please indicate if you are a graduate student. 

NOTE: An online basic biosafety training refresher course is available for those who need it. 

The UPEI Health and Wellness Centre is providing flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics for all students as well as faculty, staff, and their families in October. (Please note that children aged 12 and under have to go to Public Health for the COVID-19 booster, and children aged 2 and under have to get their flu shots at Public Health.) These are mass clinics (appointments are not required), and the vaccines are provided free. Please bring a provincial health card or student ID. You can receive both the flu shot and the COVID-19 booster at the same time, but it will require two injections.  

October 18: McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

October 19: McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre, 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm

October 25: The McCain Foundation Learning Commons Atrium, AVC, 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Webinar: Trademarks, Branding, and Protecting Your Business (virtual)

October 11, 1:00-2:00 pm Atlantic time

Description: Join SpringBoard Atlantic and special guest Erin Best, Partner and Trademark Agent at Stewart McKelvey Law, for an informative session on the proper use of trademarks as a brand protection strategy for your business. Learn why trademarks matter and how registering a trademark can give you a competitive advantage in the market!

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trademarks-branding-and-protecting-your-business-tickets-709603181217?aff=oddtdtcreator 

The Search Committee for the Associate Vice-President (Students) and Registrar announces upcoming presentations by each of the finalist candidates. Since the search began in May, the committee has undertaken a comprehensive search and selected the following finalists for a series of stakeholder meetings on campus. Presentations are scheduled on the following dates and times.

Chris McGrath is the Principal and Founder of the Koru Coaching + Education Group, an organization dedicated to cultivating leadership capacity for social change, particularly for Indigenization and EDI within organizations. He held prior roles as Vice-President, Students (George Brown College), Dean of Students (Seneca College), Associate Vice-President, Student Experience and Registrar (Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College), and Assistant Dean, Student Affairs (University of Toronto, Mississauga). Chris holds an EdD (Western University), an MEd (University of Vermont), and a BA (University of Waterloo).

• Public Presentation: Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, AVC, Room 201A

Frances Billingsley is the Associate Registrar and Director, Student Records and Scheduling, at York University. Previously she held registrarial and student service roles at MacEwan University (Director, Student Financial Aid; Associate Registrar, Records and Registration; and Academic Advisor) and the University of Alberta (Director, Undergraduate Student Services; Recruitment Officer; Student Advisor). Frances received her EdD in Educational Leadership from Western University (2022), and an MEd (2008), a BEd (2000), and a BA (1997) from the University of Alberta.

• Public Presentation: Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

Shawna Garrett is the President and CEO of EduNova Cooperative Ltd, an association of education and training providers in Nova Scotia. She has held prior appointments as a Transformation and Change Leader (College of the North Atlantic, CNA), Registrar (Mount Allison University and CNA, Qatar), and Executive Director, Enrolment Services (Acadia University). From 1999 to 2001, Shawna was the International Student Recruitment and Marketing Officer at UPEI. She holds an MEd (2007) from Acadia University and a BA (1997) from the University of Prince Edward Island.

• Public Presentation: Friday, October 13, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

All are welcome to attend. For any who are unable to attend, the presentations will be recorded and available afterward for viewing from a secure site. Paper copies of each candidate’s CV will be available for viewing in the Office of the Vice-President, Academic and Research, Kelley 205. Following each presentation, you are invited to provide feedback on the candidate’s suitability for the role to vpar@upei.ca. All feedback will be considered by the committee in its deliberations.

The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, November 3, for the November meeting.

Please note that as of June 1, 2020, all animal user protocols must be submitted through UPEI Researcher Portal at https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/

For new protocols, select "applications," and for renewal or amendment protocols, select "events."

 UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx. 

Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The committee requires at least one month for processing applications.

Join us on October 17, at 7 pm, in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building for a lecture titled “Camping in the Backyard” by Dr. Ed MacDonald, PEI historian and professor of history at UPEI.

The historical literature on camping in the Western world has been preoccupied with the period between the mid-1800s and the Second World War. It maintains that well-heeled city dwellers camped in order to escape summers in North America’s dirty, polluted, high-stress cities and connect physically and emotionally with the wild Nature. But it was the postwar era and the gradual democratization of tourism that brought camping to the masses. And the experience on Prince Edward Island tells a different story about the motives behind, and the experience of, camping. Focusing particularly on the Island’s provincial parks, “Camping in the Backyard” will unpack the rise and fall (and rise again) of camping in terms of the Island’s tourism industry.

Dr. MacDonald's lecture is part of the Institute of Island Studies' Island Lecture Series.

Interested in learning about cloud computing, programming with R, using spreadsheets or SQL, or version control with Git? More training from ACENET for the fall is now open for registration. Sessions are online and free of charge.

If you have questions about upcoming training or ACENET services at UPEI, contact Kaitlin Newson.

Cloud from A to Z
17, 19, 24, 26 October, 1300-1600hrs Atlantic
Cloud computing provides great flexibility, allowing complete control of the computing environment. In addition, the environment can be copied, backed up, created, and recreated in an automated way. In these lessons, we will start you on the path toward making use of the great flexibility and power of cloud computing. We will be using the popular static website generator Jekyll. Prerequisite: Completion of Software Carpentry's Unix Shell, or similar experience. DETAILS & REGISTER

Introductory Programming with R
18, 25 October, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic
This is a beginner-level series that is hands-on, covering the fundamentals of R. This includes data types, functions, importing, manipulating and analyzing data, and data visualization, as well as program design, version control, data management, and task automation. The goal is to teach the practical knowledge needed to start programming, debugging, and using R in everyday tasks. You do not need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented or previous programming experience, but intermediate level experience with a computer is recommended. DETAILS & REGISTER

Using Spreadsheets for Humanities, Social Sciences, and Librarians
8 November, 1330-1630hrs Atlantic
This beginner-level workshop is the first session of our Humanities & Social Sciences Data Organization & Analysis Series. To use tools that make computation and analysis more efficient, such as programming languages like R or Python, we need to structure our data the way that computers need the data. In this workshop, you will learn good data entry practices, how to avoid common formatting mistakes, approaches for handling dates in spreadsheets, basic quality control and data manipulation, and exporting data from spreadsheets. We will focus on examples and challenges from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and library research fields, and use librarycarpentry.org materials. There are no prerequisites. DETAILS & REGISTER

SQL for Humanities, Social Sciences, and Librarians
15, 22 November, 1230-1530hrs Atlantic
This two-part session is the second of our beginner-level Humanities & Social Sciences Data Organization & Analysis Series. Many web applications, research project websites, and library and archival repositories store data in relational databases. A relational database can help you keep your data separate from your analysis, improve quality control of data entry, reduce duplication of data, and improve your ability to search across large and complex datasets. Structured Query Language, or SQL, is a powerful language used to search and manipulate relational databases. This workshop teaches participants about relational databases and SQL using SQLite. You will learn how to write queries in SQL and how to use aggregate functions to combine data. It uses examples and challenges from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and library research fields and uses librarycarpentry.org materials. There are no prerequisites. DETAILS & REGISTER

Using Git Tools to Manage File Changes and Collaborate: Version Control
21 November, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic
Version control is the practice of managing and sharing changes to documents, programming code, websites, or any other files to keep track of what’s been changed, by whom, when, and why. All previous versions of files are saved, and you can even revert to a previous version. Git-portal sites, like GitHub or GitLab, offer many useful features to facilitate collaborative development. This is a two-part series. In this beginner-level first session, we will show you how to create a repository, record changes to files, explore and restore from the recorded history, and resolve conflicts (when one member overwrites another’s changes). DETAILS & REGISTER

Using Git Tools to Manage File Changes and Collaborate: Collaboration
28 November, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic
This is the second session of our two-part series. This workshop will focus on collaborative development workflows using Git-collaboration sites like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket, and will demonstrate how to work with branches, issue tracking, contribute to projects using pull-/merge-requests, code-review, run CI/CD-pipelines, and use other common features of these platforms. Prerequisite: basic experience using Git version control, participation in the 21 November workshop, or attendance at the Git lecture of a software carpentry workshop. DETAILS & REGISTER

Visualization with R
29 November, 1300-1500hrs Atlantic
When working with large sets of numbers, it is often more useful to display the information graphically using histograms, scatter plots, bar charts, box plots, and other depictions. This workshop teaches participants how to gain insights into data through visualization using R as the programming language. Participants will learn how to create simple scatterplots, histograms, and box plots; compare the plotting features of base R and the ggplot2 package; plot with ggplot2; plot time series data; and arrange and export plots. Basic knowledge of R is recommended, although not mandatory. DETAILS & REGISTER

This eight-week walking club will provide members with the opportunity to work with a fourth-year Kinesiology student who will encourage them throughout their walking journey and offer helpful tips including cool-down stretches. Participants can meet every Tuesday from October 10 to December 4, noon--12:30 pm, at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre indoor track. You can join the club even if you can’t attend Tuesdays at noon. 

Track the kilometres you walk, and for every 20 kilometres, you will earn a ballot that can be entered into a weekly draw. The club is individually based.

To register, log into recreation.upei.ca, click on UPEI LOGIN, and enter your UPEI email and password. Once you are logged in, go to the Wellness icon, then click on Walking club (UPEI Staff/Faculty only), and follow the prompts to register.

The Healthy Campus Committee coordinates these initiatives through the UPEI Employee Wellness Strategy supported by the Joint Benefits and Advisory Committee.

The Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee invites the campus community to the next presentation of the 2023-24 Environmental Sciences & Human Biology seminar series on Friday, October 6, 2023, at 12:30 p.m. in Kelley Memorial Building, Room 237.

Dr. Rebecca Mok, Business Development Officer, UPEI Office of Commercialization, Industry, and Innovation, will present “Graduate student opportunities for partnered research and entrepreneurship.” All are welcome.

With no winners in the last seven draws, the total pot has grown to more than $21,800 and is the LARGEST Gold Rush pot to date, with half going to the winner of the draw!

Gold Rush is a virtual fundraising initiative that raises funds for UPEI’s athletic and recreation programs. You can now select a specific team, club, or program to direct your proceeds from each of your tickets. 

Play today and every week for a chance to win! The weekly draw is held at 8:00 pm every Saturday.

There will be a basic biosafety training session on October 12, 2023, at 1:00 pm in AVC 287N. Topics will include basic biosafety principles and how they are applied at the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as biosecurity training. This session is open to everyone, including graduate students.

To attend, you must pre-register by contacting Jacky Buell, by the end of the day on October 10, 2022, by email (hse@upei.ca) or by phone (902-566-0901). Please provide your name, department, your supervisor’s name (if applicable), email address, and phone number in your email or voice message. Please indicate if you are a graduate student. 

NOTE: An online basic biosafety training refresher course is available for those who need it. 

The Search Committee for the Associate Vice-President (Students) and Registrar announces upcoming presentations by each of the finalist candidates. Since the search began in May, the committee has undertaken a comprehensive search and selected the following finalists for a series of stakeholder meetings on campus. Presentations are scheduled on the following dates and times.

Chris McGrath is the Principal and Founder of the Koru Coaching + Education Group, an organization dedicated to cultivating leadership capacity for social change, particularly for Indigenization and EDI within organizations. He held prior roles as Vice-President, Students (George Brown College), Dean of Students (Seneca College), Associate Vice-President, Student Experience and Registrar (Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College), and Assistant Dean, Student Affairs (University of Toronto, Mississauga). Chris holds an EdD (Western University), an MEd (University of Vermont), and a BA (University of Waterloo).

• Public Presentation: Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, AVC, Room 201A

Frances Billingsley is the Associate Registrar and Director, Student Records and Scheduling, at York University. Previously she held registrarial and student service roles at MacEwan University (Director, Student Financial Aid; Associate Registrar, Records and Registration; and Academic Advisor) and the University of Alberta (Director, Undergraduate Student Services; Recruitment Officer; Student Advisor). Frances received her EdD in Educational Leadership from Western University (2022), and an MEd (2008), a BEd (2000), and a BA (1997) from the University of Alberta.

• Public Presentation: Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

Shawna Garrett is the President and CEO of EduNova Cooperative Ltd, an association of education and training providers in Nova Scotia. She has held prior appointments as a Transformation and Change Leader (College of the North Atlantic, CNA), Registrar (Mount Allison University and CNA, Qatar), and Executive Director, Enrolment Services (Acadia University). From 1999 to 2001, Shawna was the International Student Recruitment and Marketing Officer at UPEI. She holds an MEd (2007) from Acadia University and a BA (1997) from the University of Prince Edward Island.

• Public Presentation: Friday, October 13, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

All are welcome to attend. For any who are unable to attend, the presentations will be recorded and available afterward for viewing from a secure site. Paper copies of each candidate’s CV will be available for viewing in the Office of the Vice-President, Academic and Research, Kelley 205. Following each presentation, you are invited to provide feedback on the candidate’s suitability for the role to vpar@upei.ca. All feedback will be considered by the committee in its deliberations.

Applications and nominations for the 2023 MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing are due today, October 6, 2023!

Returning undergraduate students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to apply for a MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing by submitting electronically to scholarships@upei.ca today. Criteria and application forms for the four prize categories can be found through the links below. Note that there are numerous awards available per category, and the prize value has been generously increased to $750 this year. 

MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Community)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Course Work)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Faculty and Staff)
MacLauchlan Prize for Effective Writing (Webster Centre)

The family of Harry and Marjorie MacLauchlan of Stanhope PEI made another leadership gift to UPEI in July 2011 to create a substantial program of awards that encourages and recognizes student writing achievement. The gift honours H. Wade MacLauchlan’s twelve years of service as UPEI president and vice-chancellor and recognizes the importance of effective writing as a foundational skill for academic success and lifelong learning.

The Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee invites the campus community to the next presentation of the 2023-24 Environmental Sciences & Human Biology seminar series on Friday, October 6, 2023, at 12:30 p.m. in Kelley Memorial Building, Room 237.

Dr. Rebecca Mok, Business Development Officer, UPEI Office of Commercialization, Industry, and Innovation, will present “Graduate student opportunities for partnered research and entrepreneurship.” All are welcome.

SoTL Canada is offering a webinar titled "Integrating SoTL into your Research Program" on Thursday, October 5, at 1:00 pm Atlantic, with Dr. Cherie Woolmer, Canada Research Chair (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), based in the Mokakiiks Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University. Use this link to RSVP for the webinar.

With no winners in the last seven draws, the total pot has grown to more than $21,800 and is the LARGEST Gold Rush pot to date, with half going to the winner of the draw!

Gold Rush is a virtual fundraising initiative that raises funds for UPEI’s athletic and recreation programs. You can now select a specific team, club, or program to direct your proceeds from each of your tickets. 

Play today and every week for a chance to win! The weekly draw is held at 8:00 pm every Saturday.

There will be a basic biosafety training session on October 12, 2023, at 1:00 pm in AVC 287N. Topics will include basic biosafety principles and how they are applied at the University of Prince Edward Island, as well as biosecurity training. This session is open to everyone, including graduate students.

To attend, you must pre-register by contacting Jacky Buell, by the end of the day on October 10, 2022, by email (hse@upei.ca) or by phone (902-566-0901). Please provide your name, department, your supervisor’s name (if applicable), email address, and phone number in your email or voice message. Please indicate if you are a graduate student. 

NOTE: An online basic biosafety training refresher course is available for those who need it. 

The Search Committee for the Associate Vice-President (Students) and Registrar announces upcoming presentations by each of the finalist candidates. Since the search began in May, the committee has undertaken a comprehensive search and selected the following finalists for a series of stakeholder meetings on campus. Presentations are scheduled on the following dates and times.

Chris McGrath is the Principal and Founder of the Koru Coaching + Education Group, an organization dedicated to cultivating leadership capacity for social change, particularly for Indigenization and EDI within organizations. He held prior roles as Vice-President, Students (George Brown College), Dean of Students (Seneca College), Associate Vice-President, Student Experience and Registrar (Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College), and Assistant Dean, Student Affairs (University of Toronto, Mississauga). Chris holds an EdD (Western University), an MEd (University of Vermont), and a BA (University of Waterloo).

• Public Presentation: Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, AVC, Room 201A

Frances Billingsley is the Associate Registrar and Director, Student Records and Scheduling, at York University. Previously she held registrarial and student service roles at MacEwan University (Director, Student Financial Aid; Associate Registrar, Records and Registration; and Academic Advisor) and the University of Alberta (Director, Undergraduate Student Services; Recruitment Officer; Student Advisor). Frances received her EdD in Educational Leadership from Western University (2022), and an MEd (2008), a BEd (2000), and a BA (1997) from the University of Alberta.

• Public Presentation: Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

Shawna Garrett is the President and CEO of EduNova Cooperative Ltd, an association of education and training providers in Nova Scotia. She has held prior appointments as a Transformation and Change Leader (College of the North Atlantic, CNA), Registrar (Mount Allison University and CNA, Qatar), and Executive Director, Enrolment Services (Acadia University). From 1999 to 2001, Shawna was the International Student Recruitment and Marketing Officer at UPEI. She holds an MEd (2007) from Acadia University and a BA (1997) from the University of Prince Edward Island.

• Public Presentation: Friday, October 13, 2023, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Andrew Hall, 142

All are welcome to attend. For any who are unable to attend, the presentations will be recorded and available afterward for viewing from a secure site. Paper copies of each candidate’s CV will be available for viewing in the Office of the Vice-President, Academic and Research, Kelley 205. Following each presentation, you are invited to provide feedback on the candidate’s suitability for the role to vpar@upei.ca. All feedback will be considered by the committee in its deliberations.

Overview: The Certificate in Executive Administration is for administrative professionals looking to update and develop new skills, or administrative professionals looking for a new role within their organization but are missing some key qualifications. The program focuses entirely on the administrative professional and the importance of their role in any organization. It will focus on areas such as establishing healthy relationships, creating a leadership mindset, managing your productivity, project management, communicating clear and professional messages, customer and client service (specifically for administrative professionals), and technology within the workplace.

Designed for: Administrative professionals or those looking to become an administrative professional. 

Duration: Six (6) courses for a total of thirty-six hours; each course takes six (6) hours and is conducted over two (2) consecutive days with three (3) hours per session.

Courses:

• Become the CEO of Your Own Position
• Communicating Clear and Professional Messages
• Customer and Client Service for Admins
• Managing Your Time and Productivity
• Tech Tools for Admins
• Project Management for Admins

For more information/register

With no winners in the last seven draws, the total pot has grown to more than $21,800 and is the LARGEST Gold Rush pot to date, with half going to the winner of the draw!

Gold Rush is a virtual fundraising initiative that raises funds for UPEI’s athletic and recreation programs. You can now select a specific team, club, or program to direct your proceeds from each of your tickets. 

Play today and every week for a chance to win! The weekly draw is held at 8:00 pm every Saturday.