Island Lecture Series Double Feature:
“Sami Educational Viewpoints From the Past and Present” and “The Use of Yoik, Traditional Sami Singing, in Education”
September 19, 2023,  7:00 pm, Faculty Lounge, SDU Main Building

Kicking off this season's Island Lecture Series on Tuesday, September 12, are two guests who are NOT talking about islands, but rather about something that resonates with islands and islanders from the North: Sami culture from Lapland.  

Pigga Keskitalo will present “Sami Educational Viewpoints From the Past and Present.”  In this presentation, Keskitalo will review Sámi education history and current practices. Currently, there is a need for innovative solutions so that everyone can reach education in their Indigenous languages. Endangered Sami languages have developed distance education since the 1990s so that children and language learners – despite their location – can learn Sami languages. In Finland, there is a Sami language distance education project. The Academy of Finland-funded research project, ADVOST, concentrated on developing this distance education in a small children’s context. The research project also implemented land-based education, storytelling, and playful learning into distance education. Keskitalo will present this project and core results in addition to the new research project LINCOSY (funded by the Finnish Research Council, former Academy of Finland), which concentrates on Sami language teaching in the Nordic level.

Laila Nutti will present her PhD project about the pedagogical use of yoik with the title: “The Use of Yoik, Traditional Sami Singing, in Education.”

Pigga Keskitalo and Laila Nutti are on Prince Edward Island as part of the ConnectED Scholar Exchange, which aims to create connections between early-career scholars and researchers across the Arctic. Hosted by Dr. Kathy Snow (Education), David Varis (Education/IKERAS), and Dr. Laurie Brinklow (Island Studies), our guests will meet with graduate students and educators across the Island from September 18-21, 2023.

Find more information at https://islandstudies.com/events/upcoming-events/

OCII is pleased to invite you to our info sessions on Intellectual Property for Researchers, presented by André Gallant, IP Advisor for Atlantic Canada from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Learn more about intellectual property (IP) as it relates to your research innovations, inventions, and entrepreneurial activities.

All faculty, students, and staff are welcome to attend on Thursday, September 14, in Don and Marion McDougall Hall 329:

Session 1: 9:30 - 10:15 am, Patents & Trade Secrets

Session 2: 10:30 - 11:15 am, Copyrights & Trademarks 

Please come to both or either, based on your research and commercialization interests. 

We hope to see you there! 

-- Office of Commercialization, Industry & Innovation Team

Any questions, reach out at ocii@upei.ca or follow us on LinkedIn

IT Systems and Services is preparing virtual student computer lab applications for the Fall 2023 semester. We kindly ask that all faculty and/or lab facilitators who require access to virtual lab applications for their courses please submit their requests via the form provided on the myUPEI portal.

Please complete this form if you are facilitating a course in the upcoming Fall 2023 semester and your students will require virtual lab access to complete their course.

Please note that any virtual lab access previously provided for courses will be removed by August 30, 2023. If your students still require access during the Fall 2023 semester, please re-submit the above form.

In some specialized cases, there may be costs and approvals associated with provisioning virtual labs, and in these cases, ITSS will contact you to discuss next steps.

The UPEI Alumni Association invites students, staff, and faculty to join us on Thursday, September 21, at 6:30 pm in the Performing Arts Centre theatre as we recognize and celebrate the recipients of the 2023 Distinguished and Young Alumni Awards.

The 2023 Distinguished Alumni are Dr. Mary Goodfellow, SDU '65; Monica Elaine Campbell, BSc '78; and Roger Sinclair, BBA '79. The 2023 Inspiring Young Alumni are Danaiet Teame, BScN '12; Tyler Coady, BA '13; and Danté Bazard, BA '16. 

Following the ceremony, there will be a reception with light refreshments and a cash bar. This is a free event, open to interested members of the public and campus community, but for planning purposes, we ask that you kindly RSVP by email to Stephen Loo at sloo@upei.ca by September 14.

For more information about our Distinguished and Young Alumni Awards, including a list of past recipients, or to submit a nomination for 2024, please visit https://www.upei.ca/alumni/awards-and-recognition

UPEI is thrilled to bring back the Research Breakfast to provide opportunities to network and learn more about the insights, possibilities, and expertise within our research community. The breakfast will take place in Bill and Denise Andrew Hall, Room 142, on September 12 from 7:30–9:00 am.

Speakers:

• Dr. Caroline Ritter, Canada Research Chair in Social Epidemiology for Healthy Animals, will present "Paw-sitive minds: Fostering positive mental well-being in veterinarians."
• Dr. Josh MacFadyen, Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities, will present "Lessons from the Land: Mapping Food and Energy Transitions in Canada."

Please RSVP here as there is a limited amount of space.

This event is sponsored by Springboard Atlantic.

The University of Prince Edward Island received the sad news yesterday that Leo Cheverie, a passionate and dedicated member of the University community, has passed away.

Leo graduated from UPEI in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and Canadian Studies, and the following year, he began working at the Robertson Library as a library technician. He was very well-known to the campus community and beyond for his strong commitment to labour and social justice causes, his love of community and cultural events and activities, and his passion for supporting and helping others.

The UPEI flags have been lowered in Leo’s memory.
 

Interested in learning about High Performance Computing, Linux, or programming with Python? ACENET's fall training is starting soon. These sessions are online and are free of charge. Our fall training offerings are listed below, with more to be announced.

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

Basics of Computers

15 September, 1300-1500hrs Atlantic

Most of us have experience using a computer, whether for school, work, or entertainment, but how many of us have actually had an expert teach us how to use it? It doesn't need to be (quite) this way. This talk won't teach you how to troubleshoot everything, but will give you insight into how media, programs, and data are encoded and used by computers, so you can make more sense of why computers behave the ways they do, and solve some of your problems with greater efficiency and less frustration. We will provide an approachable overview of how a computer works, by both looking at their history and breaking one down to explain individual components, before highlighting some of the trade-offs to consider when buying a computer. We will provide practical, simple, and actionable advice on digital security and show you a few "pro tips" on how to make the most of your workstation, phone, or whatever device you happen to use. Whether you have a lot or a little experience using your digital technology, if you want to learn how to use your devices more effectively, this workshop is for you!  

DETAILS & REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-of-computers-tickets-710253065037

Introduction to High Performance Computing (HPC)

19 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic

What is High Performance Computing (HPC) and what can it do for me? How can ACENET help? Used by researchers across many disciplines to tackle analyses too large or complex for a desktop, or to achieve improved efficiency over a desktop, this session takes participants through the preliminary stages of learning about high performance computing (HPC) and computing clusters, and how to get started with this type of computing. It then reviews software packages available for applications, data analysis, software development, and compiling code. Finally, participants will be introduced to the concept of parallel computing to achieve much faster results in analysis. This session is designed for those with no prior experience in HPC, and are looking for an introduction and overview.  

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-introduction-to-hpc-tickets-710253867437

Introduction to Linux

20 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic

Linux is the terminal interface used to enable you to use supercomputing clusters from your desktop. It's the tool you need to get your data on the clusters, run your programs, and get your data back. In this session, learn how to create and navigate directories for your data, load files, manage your storage, run programs on the compute clusters, and set file permissions. This workshop is designed for those with no prior experience in working with a terminal interface. 

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-introduction-to-linux-tickets-710254178367

Introduction to Shell Scripting

21 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic

Shell scripting helps you save time, automate file management tasks, and better use the power of Linux. You’ll learn how to use the command line to carry out repetitive tasks, extract information from files quickly, combine commands in powerful ways, learn about job scripts, shell variables, and looping commands, and capture a workflow so you can re-use it easily. Save time, reduce errors, and use Linux more effectively. This workshop is designed for either new High Performance Computing (HPC) users who are familiar with working in a Linux environment, or for experienced users seeking to get more out of shell scripting. It is one of the core courses to help users get up and running on ACENET and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada systems.

Prerequisite: ACENET Basic Series Introduction to Linux, or previous experience with Linux.  

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-introduction-to-shell-scripting-tickets-710254399027

Job Scheduling with Slurm

22 September, 1000-1130hrs Atlantic

The national systems use a job scheduler called “Slurm”. In this session you will learn how Slurm works and how it allocates jobs, helping you to: minimize wait time by framing reasonable requests; ask for only the resources you need to improve efficiency; increase throughput; run more jobs simultaneously; and troubleshoot and address crashes. This workshop is designed for new HPC users, or for experienced users either transitioning to Slurm or seeking to improve efficiency with the scheduler.

Prerequisites: Completion of Introduction to Linux and Introduction to Shell Scripting, or prior experience with both.  

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-job-scheduling-with-slurm-tickets-710254629717

Introductory Programming: Unix Shell, Version Control, and Python

27 September, 4 October, 1300-1630hrs Atlantic

This is a beginner-level series that is hands-on, covering the fundamentals of Python. This includes data types, conditional statements, loops and functions, 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 Python 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 highly recommended.

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-introductory-programming-with-python-tickets-711238041127

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 Introduction to Linux, Software Carpentry's Unix Shell, or similar experience.

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-cloud-from-a-to-z-tickets-710265482177

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 highly recommended. 

DETAILS & REGISTER:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-introductory-programming-with-r-tickets-711430436587

The UPEI Campus Foodbank was open weekly this summer, serving over 1,000 students and averaging 60 students per week. Twenty dedicated student, staff, and faculty volunteers worked with our summer student assistant to keep this important resource available to UPEI students.  Thank you!

And now, we begin again! Our September schedule looks good. Please check back in case commitments change and slots open up: September Foodbank  If you are able to support the foodbank with an hour on Wednesdays, please use this form for our October November December dates

As always, thank you!

Sister Sue and Lauren

The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) at the Atlantic Veterinary College invites you to its symposium, Animal Welfare in Practice: End-of-life decisions for animals.

The symposium features a free public talk in addition to a half-day event. The public talk features Dr. Peter Foley, associate professor, Department of Companion Animals, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, on Friday, September 15, 4-5 pm ADT, AVC Lecture Theatre A, Rm 201.

The symposium will take place on Saturday, September 16, from 9:30 am–3:00 pm ADT, AVC Lecture Theatre A, Rm 201, and will feature Dr. Patricia V. Turner, Dr. Michael Cockram, Dr. Mitchell Carr, Dr. Katie MacDonald, and Dr. Lianna Titcombe.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Participating veterinarians and veterinary technicians attending the symposium will earn four hours of continuing education.  

For more details: awc.upei.ca/animal-welfare-in-practice/

OCII is pleased to invite you to our info sessions on Intellectual Property for Researchers, presented by André Gallant, IP Advisor for Atlantic Canada from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Learn more about intellectual property (IP) as it relates to your research innovations, inventions, and entrepreneurial activities.

All faculty, students, and staff are welcome to attend on Thursday, September 14, in Don and Marion McDougall Hall 329:

Session 1: 9:30 - 10:15 am, Patents & Trade Secrets

Session 2: 10:30 - 11:15 am, Copyrights & Trademarks 

Please come to both or either, based on your research and commercialization interests. 

We hope to see you there! 

-- Office of Commercialization, Industry & Innovation Team

Any questions, reach out at ocii@upei.ca or follow us on LinkedIn

The excitement for this Saturday's Gold Rush draw is growing as big as the pot! With no winners in the last THREE draws, the total pot has grown to more than $7,300, 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! Download the UPEI Panthers app from the App Store or on Google Play, or play from your computer. The weekly draw is held at 8:00 pm every Saturday.

IT Systems and Services is preparing virtual student computer lab applications for the Fall 2023 semester. We kindly ask that all faculty and/or lab facilitators who require access to virtual lab applications for their courses please submit their requests via the form provided on the myUPEI portal.

Please complete this form if you are facilitating a course in the upcoming Fall 2023 semester and your students will require virtual lab access to complete their course.

Please note that any virtual lab access previously provided for courses will be removed by August 30, 2023. If your students still require access during the Fall 2023 semester, please re-submit the above form.

In some specialized cases, there may be costs and approvals associated with provisioning virtual labs, and in these cases, ITSS will contact you to discuss next steps.

The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, October 6, for the October 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.

Note:  All investigators are reminded that any deviations in animal use, including unexpected mortality, must be reported to the ACC and University Veterinarian Jonathan Spears at 902-620-5026.

UPEI is thrilled to bring back the Research Breakfast to provide opportunities to network and learn more about the insights, possibilities, and expertise within our research community. The breakfast will take place in Bill and Denise Andrew Hall, Room 142, on September 12 from 7:30–9:00 am.

Speakers:

• Dr. Caroline Ritter, Canada Research Chair in Social Epidemiology for Healthy Animals, will present "Paw-sitive minds: Fostering positive mental well-being in veterinarians."
• Dr. Josh MacFadyen, Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities, will present "Lessons from the Land: Mapping Food and Energy Transitions in Canada."

Please RSVP here as there is a limited amount of space.

This event is sponsored by Springboard Atlantic.

Welcome to the new school year! 

The UPEI Health Research Network is looking for full/part-time undergraduate students for the Connections program starting the last week of September 2023! 

Would you like to meet new friends and be involved in an inclusive and non-judgmental environment to learn about food, health, stress, coping, and physical activity? 

The staff at the Health Research Network is offering a free eight-session program to help connect undergraduate students to provide an environment for learning on a variety of topics around health and well-being and connecting to the student community. Snacks will be provided at each session!

This free program will include a total of eight weekly group education sessions which include 1 hour with a registered dietitian and 1-2 hours of exercise sessions with a kinesiologist (plus open gym times) located in the lower level of the Steel Building. These sessions will be student-centered so we welcome any level of knowledge and ability. 

If you are interested in registering, please email Gemma and Laurie at connections@upei.ca for more information or to register. We look forward to seeing you there! 

With the release of the UPEI Review Report, the University has coordinated two confidential processes to support faculty and staff who have experienced harm from harassment, sexual violence, or discrimination at UPEI. 

Confidential third-party personal counselling:

The UPEI Health and Wellness Centre has engaged a psychologist to meet individually with faculty and staff, by appointment. Employees may email Caylin Jenkins at cbjenkins@upei.ca, indicating “Appointment required” in the subject line. Caylin will coordinate with the psychologist and confirm the time and location of the appointment with the employee. 

Making a confidential disclosure:

People have asked about the process for making disclosures of incidents of harassment or discrimination by senior executive members of the University. The University has established an independent third-party process to address any such issues with Resonance Inc., a multidisciplinary human resources firm, based in Saint John, NB, that specializes in workplace assessments. The contact person at Resonance is Trisha Perry, who may be reached at tperry@resonanceinc.ca or (506)799-0412. 

For more information, go to https://www.upei.ca/response-to-independent-review/community-support

The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre (SJDAWC) at the Atlantic Veterinary College invites you to its symposium, Animal Welfare in Practice: End-of-life decisions for animals.

The symposium features a free public talk in addition to a half-day event. The public talk features Dr. Peter Foley, associate professor, Department of Companion Animals, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, on Friday, September 15, 4-5 pm ADT, AVC Lecture Theatre A, Rm 201.

The symposium will take place on Saturday, September 16, from 9:30 am–3:00 pm ADT, AVC Lecture Theatre A, Rm 201, and will feature Dr. Patricia V. Turner, Dr. Michael Cockram, Dr. Mitchell Carr, Dr. Katie MacDonald, and Dr. Lianna Titcombe.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Participating veterinarians and veterinary technicians attending the symposium will earn four hours of continuing education.  

For more details: awc.upei.ca/animal-welfare-in-practice/

OCII is pleased to invite you to our info sessions on Intellectual Property for Researchers, presented by André Gallant, IP Advisor for Atlantic Canada from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Learn more about intellectual property (IP) as it relates to your research innovations, inventions, and entrepreneurial activities.

All faculty, students, and staff are welcome to attend on Thursday, September 14, in Don and Marion McDougall Hall 329:

Session 1: 9:30 - 10:15 am, Patents & Trade Secrets

Session 2: 10:30 - 11:15 am, Copyrights & Trademarks 

Please come to both or either, based on your research and commercialization interests. 

We hope to see you there! 

-- Office of Commercialization, Industry & Innovation Team

Any questions, reach out at ocii@upei.ca or follow us on LinkedIn

The excitement for this Saturday's Gold Rush draw is growing as big as the pot! With no winners in the last THREE draws, the total pot has grown to more than $7,300, 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! Download the UPEI Panthers app from the App Store or on Google Play, or play from your computer. The weekly draw is held at 8:00 pm every Saturday.

IT Systems and Services is preparing virtual student computer lab applications for the Fall 2023 semester. We kindly ask that all faculty and/or lab facilitators who require access to virtual lab applications for their courses please submit their requests via the form provided on the myUPEI portal.

Please complete this form if you are facilitating a course in the upcoming Fall 2023 semester and your students will require virtual lab access to complete their course.

Please note that any virtual lab access previously provided for courses will be removed by August 30, 2023. If your students still require access during the Fall 2023 semester, please re-submit the above form.

In some specialized cases, there may be costs and approvals associated with provisioning virtual labs, and in these cases, ITSS will contact you to discuss next steps.