The University of Prince Edward Island extends its condolences on the passing of UPEI Founder John Joseph “Joe” Revell after learning of his death yesterday after a brief illness. He was 80 years old.

The name “Joe Revell” is one that is very familiar to those who know UPEI. Professor Revell had a distinguished and memorable career in the UPEI School of Business acting as the first Dean and Chair. He easily stepped into the role of a university professor and as a former graduate of both Prince of Wales College (1955) and Saint Dunstan's University (1957), he was no stranger to the campus.

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, “Our University has lost a great friend in Joe. Not only was he a long-time Professor and former Dean of the UPEI School of Business, he also continued to support UPEI in retirement. He was a champion of many community causes and served on the UPEI Board of Governors for many years. I remember when I first arrived at UPEI, Joe welcomed me and provided such great support. I will always appreciate his generosity of spirit and wisdom.”

“On behalf of the entire UPEI community, I pass on my most sincere sympathies to Joe’s wife Jeanie; children Jim, Dan, and Janice; family, friends, and colleagues,” added President Abd-El-Aziz.

Professor Revell retired from the UPEI School of Business in 2000 after 35 years as a teacher and administrator with both SDU and UPEI. He served as chair of the department from 1968-78, Dean from 1981-87, and again from 1996-98. Professor Revell served as a member of the University Senate and was Chairman of the University Athletic Board—and up until recently, he never missed a UPEI Men’s Hockey home game. He was on the UPEI Board of Governors from 2005 until 2012 and was named a UPEI Founder in 2001.

As was noted during the 2001 Founders Ceremony, Joe led UPEI and the School of Business through its developing years with dedication, vision, hard work, and a general interest in the well being of his students. He believed that positive communication was key and said, “students bring an enthusiasm and inquisitiveness which can be a great deal of fun.” Professor Revell was often heard encouraging his students, calling them by name, helping out in any way he could, and as one colleague recalled, "he was always up for a friendly game of golf.”

Memorial donations may be made to the J.J. Revell Business Scholarship at UPEI by phoning 902-894-2888; visiting UPEI's secure, online donations webpage (please note the award name in the "Designate Your Gift" section); or mailing Kim Roach, UPEI Development and Alumni Engagement, UPEI, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the Belvedere Funeral Home in Charlottetown. UPEI will lower its flags to half-mast in his memory.

UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz signed two memorandums of understanding so far this week, with Chitkara University and Punjab Agricultural University, as part of an Ontario-PEI trade mission to India.

The University of Prince Edward Island is accompanying provincial government and Island business representatives to four cities: Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. During the six-day mission, President Abd-El-Aziz and Director of International Relations Barbara Campbell will visit 12 universities in these four cities to develop new partnerships in research and teaching.

President Abd-El-Aziz says he is encouraged by the signing of MOUs with the first two universities that he has met with, and expects more agreements could be signed before the end of his visit.

“Our overall goal on this mission is to begin the process of recruiting both undergraduate and graduate students to UPEI,” commented President Abd-El-Aziz. “As the country with the fastest-growing GDP and the world’s second-most-populous country, we cannot ignore India. UPEI has almost doubled its percentage of international students in the last five years to twenty per cent of our student body. We now have close to 860 students from 70 countries, but there is tremendous growth potential with India as we currently have only nine Indian students studying at UPEI.”

The University of Prince Edward Island and Chitkara University, in Chandigarh, renewed an MOU for the purposes of furthering cooperation in education and academic fields to explore the establishment of exchange programs and collaborative research/study opportunities for both students and faculty members. They agreed to work together in the areas of engineering, business, science, mathematical and computational sciences, nursing, environmental studies, and leadership and culture.

The University Prince Edward Island and Punjab Agricultural University, in Ludhiana, signed an MOU to collaborate in programming and research for sustainable design engineering and plant biology.

President Abd-El-Aziz and Dr. Campbell have joined Premier Wade MacLauchlan and Minister Heath MacDonald along with representatives from Aspin Kemp and Associates, Coles Associates, Portsmouth Atlantic on the mission to India. The joint mission with Ontario is intended to confirm recent Indian business investments in Prince Edward Island and generate new investment as part of ongoing efforts to promote Prince Edward Island goods, services, and expertise.

“This opportunity to participate with the Province of PEI on this mission to India is a great boost to our recruitment and partnership development efforts in this emerging market,” added President Abd-El-Aziz.

About UPEI’s Partners

Chitkara University is a private university in North India, offering comprehensive and integrated multidisciplinary full-time degree programs in diverse academic fields including: Engineering, Business Management, Nursing and Healthcare, Hospitality, Architecture, Mass Media and Communications, Education and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. The university has almost 10,000 full time students and nearly 500 international students from over nine countries and more than 600 tenured faculty members.

The Punjab Agricultural University is located in Ludhiana City, Punjab State in northwest India. The PAU performs the integrated functions of teaching, research and extension in agriculture, agricultural engineering, home science and allied disciplines. The PAU has played a key role in increasing food grain production in the Punjab State. It has also made notable contributions in increasing livestock and poultry production. The Punjab Agricultural University has four constituent colleges: College of Agriculture, College of Agricultural Engineering, College of Home Science, and College of Basic Sciences and Humanities. The university, through 28 departments in the four constituent colleges, offers 31 Master's and 30 PhD programs.

With only four games remaining in the regular season, the UPEI Men’s Hockey Panthers face a tough test this weekend, as they look to solidify their playoff positioning.

Having clinched postseason berths already, the Acadia Axemen (17-5-2) and the Saint Mary’s Huskies (15-7-2) travel to the Island’s capital with hopes of spoiling UPEI’s chances to compete for an AUS title.

“We’re still fighting and we have to scratch and claw for everything just to get in,” said head coach Forbes MacPherson of the Panthers’ pursuit for a playoff spot.

With three teams jockeying for the two remaining spots, every point matters. The fifth-place Panthers hold a slim two-point lead over Université de Moncton, while Dalhousie trails by only six.

“There is so much parity in this league that we’re not taking anything for granted,” said MacPherson.

The Panthers are hoping to build off a weekend split where they lost a close 2-1 battle against the first-place UNB Varsity Reds, but came back the following day to defeat the St. Thomas Tommies 6-3.

On Friday night, UPEI hosts a powerful Acadia squad that features three top-10 scorers in forwards Mike Cazzola (27 points), Brett Thompson (26 points) and defenceman Matthew Pufahl (25 points).

At this point in the season, MacPherson said his team has to fight through fatigue and come out focused and energized if they want to stay competitive against the league’s best.

“You wait 11 months a year to get to this part of the season and we expect our group to be ready to go every game.”

Completing the back-to-back weekend, the Panthers face the red-hot Saint Mary’s Huskies in Saturday evening’s matchup.The Huskies won nine of their last 10 games and field a strong defensive unit led by goaltender Cole Cheveldave, who is 10-7 with a 2.20 goals against average – good for second best in the league.

“They’re built to win this year and they’re really coming into their own in the second half of the season.”

Puck drops Friday at 7 pm against the Acadia Axemen and again Saturday versus the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Both games are at MacLauchlan Arena.

Saturday, February 6, also marks the annual UPEI Men’s Hockey Alumni Night.

The four-team mini-tournament begins at 4 pm at MacLauchlan Arena and will feature alumni players competing against one another for bragging rights. Each game is 20 minutes long.

Leading up to the UPEI-SMU game that night are on-ice introductions of former Panthers, followed by a reception at the south end of the arena.

Contributed by Thomas Becker

The UPEI Panther Subway Athletes of the Week for the week of February 1-7 are Sam Sweet, Women’s Hockey, and Nelson Armstrong, Men’s Hockey. On a weekly basis, UPEI Athletics and Recreation recognizes these talented student-athletes for their hard work and dedication to their respective sports. UPEI Athletes of the Week are then nominated to Atlantic University Sport and Canadian Interuniversity Sport for possible recognition in the region and/or country.

Who:  Sam Sweet, Women’s Hockey, and Nelson Armstrong, Men’s Hockey

What: UPEI Panther Subway Athletes of the Week

When: Week of February 1-7, 2016

Where: University of Prince Edward Island

Why: Sweet, a fifth-year Bachelor of Science student from O’Leary, PEI, showed great leadership and effort during the Panthers 3-2 win over Mount Allison and 3-2 loss to Dalhousie, where she recorded a goal. Captain Sweet is the consummate team player who gives all she has each and every time she steps on the ice. She plays in all critical situations. 

Armstrong, a fourth-year Bachelor of Business Administration student from Peterborough, Ontario, has been a workhorse on the blue line all season for the Panthers. Armstrong logs a heavy load of ice time and plays against the opposing teams’ best players. During last week’s 2-1 overtime loss to Acadia and 6-2 loss to Saint Mary’s, Armstrong recorded an assist, and is currently fifth in scoring amongst AUS defencemen.

About UPEI Athletics and Recreation
• Nine varsity sports and six club team programs
• Proud member of the AUS and CIS
• Athletic facilities include: Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre, UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place and UPEI Turf
• Home of Panther Sports Medicine
• Other facilities available to students and the community at large include: fitness centre, squash and racquetball courts, competition and leisure pool with hot tub, and two ice arenas

UPEI is accepting nominations until Friday, February 12 for the inaugural Diamond Awards. The Diamond Awards celebrate students’ personal development and achievement outside the classroom by recognizing positive contributions to campus life and the external community. The Diamond Awards recognize up to five students each for Sustainability Leadership; Health & Wellness Leadership; Educational Leadership; and Campus Spirit.

The UPEISU issued the following release to mark the launch of the awards:

The UPEI Student Union is excited to see the launch of the
Diamond Awards, a new awards program that introduces up to
$10,000 a year in new scholarship & award funding for UPEI students.
The Diamond Awards recognizes students based on their extracurricular achievement on campus and in the external community. The awards program encompasses four categories: Sustainability Leadership, Educational Leadership, Health & Wellness Leadership, and Campus Spirit. Up to five awards are available in each category, and are valued at $500 each.

“We are very excited about the launch of this awards program,” said Nathan Hood, UPEI SU Vice President Student Life. “Our students make considerable contributions to our campus and our community, and it is our hope that this awards program will further recognize the positive impacts of our students.”

Last summer, the UPEI SU proposed the Diamond Awards to the UPEI administration, who were keen to develop the awards program alongside the Vice President Student Life. With the awards criteria based on extracurricular achievement, the UPEI SU believes this awards program will recognize students who are not necessarily recognized for purely academic reasons.

“We are very happy the awards program recognizes students beyond their academic achievement,” added Hood. “Students’ impacts and contributions often stretch far beyond the classroom.”

The deadline for 2016 applications is February 12, 2016. Additional information can be found at http://www.upei.ca/studentlife/scholarshipsandawards/907. 

The UPEI English Department is thrilled to announce that Children's literature and creative writing professor Deirdre Kessler has been named PEI's Poet Laureate.

At the announcement, the Honourable Doug Currie, Minister for Education, Early Learning, and Culture, said “From her works of poetry and children's literature to her work teaching creative writing, Ms. Kessler has already made a significant impact on our culture.”

Kessler has been a sessional lecturer at UPEI for years, and has taught thousands of UPEI students. She is the Island's sixth poet Laureate. The full announcement can be found here.

Congratulations Deirdre!

The Institute of Island Studies Lecture Series continues Tuesday, February 23, with a talk by Dr. Tiber F.M. Falzett, research associate at the Institute. His public lecture, “Mar bhlàth an fheòir” (“like the flowering grass”), focuses on the oral and written interfaces in local Scottish Gaelic song composition on Prince Edward Island. The lecture takes place in UPEI’s SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge at 7 pm.

Dr. Falzett investigates a once vibrant, yet fragmentarily documented, tradition of local song composition and performance as expressed throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries among Scottish Gaelic speakers on Prince Edward Island. By engaging contemporary printed texts, as well as sound recordings of remaining speakers and semi-speakers in the second half of the twentieth century, it is possible to piece together a multifaceted and dynamic body of oral tradition. In turn, these reassembled fragments of oral tradition can be reinterpreted to reveal a multi-accentual dynamic in what has since become a silenced ethno-linguistic community. Ultimately, it is intended to place these expressive forms of intangible cultural heritage as created and carried down by Gaelic-speaking Islanders in the context of the wider multicultural zone of the Canadian Maritimes to which they once belonged.

Dr. Falzett’s research explores the documentation and dissemination of archival intangible cultural heritage on Prince Edward Island. His doctoral research explores the relationship between language and music through sensory metaphor as expressed among Scottish Gaelic speakers on Cape Breton Island. A fluent Gaelic speaker as well as a singer and bagpiper, Dr. Falzett has presented his research and performed for broadcast media, including the BBC Television and Radio in Scotland and CBC, and is an active public folklorist in Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. He, his partner Giulia, and their dog Sofia live in Summerside.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome to attend.

This is the second in a series of an Island Studies Winter/Spring Lecture Series. Watch for details for another lecture about islands–near and far–March 22.

For more information, please contact Laurie Brinklow at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.

The 2016 Dr. Frances Gray Performance Competition finals were recently held at the UPEI Department of Music. The judges for the final competition, Alan Reesor, Kelsea McLean, Kirsten MacLaine, Natalie Williams-Calhoun, and David MacDonald, are all well-known musicians and educators in PEI.

The students chosen from the preliminary round were baritone Parker Clements, oboist Marc DesRoches, clarinetist Leah Jordan, soprano Lindsay Gillis, saxophonist Emily Proude, soprano Alexandra Smith, and clarinetist Johanna Vessey.

After an exciting evening of performances, the winners were announced. First place went to Johanna Vessey, Parker Clements took second, and Emily Proude was named third.

Johanna Vessey is a third-year UPEI student pursuing a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Science, majoring in computer science. With clarinet being her primary instrument, Johanna has been a student of Dr. Karem Simon at UPEI. She has been a member of the UPEI Wind Symphony since 2012 and is presently involved in the ensemble as the librarian, president of the executive, and principal clarinetist.

Before attending UPEI, Johanna performed in school bands and provincial honours bands for many years. As a member of the Cadet program, she participated in Cadet bands and performed in the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in 2011 and 2012. This May, Johanna will be immersed in another musical experience as a member of the National Youth Band of Canada 2016.

Congratulations to all the finalists! 

The topic of local governance is the focus of an upcoming public symposium, “The Geography of Governance,” sponsored by UPEI’s Institute of Island Studies, in conjunction with UPEI Research Services. The symposium begins at 7 pm, on Thursday, February 25, in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium (room 242), UPEI’s Don and Marion McDougall Hall. The storm date is the following evening.

The reform of local government on the Island has been much discussed in recent years, especially since the release of the 2009 Thompson Report of the Commission on Land and Local Governance. At that time, the Island had 75 incorporated municipalities–many of them with just a few hundred people–and 70 per cent of the province’s territory had no local government at all. The situation remains much the same today.

Judge Thompson recommended that local government might be extended to cover the entire Island, and that the units be large enough to be effective and sustainable—that is, with a population of at least 4,000 each. Many Islanders perceive that reform is now in the air, and some communities have initiated discussions with their neighbours about joining together to form larger governance units.

If we assume that larger municipal units are on the horizon, the question arises about the criteria to be used in deciding on new boundaries. Should cultural factors be paramount? Or “communities of interest”? Or geographical factors? Or environmental management—such as including a whole watershed within a municipality? Or some combination of these—and others?

The principal speaker for the evening will be Diane Griffin, noted Island environmentalist, Stratford town councillor, and vice-president of the Federation of PEI Municipalities. She will be joined by a panel of three individuals representing various points of view: Dr. Ryan Gibson, Dr. Michael van den Heuvel, and Jeanitta Bernard.

Dr. Gibson, who is currently chair of the advisory committee of the Institute of Island Studies, teaches in the Department of Geography at Saint Mary’s University. He has a special interest in collaborative governance in rural regions. He will share lessons learned from other parts of Canada and internationally on how they have built new regions and the processes they have utilized. These experiences could assist in shaping the process in PEI.

Dr. van den Heuvel is a professor of biology at UPEI and director of the Canadian Rivers Institute. He will discuss case studies and the advantages of defining municipal boundaries based on watersheds to enhance resources for environmental management.

The third panelist, Jeannita Bernard of St. Philippe, is a well-known Island singer-songwriter and community leader in the areas of health, education, and community development. She will explore the idea of creating a new Evangeline regional government unit, which would include the present villages of Wellington and Abram’s Village, plus 12 adjacent unincorporated communities.

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.

The UPEI Department of Music will present Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” February 26 and 27 in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall of UPEI’s Steel Building, 7:30 pm.

A marriage will indeed occur, but not before many machinations, both hilarious and sinister, take place. Under the direction of Associate Professor Sung Ha Shin-Bouey (music) and Stephen Bouey (staging), upper-year voice students and alumni will take the stage. The cast includes Parker Clements as Figaro, Lindsay Gillis and Andrea Corder as Susanna, Travis Boudreau as Count, Morgan Wagner as Countess, Jillian Clow and Alli Blom as Cherubino, Hannah Rose and Emily Roberts as Marcellina, Michael Gallant as Dr. Bartolo, William Millington as Basilio, Alexandra Smith as Barbarina, Daniel Aitken as Antonio, and Cody Collins as Don Curzio.

Tickets are $10 and are available online or by calling or emailing the music office at 902-566-0507/music@upei.ca.