Just two years after launching its ambitious $25 million Building a Legacy campaign, the University of Prince Edward Island has exceeded its original objective and is now working towards a new $50 million goal for private donations.

At a "Grand Celebration" in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre on May 16 Building a Legacy campaign chair Fred Hyndman announced that private investments in the University have reached $27 million. After thanking the many volunteers whose efforts have generated widespread financial support for UPEI, locally and across the country, Hyndman stated that there is still much more to accomplish.

"This is time to continue Building a Legacy and to pass the torch," he said as he introduced Mike Schurman, who will lead Building a Legacy to its new $50 million target. Schurman is a well-known PEI entrepreneur and community leader who has served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of UPEI. In taking on the leadership of Building a Legacy, he urged:

"Take a look around this beautiful and historic campus and see the need to invest in infrastructure, in funding the best of Canada's researchers, and in supporting a culture of quality teaching. Join me as we drive toward new heights for UPEI and for this province. Let's work together to make it $50 million."

The University announced ambitious plans to expand and renovate the campus through a combination of private donations and government support. President Wade MacLauchlan unveiled artists' renderings of a new school of business administration to be located in what is now Marian Hall student residence. It will be renovated to provide 22,000 square feet of new teaching and office space. The campaign to generate private financial support for the School will be led by Tim Banks, President of the APM Group and Dr. Roberta MacDonald, Dean of Business. The provincial government has already pledged $4 million to the renovations as part of a $25 million commitment for capital renewal at UPEI over 10 years.

The event was also an opportunity to announce plans for the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship to be constructed adjacent to the new school of business administration. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is contributing $1.69 million to the new centre.

The Honourable Joe McGuire, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) today announced a $1.69 million contribution to the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) for the establishment of the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (CEE).

The physical structure will involve a 20,000-square-foot facility adjoining the UPEI School of Business Administration. Key features will include a biotech hall, a 350-seat lecture theatre as well as a range of meeting rooms. The space will have resources for training, networking, incubation, business development, conferences and biotechnology industry events.

The work of the CEE will support and promote PEI's strategic sector priorities including biosciences, tourism, diversified manufacturing, food development and information technology.

"Initially the centre will focus on the bioscience cluster. In fact, the CEE will be the hub that will coordinate efforts of learning institutions, industry and government in the development of the bioscience cluster," said Minister McGuire. "If Prince Edward Island is to be a leader in entrepreneurship or any field, we must constantly be looking to the future, and finding ways to do things more creatively, more efficiently and with better results."

The CEE is also the catalyst for a new beginning for the School of Business Administration. A renovated Marian Hall will become the new home of the School of Business Administration and a focal point will be the CEE. Work on both the CEE and the business school is expected to be complete by Spring 2006.

"The CEE will be a major catalyst in achieving a new generation of entrepreneurship at UPEI and on Prince Edward Island," said UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. "ACOA's financial support for the CEE combines with other investments in innovation and research to create an outstanding knowledge economy success story."

The Atlantic Veterinary College's 13th Annual Graduate Studies and Research Days will be held Thursday, May 19 and Friday, May 20, 2005 in Lecture Theatre A at AVC. For the first time the University of Prince Edward Island's Faculty of Science will join AVC by also having a series of graduate presentations on Thursday May 19, in Lecture Theatre B at AVC. AVC and Faculty of Science graduate students will present recent research findings on a variety of projects.

"It's exciting to see the Graduate and Research Days expanding. We're pleased the Faculty of Science is teaming up with AVC," says Dr. Jim Bellamy, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Research. "Graduate students bring energy and curiosity to a university. These two days give us the chance to recognize their integral role in teaching, research, and service here at the Atlantic Veterinary College." Since the opening of AVC in 1986 the College has graduated more than 150 graduate students.

Although this is the first year the Faculty of Science has held a Graduate Research day, it is the fifth anniversary of the Program. In the last five years, 15 students have graduated with their Master of Science through UPEI.

"Our Graduate programs in Biology and Chemistry have proven to be a huge success," says Dr. Roger Gordon, Dean of Science at UPEI. "Students have been carrying out cutting-edge research that has benefited their own careers as well as further energizing the research programs of our faculty members."

The Faculty of Science's guest speaker is Dr. William Whelan, Ryserson University, who is a visiting Researcher here at UPEI. Dr. Whelan's talk, entitled "Physics for the Mind and Body" is on Thursday, May 19 in Lecture Theatre "B" at AVC at 2:30 p.m.

For AVC's part, presentations on biomedical science, animal welfare, and clinical research, will be delivered on Thursday, May 19. Graduate students will present their research in the areas of population health and aquatic animal research present on Friday, May 20.

The annual AVC R.G. Thomson Lecture will be presented by Dr. Barry T. Rouse, University of Tennessee. His presentation, entitled T-call regulatory effects in viral immunology and immunopathology in AVC Lecture Theatre A on Thursday, May 19 at 9:30 a.m.

Fifty-six graduate students are currently enrolled at the AVC in Master of Science, Master of Veterinary Science and Doctor of Philosophy programs.

A detailed agenda of Graduate Studies and Research Days can be found at www.upei.ca/~avc/program.pdf . Media and the general public are invited to attend the presentations.

Contact:

Lauranne MacNeill, AVC, UPEI, (902) 566-0533 or laumacneill@upei.ca

Heather Hughes, Faculty of Science, UPEI, (902) 566-6022 or hhughes@upei.ca

Dr. Vianne Timmons, UPEI Vice-President of Academic Development, is pleased to announce the appointment of Alan Buchanan as the University's new Registrar. Alan Buchanan was born and raised in Belfast, PEI, where he still lives. He obtained his BA from UPEI and his MA in Political Studies from Queen's University.

He has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of PEI and as a Cabinet Minister. He has also held positions as a senior bureaucrat and policy advisor, and as a university lecturer. Before establishing his own consulting and communications company in 2003, he was Director of Government Relations for Aliant. His volunteer roles have included serving as president of the Belfast Historical Society and chair of Ars Longa, the organization responsible for the Arts Guild building in Charlottetown. He has recently completed a five-year appointment as a commissioner of the Law Commission of Canada.

"I am really excited about becoming a part of the university community once again," says Buchanan. "UPEI is a very interesting place to be these days. I look forward to working with the management team, and with the great professional people who work with the Office of the Registrar."

"Alan Buchanan brings extensive human resource management experience and conflict resolution skills to the position, as well as a passion for students," says Dr. Timmons. "His extensive background and knowledge of UPEI and the community, his strong leadership skills, and his love of learning will make him an ideal Registrar."

Dr. Timmons also extends congratulations to Dr. Clive Keen who has been selected as the new Director of Enrolment Management. In addition to his existing duties as Director of the Centre of Life-Long Learning, Dr. Keen's new responsibilities will include coordinating institutional efforts to create a student-centred approach to recruitment and retention, and developing a comprehensive marketing, recruitment, and enrolment plan. Before joining UPEI in 2002, Dr. Keen was Executive Director of Public Affairs for Athabasca University. For six years he was Director of Communications at the University of Northern BC. He is the author of six books and many articles on aspects of enrolment management.

"Enrolment management is one of the most interesting and exciting of all challenges for universities," he says. "I tremendously look forward to playing an expanded role in this area, and helping put a new UPEI Academic Plan into effect."

Dr. Andy Tasker, well known Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) professor and researcher at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), recently became Chair of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). This is the first time a for PEI representative to be Chair of the CCAC which includes representatives from more than twenty national organizations.

The CCAC is the national organization responsible for overseeing the care and use of animals in research, teaching, and testing in all universities and government agencies in Canada, as well as most industrial research programs.

"The CCAC is recognized and respected world wide for its programs and commitment to cooperative improvement of the scientific and ethical standards of animal use in Canada," says Dr. Tasker. "It is an honour to be able to further contribute to the organization and its goals."

Dr. Tasker has served as one of four representatives of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada since 2001 and last year was the CCAC Vice-Chair. His term as Chair runs from April 1, 2005 until March 31, 2006.

"Dr. Tasker's appointment as Chair of the CCAC is a considerable achievement," says Dr. Tim Ogilvie, Dean of AVC. "He is extremely committed to health research and I'm confident the CCAC will benefit greatly from Dr. Tasker's leadership and experience."

As AVC's past Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Tasker played a significant leadership role in a number of successful initiatives, including achieving an all time high in graduate student numbers for the College.

Dr. Tasker's research is in the area of behavioural neuroscience. As, part of the Canadian Stroke Network, he is a member of a multi-researcher team actively developing a new class of drugs to help prevent brain damage caused by stroke. Dr. Tasker also leads a major federally and industry-funded research program to better understand the regulation of brain development and its relation to neurological diseases such as epilepsy.

Dr. Tasker is also one of the lead scientists of the new Atlantic Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research (ACCBR) at UPEI. This federally funded Centre will be the first of its kind in Canada and will bring together animal health and human health researchers to develop a better understanding of medical treatments and allow for discovery and development of new products for both markets. This centre will be housed with other AVC centres of expertise in a new 57,000 square foot research complex to be built as part of AVC's $32 million expansion and renovation project. AVC is gearing up to break ground this Fall.

The Master of Arts Programme in Island Studies (MAIS) and the Institute of Island Studies (IIS), both at UPEI, are pleased to host a public lecture on the theme of Local and Global Heritage in Island Cultures. The event will be held in the Faculty Lounge, ground floor, Main Building, UPEI on Wednesday June 15, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

The presentation will be led by Dr Philip Hayward, Chair of the Department of Contemporary Music Studies at Macquarie University, Australia. The session will be introduced by well-known Island Folklorist John Cousins.

Dr Hayward MA, PhD is also the coordinator of the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative (SICRI), an international network of scholars interested in the study and celebration of small island cultures, and which also manages an on-line reference resource on island cultures (www.sicri.org). Laurie Brinklow, a graduate student in the MAIS programme at UPEI, attended the inaugural SICRI conference held in Kagoshima, Japan, last February.

Dr Hayward has also authored or edited various books and papers exploring music, social history and cultural identity in islands, with a particular reference to Japan and the South Pacific.

The June 15 event is free of charge, and light refreshments will be provided after the lecture, courtesy of the Dean of Arts. For more information, please contact Laura Lee Howard at 566-0377 or lhoward@upei.ca

The work of three researchers at the University of Prince Edward Island has been recognized by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Awards with a combined total of over $200,000 have been made to UPEI professors Jean Mitchell, Annabel Cohen, and Elizabeth de Freitas.

In announcing the award-winners from 77 universities and colleges across Canada, Marc Renaud, president of SSHRC stated, "The research funded truly demonstrates the wealth of creativity, innovation and expertise that exists in this country. Canadians from all walks of life will draw on this knowledgeto better understand our most pressing economic, political, social and cultural issues."

"These SSHRC awards represent much more than their monetary value," says Katherine Schultz, Vice President, Research and Development at UPEI. "They also recognize our strong commitment to research excellence. The proposals are all peer-reviewed which means that the award recipients have been selected because they are among the best in the country."

Dr. Jean, Mitchell from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology will research issues related to youth, development, and social change. Her project, "Working Flash: Youth, Migrant Labour and Consumption in Vanuatu" will focus on the Pacific island of Vanuatu but will also have important implications for policy-makers in other developing countries where there are almost one billion people between the ages of 14 and 25. The increasingly large numbers of unemployed youth in countries that are experiencing rapid social change are linked to domestic and global violence and instability. SSHRC has awarded Dr. Mitchell $48,562 to support this study.

"The Effects of Music and Environmental Sounds in Multimedia: Absorption, Inference, and Education" is the title of the research project being conducted by Dr. Annabel Cohen of the Department of Psychology. She has received $93,720 to research the mental processes underlying multimedia communication. Dr. Cohen's earlier work in this field, which primarily focused on music, has shown that sound effects are indeed significant in multimedia communication. The latest project will compare the roles of music and other sound effects on absorption, inference, and learning.

SSHRC has awarded $60,304 to Dr. Elizabeth M. de Freitas of the Faculty of Education for her research project, "A Narrative Inquiry into Mathematics Teacher Identity." As part of the study, thirty high school mathematics teachers from Nova Scotia and PEI will be selected to provide information about their experiences in math education. The research aims to increase our knowledge about the way that teachers understand the role of school mathematics in society and identify ways to support socially-conscious teacher identity.

SSHRC is an independent federal government agency that funds university-based research and graduate training through national peer-review competitions. SSHRC also partners with public and private sector organizations to focus research and aid the development of better policies and practices in key areas of Canada's social, cultural and economic life.

The 2005 UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series continues on Wednesday, July 13 with an intriguing presentation by Dr. Bruce Craig, author of Treasonable Doubt: The Harry Dexter White Spy Case, published by the University Press of Kansas. His presentation, "Lives of Lies: Espionage, Treason, and the Making of a Spy" will focus on Britain's Anthony Blunt of the famed Cambridge spies, Canada's Soviet defector Igor Gouzenko, and American spies Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss.

Dr. Craig is Executive Director of the National Coalition for History in Washington, DC. He was plaintiff in a landmark US federal court decision that affirmed that grand jury records may be unsealed for historical research. He also played a major role in declassifying the records of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 2001. His weekly electronic newsletter, NCH Washington Update, is held in high esteem and is widely read by historians and archivists throughout the US. Craig is also an adjunct faculty member at the American University in Washington, DC, where he teaches policy history.

The "Lives of Lies: Espionage, Treason, and the Making of a Spy" presentation takes place on July 13 in the KC Irving Chemistry Centre Lecture Theatre, UPEI, 3:00 and#150; 4:00 pm. Admission is free. Tours of the historic UPEI campus are available after the presentation at 4:00 pm. Everyone is welcome. More information is available from Linda Callaghan at 566-0415 or lmcallaghan@upei.ca.

Throughout the summer and early fall, the UPEI Distinguished Visitor Speaker Series will feature weekly presentations by respected teachers, leaders, and innovators. The series was launched in 2004 to "inspire, educate, and celebrate UPEI's heritage which has been built upon the highest standards of excellence." On July 18, Karsten Voigt, Coordinator of German-North American Cooperation, will speak on the topic, "Where do we come from, what are we heading for: Transatlantic Relations in the New Geopolitical Context."

Two new scholarships will be available at the University of Prince Edward Island thanks to the generosity of a local farming family. The Minto and Vina Foster scholarships are aimed at graduate science students exploring plants that are important to the economy. In accordance with Mr. Foster's wishes, the award recipients will be students born and raised in Prince Edward Island.

Minto and Vina Foster spent their lifetimes farming in York, PEI. They were well known in the community for their gardens of flowers and market vegetables. Even after selling the farm and and#145;retiring' to town in 1980, Minto Foster continued to grow and sell his vegetables. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 101. Earl Foster, Minto's nephew, recently presented the $60,000 bequest to UPEI. Scholarship funding will be available from the endowed fund in 2006.

President Wade MacLauchlan, on behalf of the Board of Governors of the University of Prince Edward Island, has announced the extended appointment of Dr. Katherine Schultz as Vice-President of Research and Development, and of Dr. Vianne Timmons as Vice-President of Academic Development. They are key members of the UPEI Senior Management Group and have played pivotal roles at the university during a period of unprecedented development. Both appointments have been extended for five years.

Dr. Katherine Schultz joined UPEI in May 2001 after seven years as Associate Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies, at the University of Winnipeg. In addition to her position as Vice-President of Research and Development, Dr. Schultz is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at UPEI. Her research focus is on spatial problem-solving. She is a council member of the National Research Council of Canada, a member of the Advisory Board for Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI), and a member of the Canadian Association of University Research Administrators.

"Katherine Schultz is a highly-talented colleague and member of UPEI's senior team. As our inaugural Vice-President, Research and Development, she has provided leadership during a time of unprecedented growth in our research portfolio," says President MacLauchlan. "She has also been an important contributor to regional and national initiatives and partnerships, to the benefit of UPEI and Prince Edward Island."

Dr. Vianne Timmons leads academic planning at UPEI. She is also at the forefront of the internationalization efforts of the university. She previously served as Dean of Education at UPEI, and Chair of Education at St. Francis Xavier University. Dr. Timmons is the founder of the Children's Health Applied Research Team (CHART). She has developed a family literacy program for rural PEI and is developing a family literacy program for rural Mi'kmaq communities. Her research is funded by the Social Science Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institute of Health Research. She has led numerous conferences, workshops, and symposia, provincially, nationally, and internationally, on literacy and inclusive practices.

"Vianne Timmons is a wonderful leader for our core vocation of teaching and learning," says President MacLauchlan. "Her diverse portfolio embraces student success, all of our academic support departments, and academic innovation, outreach and partnerships. It is more than a coincidence that UPEI is increasingly being recognized as a very special place for teaching excellence and student success."

In national Maclean's rankings of primarily undergraduate universities, UPEI now ranks eighth in Canada. Enrolment levels have reached an all-time high, and the number international students has increased substantially. The University has also undergone a tremendous surge in research activity and ranked 10th last year among Canada's top 50 research universities for its growth in annual funding for research.