UPEI Students Big Winners in Provincial Budget: Tuition to Fall by 10 per cent.

Tuition will fall by 10 per cent at the University of Prince Edward Island as a result of the April 10, 2007 provincial budget.

"Yesterday's budget means that UPEI undergraduate students and their families will benefit from tuition costs that are $1,200 below the average for Maritime universities," says UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. "These commitments mean that UPEI will be an even more attractive value proposition for students, and that higher education is a clear winner in this budget."

In addition to providing funding to enable a reduction in undergraduate tuition, the budget:

---provides increased funding for UPEI's main campus operating budget of $1.4 million,

---indicates a commitment to provide future funding to limit tuition increases to two per cent annually,

---increases the value of Island Student Awards to $2000, over four years, with increases to $800 in each of third- and fourth-years, and

---enhances funding for student loans and increases income tax deductions for higher education.

"This budget will allow UPEI to continue offering a top-quality education in an affordable, accessible manner," says MacLauchlan.

UPEI has experienced a dramatic rise in overall reputation and research rankings among Canadian universities, provides more than $2 million annually to students through scholarships and awards, and continues to successfully recruit and retain award-winning faculty. Eight 3M Teaching Fellowships (the top teaching award in Canada) have been awarded to Maritime universities since 2000. Half of these have gone to faculty at UPEI.

UPEI is committed to excelling in the delivery of outstanding educational opportunities, leading in innovation, and producing the success stories and leaders of tomorrow. With a student body of more than 4,000 full- and part-time students, more than 700 full-time faculty and staff, and over 16,000 alumni, UPEI is a dynamic institution known for its momentum, synergy and results.

Fifty-five of the country's most outstanding young musicians will congregate at the University of Prince Edward Island this weekend to begin four days of intensive rehearsals for their Maritime tour as members of the 2007 National Youth Band of Canada. Their first concert takes place at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on Tuesday, May 1, beginning at 7:30pm.

The National Youth Band of Canada provides an opportunity for young musicians between 16 and 21 to engage in intensive and#145;musicing' with a professional conductor and soloist, and to share and demonstrate their musical achievement and creativity. Each year this auditioned ensemble meets in a different location to rehearse before a performance tour of the region.

The band will feature guest soloist D'Arcy Philip Gray on percussion and UPEI's Dr. Karem J. Simon as Music Director. Dr. Simon is well known throughout this region for his work with the UPEI Wind Symphony which has recorded eight CDs under his direction. He has also directed a variety of provincial honour bands in PEI and Nova Scotia.

"It is my privilege to conduct this year's National Youth Band of Canada and I eagerly await our rehearsals and the opportunity to create wonderful music with these fine musicians," says Simon. "It is an unparalleled opportunity for the community to hear such a distinguished ensemble perform."

Prince Edward Island is well represented with five UPEI music students performing and#150; Third-year Meghan Harris on percussion; and fourth-year music education majors Karri Shea, clarinet; Steve Giddings, trombone; John Giberson, euphonium; and Genevieve Mullaly, tuba.

"This is the second time I have had the opportunity to participate in this esteemed ensemble, and I am very honored this year to have been given the responsibilities of principal clarinetist," says Karri Shea. "I look forward very much to seeing what Dr. Simon, one of the finest band directors in Canada, can lead us to accomplish."

"This year's programming reflects the rich diversity of our wind band genre's heritage," explains Karem Simon. "It will include original and transcribed classics by Jacob, Grainger, Bach, and Turina, complemented with contemporary works by Nelson, Menard, and Gillingham. In addition, vibraphone soloist D'Arcy Gray, one of Canada's pre-eminent percussionists, will be featured in a performance of Windhorse by Canadian composer Peter Hatch."

Tickets for Tuesday night's performance in Charlottetown are available at the Confederation Centre's Box Office. Performances are also scheduled for Amherst and Halifax.

The UPEI Senate Committee on the Enhancement of Teaching, through the Faculty Development Office, is pleased to announce that Dr. Etienne Coo of the Department of Companion Animals, Atlantic Veterinary College, has been chosen as the 2007 recipient of the Janet Pottie Murray Award for Educational Leadership.

The purpose of this award, created by English professor Dr. Shannon Murray to honour her mother, Janet Pottie Murray, is to encourage excellence in teaching and to recognize outstanding leadership in education on the campus of the University of Prince Edward Island. Says Dr. Coo, "Receiving the Janet Pottie Murray Award is a tremendous honour, especially considering who it is named after and what it represents."

In awarding the honour, the selection committee noted that Dr. Cotand#233; has "modeled good teaching and inspired his colleagues to think about their teaching in a deeper way." He has contributed in numerous ways to an open and enabling environment within the Department of Companion Animals at the Atlantic Veterinary College. New methods of teaching introduced to AVC by Dr. Cotand#233;, such as including students in veterinarian consultations, are now being adopted by fellow faculty, to the benefit of teachers and students alike.

Dr. Cotand#233;, along with more than 20 other teaching award recipients, will participate in the 2007 Hessian Retreat at Stanhope Beach Resort on May 31 and June 1. This retreat is a celebration of teaching excellence at UPEI over the last three years. The Hessian Retreat is sponsored under an endowment by the Quinn family in honour of Evelyn (Hessian) Quinn, the first female valedictorian at St. Dunstan's University in 1949, and her siblings Louise, Phyllis, and Fred.

As the Janet Pottie Murray Award recipient for 2007, Dr. Cotand#233; will be formally recognized in a presentation ceremony at the UPEI "Let's Talk Teaching" workshop on September 4.

Marcus Trenton, UPEI double-major in Mathematics and Computer Science, will travel to Namibia for the month of May and into June to research how different cultures approach and learn from websites.

"I'm astounded that I'm going to Africa. I always pictured Computer Science would let me explore the world from my living room. Now, I'm going to Namibia to connect with students there. I'll be experiencing their culture first-hand. When I first started university I would've never imagined this opportunity," says Trenton.

Trenton designed and built two versions of an AIDS awareness websiteand#151;one geared to Canadians and one to Namibiansand#8213;based on research on their cultural preferences. He has already presented the website to Canadian students at UPEI and will now do the same with students at the University of Namibia.

"Usually when a website is revamped for another culture the language and a few symbols would be changed," says Trenton. "I'm researching whether it would be worthwhile to do more in-depth changes to websites to localize them to specific cultures."

For example, he is looking at fundamental changes in the contentand structure of the website such as different photos, stories, and the overall tone and how all of this combines to affect learning in different cultures.

Accompanying Trenton is Professor David LeBlanc, Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at UPEI. Trenton's work is part of Professor LeBlanc's ongoing research program into cross-cultural interface design. The ultimate goal of this program is to develop a system to automatically translate interfaces such as websites, office software, or computer games from one culturally based design to another.

Trenton and Professor LeBlanc chose to build AIDS awareness websites because of the practical use it would have in Namibia. The websites contain information on the causes of AIDS and ways to prevent contracting the disease. They plan to give a copy of the website to the University when they leave.

The University of Prince Edward Island will confer four honorary degrees at two convocations on Saturday, May 12. The honorary graduates will be Paul Giannelia, Donna Jane Campbell, Richard Homburg, and Kay MacPhee. Richard Homburg will deliver convocation address in the morning and Kay MacPhee will deliver the afternoon address.

"UPEI Convocations offer a wonderful opportunity to recognize special individuals who have made outstanding contributions," says UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan. "We are delighted that, in 2007, we have four honorary degree recipients who ably meet our ultimate criterion, which is that, by honouring these individuals, we are honouring our University and our community."

Paul Giannelia, who is now based in Calgary, is a familiar face in PEI. He was a resident of the province while he led the development and construction of the Confederation Bridge, in the position of President and CEO of SC Infrastructure and Strait Crossing Inc. Significantly, this year marks the10th anniversary of the Confederation Bridge opening. The project was selected as one of the top five Canadian engineering achievements of the 20th Century. Paul Giannelia is the President and CEO of Resin Systems Inc. His company's principal activity is to develop and manufacture advanced composite products for large-scale industrial markets. He is a former director of the Canadian Construction Association. In 2000, he received the Lester B. Pearson CIAU National Award for a Canadian of distinction and accomplishment.

Donna Jane Campbell of Manilla, Ontario is an educator, environmentalist, and book collector. She has amassed the finest collection of L.M. Montgomery's work in the world and has pledged her entire collection to the L.M. Montgomery Institute at UPEI. It includes a complete set of rare first-editions, over 500 of Montgomery's short stories and poems in their original periodicals, numerous editions in translation, as well as reference works about L.M. Montgomery. Her gifts have turned UPEI's modest Montgomery collection into a world-class research archive. In addition to her active and generous support of the university, her community commitments include acting as secretary treasurer of her local historic church and carrying out extensive tree planting to enhance natural wildlife habitats.

Richard Homburg came to Canada from the Netherlands in the early 1970s and has since built a large business enterprise, mainly in real estate, with holdings across Canada, the United States and in Europe. In 2004 he was selected as Entrepreneur of the Year for the Atlantic provinces. His firm has undertaken significant developments in Charlottetown, including the Confederation Court Mall, the Dundee Arms, and The Northumberland, a new condominium complex. These developments, and future plans, are founded in his vision to enhance to the urban character of the city. His community involvements have included serving as President and Director of the Investment Property Owners of Nova Scotia, Evangeline Trust, and the World Trade Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Kay MacPhee is the creator and co-founder of Spell-Read Canada, a PEI business success story. She began her career as an elementary school teacher and went on to spend 25 years learning and developing techniques to enable hearing-impaired people to develop language and reading skills. She began this quest initially to help her son who was born profoundly deaf and she later became Principal of the PEI School for the Hearing Impaired. Spell-Read is an innovative education system that helps children and adults with learning disabilities and/or reading difficulties to achieve literacy. She founded the business in 1994 and began to expand it throughout the Eastern Seaboard in 1998. She sold Spell-Read in 2006 to Kaplan Inc. of New York who plan to use the program in public schools throughout the US.

More information about UPEI Convocation 2007 is available at http://www.upei.ca/convocation/

Three faculty members at the University of Prince Edward Island have been recognized for their outstanding performance in teaching. Dr. Rabin Bissessur, Dr. Nola Etkin, and Dr. Leigh Lamont have each received a Hessian Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching. The awards are supported through an endowment to the University by the Hessian family of Georgetown. Louise Hessian presented plaques and cheques to the recipients during a Faculty Recognition Reception held recently. The reception was jointly sponsored by the UPEI Faculty Association and the Office of the President.

Since joining UPEI in 1999, Dr. Rabin Bissessur has distinguished himself as a dynamic teacher who has developed a reputation among his students as a "chemistry maniac". Students typically remark that they really look forward to his classes. He encourages them to participate in class discussions and to ask questions. He engages students through his use of humour, and they acknowledge that the jovial classroom atmosphere helps to motivate them to learn.

Dr. Bissessur clearly possesses a passionate concern for his students. In class, he explores multiple ways of communicating essential ideas at a level that the students can understand. Outside of class, he welcomes discussions, and students frequently seek him out for help with a course-related problem or just for some practical advice. The generosity with which he gives of himself contributes directly to his students' success. As one student has remarked, "I have seen him spend upwards of four hours helping in a tutorial, not leaving if students still have questions."

Dr. Bissessur is an extremely busy (and sought-after) research supervisor. The fact that many of these students appear regularly as co-authors of scholarly papers is a testament to his mentoring abilities.

Dr. Nola Etkin has been teaching at UPEI for the last nine years, sharing her expertise in organic chemistry. She reaches and inspires students with her down-to-earth personality, and her expert handling of pedagogical strategies and tools that emphasize the process of learning itself, not simply the content. She involves students in active learning with activities and experiences that help to connect the lesson with the students' lived realities.

Dr. Etkin has been active in the scholarship of teaching, having delivered many presentations on aspects of teaching chemistry at national symposia. She has developed teaching initiatives, including new lab experiments designed to increase student understanding of concepts and procedures while also presenting a problem that is highly relevant to the students' lived experience. For example, in one lab, students ferment sugar to produce ethanol and then purify it, learning in the process the production methods used by industry to prepare alcohol.

Students appreciate the fact that Dr. Etkin makes them her priority. She inspires them to want to know more, to achieve more, and to view their discipline as connected with their culture.

Since 2002, Dr. Leigh Lamont has contributed to the teaching of second-to fourth-year DVM students at the Atlantic Veterinary College, focusing on instruction in anesthesiology. With her patient and professional demeanor, she assuages the anxieties of students who are learning in the presence of animals in pain. She supports and encourages her students to hone their problem-solving skills while challenging them to achieve high standards. She encourages them to try new procedures and to respond creatively to unusual situations, while ensuring that they develop informed opinion based on clear scientific evidence. In the process, she helps her students to make the crucial transition from classroom learners to clinical practitioners.

Dr. Lamont has been responsible for a number of pedagogical innovations, including the creation of short, narrated video demonstrations of fundamental procedures in clinical anesthesia with canine patients. Students can access these on DVD and online, allowing them to become thoroughly familiar with the details of a particular procedure before experiencing it with a live patient. Dr. Lamont's students frequently note her contagious enthusiasm that invariably infects her classes.

Close to 10 per cent of the world's population and#150; 600 million people and#150; live on islands. A quarter of the world's sovereign states consist of islands or archipelagos. At the University of Prince Edward Island, a significant new book has just been published that provides the first global, research-based, comprehensive and multi-disciplinary overview of the study of islands.

"A World of Islands" is a 635-page reader that explores what different disciplines have to say about the role that islands play in their particular field of inquiry. Topics range from identities, locations, and landscapes, to economic growth and prosperity. It is edited by Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino, Canada Research Chair in Island Studies. The book is co-published by the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI, in Canada, and by Agenda Academic Publishers in Malta.

"It has, up to now, been impossible to find a text that treats islands from a truly trans-disciplinary perspective, appraising the role of islands and island life from the vantage point of both the natural and the social sciences, and soberly assessing the challenges facing island development from such a wide perspective," says Dr. Baldacchino. "This scholarly deficit has now been addressed."

The expertise and insights of 42 scholars and contributors offer a unique collection of theoretical principles, ideas, observations and policy proposals from, and for, the study of islands and island life. The text is accompanied by maps, prints, tables and graphs, as well as a detailed 3,000-item subject and author index.

"A World of Islands is a significant publication that consolidates UPEI's position as a world centre of scholarship in the study of islands," says Dr. Richard Kurial, UPEI Dean of Arts.

A detailed description of the book's rationale and contents can be found at: http://www.islandstudies.ca/A-World-of-Islands/. Further information is available at: gbaldacchino@upei.ca; 566 0909.

Five faculty members at the University of Prince Edward Island have been recognized for their outstanding achievements as researchers. Dr. John Burka, Dr. Annabel Cohen, Dr. Ian Dohoo, Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass, and Dr. Sheldon Opps have each received a UPEI Faculty Association Merit Award for Scholarly Achievement. These awards honour faculty members who have achieved significant and continuing productivity in scholarly research and/or artistic creation. Plaques and cheques were presented to the recipients recently at a Faculty Recognition Reception jointly sponsored by the UPEI Faculty Association and the Office of the President.

Dr. John Burka joined UPEI in 1985 as one of the founding faculty members at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC). His research program is in the area of aquatic pharmacology; and in recent years he has been studying the development of resistance by sea lice to antiparasitic drugs. In the last 10 years, he has received research grants in excess of $800,000 and is a co-investigator on a recent Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant for $2.3 million. He received the AVC Pfizer Award for Research Excellence in 2001, currently serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and has been recognized for "fostering the awareness of science in Canada". Dr. Burka has been very active in promoting science and technology awareness, having served as Chair of the PEI Science Fair Organizing Committee, coordinator of PEI Science and Technology Awareness programs, Chair of Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences (APICS) committees, and a member of the Sanofi-Aventis Biotech Challenge Committee.

Dr. Annabel Cohen has established an internationally recognized research program in music psychology. Since 1996 she has obtained research grants in excess of $3.25 million. She has also led large multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research projects investigating how multimedia can best enhance learning in a variety of cultural contexts. Dr. Cohen is currently completing a book, Foundations of Music Cognition, to be published by Cambridge University Press; she has been invited to be the next editor of the Journal Psychomusicology; and is currently serving on five other scholarly editorial boards. Since 2004, she has been a reviewer for the Canada Research Chairs program. While achieving a national and international reputation, Dr. Cohen has at the same time incorporated numerous UPEI undergraduates into her research program, many of whom have gone on to graduate studies or related employment.

Dr. Ian Dohoo, an internationally recognized veterinary epidemiologist, joined UPEI in 1985 as one of the founding faculty members at AVC. He has co-authored a textbook on veterinary epidemiology that is widely used around the world for graduate training programs (a second edition is expected in 2008). In 2005 he became one of only four veterinarians elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in the inaugural year. In the last 18 months he played a key role in the development of two major research programs, the Canadian Bovine Mastitis Research Network and the Maritime Quality Milk Project. Dr. Dohoo also recently led the creation of a new Centre for Veterinary Epidemiologic Research at UPEI which will house the new Canada Research Chair in Population Health.

Joining UPEI in 1996, Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass' research program on bioactive compounds in wild blueberries provided the initial seeds from which the current bioresource direction of UPEI has been built. She has garnered numerous research grants. Dr. Gottschall-Pass led the research initiative in the Department of Family and Nutritional Sciences, and her hard work to establish the graduate program in the Faculty of Science has been instrumental in UPEI's current success in the area of bioactives. She has also made tremendous contribution to service within the University, most notably as Chair of the Animal Care Committee.

As a theoretical physicist, Dr. Sheldon Opps has established a robust research program involving use of various computer simulations methods to study physical properties of soft condensed matter or complex fluids, with particular relevance to biological systems. He has received over $160,000 in research grants from several sources, and he was part of the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network (ACEnet) which has received $29.8 million in funding. Dr. Opps currently serves as Director of the Physics Co-op program which he initiated in the Department of Physics. He was also instrumental in the development and refinement of the Faculty of Science graduate program and served as a member of the Graduate Studies Committee from 2001 to 2005.

The late Doris Anderson's reputation as a political and social activist is legendary. She challenged national governments, institutions, and the media in her drive to achieve gender equality in Canada. To pay tribute to the inspirational woman who served as Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island from 1992 to 1996, UPEI has created a new student scholarship in her name.

As a summer resident of St. Peter's Bay, where her extended family lives, Doris Anderson maintained close connections to the province and to the University of Prince Edward Island for more than a decade after she completed her UPEI chancellorship. Anderson House, PEI's shelter for women and children who are fleeing abusive relationships, is named for her. She passed away on March 2, at the age of 85.

The Doris H. Anderson Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship will be awarded annually to a student entering UPEI who is a proven leader in his/her school and community. The first recipient will be Emily MacAdam who is entering the Faculty of Science from Morell Regional High School. In addition to serving on the student council and assisting other students through a peer tutoring program, she has been a volunteer skating coach for many years and a teaching assistant in her church. She is the daughter of Jane and Peter MacAdam of Morell.

"I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to be the first recipient of this scholarship. It means a lot to me to be associated with such a successful Canadian," says Emily MacAdam.

UPEI will support the new award for the first five years. The university is working to raise additional funds to continue the scholarship in perpetuity. Information on how to make charitable donations to the Doris H. Anderson Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship fund is available from Rose Barbour at (902) 566-0615 or by e-mail at legacy@upei.ca.

On Saturday, May 12, there will be a public memorial service to Doris H.Anderson at 2 p.m. in Convocation Hall, University of Toronto.