UPEI has moved four spots from eighth position to rank fourth overall among ‘primarily undergraduate' universities in this year's Maclean's magazine's annual university rankings. The climb is due in large part to UPEI's strong showing in the ‘student awards' and ‘total research dollars' categories, placing the University in a tie with Alberta's University of Lethbridge.

This is the 21st year for Maclean's annual ranking of 49 Canadian universities. Maclean's divides the schools into doctoral, comprehensive and primarily undergraduate categories and ranks them on performance in class sizes, faculty, resources, student support, library resources and the university's reputation.

UPEI President Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, 'I am very proud of our community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni, and we are thrilled with this news. While the ranking is important, it's not everything, but more a part of the equation. For us at UPEI, we are going to continue to work hard to ensure that we give our students the best quality education possible.'

President Abd-El-Aziz also commented on education in Canada and how proud he is of Canadian universities. 'The difference between the top university and the bottom university in the rankings when it comes to education in Canada is very small. I'm very proud of the quality of education in all Canadian universities. It's really wonderful to see all institutions continuously working towards higher standards of excellence.'

The fourth place position reaffirms that UPEI is a destination university for students, staff, and faculty. It is also hoped the ranking will help the University build upon its already broad community and connect with more people locally, regionally, nationally, and around the world.

Link to Maclean's article

Because of help from generous donors, UPEI's Annual Fund recently replenished the university's nearly empty campus food bank.

UPEI Annual Fund coordinator, Rose Barbour, and five UPEI students went on a shopping spree with donations designated for the food bank, filling six shopping carts to stock the food bank's shelves. In addition, the Charlottetown Superstore generously donated $500 in gift certificates to purchase perishable food items including fresh fruits and vegetables, and dairy and meat products.

Barbour was proud to see students volunteering their time, 'Seeing a student pitching in to help their fellow students was a very rewarding experience.' She added, 'Through this experience, they have been introduced to philanthropy and volunteerism in a very meaningful way. Our donors made that happen, and we are grateful for each and every one of them.'

The campus food bank, housed at UPEI's Chaplaincy Centre, has been in operation for the past 15 years and has helped roughly 50 students each year. This number continues to grow as students face higher costs of living and other financial hardships. While these latest contributions satisfied the immediate need, it is expected that there will be increased demand in the lead up to Christmas.

The food bank is supported by various groups on campus as well as by UPEI's ever-growing community of friends and alumni, including the Charlottetown Superstore, That's Entertainment and the Charlottetown Christian Reformed Church.

For more information on how to make a donation to the food bank, or to other priorities that the UPEI Annual Fund raises money for, please call (902) 566-0615 or visit www.upei.ca/annualfund.

Use your day away from classes on November 10 to experience UPEI in an entirely different way, at two great events designed to teach, engage, and let you meet up with friends while making new ones.

UPEI's Relay for Life was another successful event raising $14,800 in its annual fundraiser to fight cancer. On Friday night, October 28, 145 student, faculty, and staff participants walked the track until 6 a.m. Saturday morning to spread awareness and celebrate the lives of those touched by cancer.

This event marks UPEI's fourth year hosting the Canadian Cancer Society's fundraiser and the 10th year that it's been held on PEI. Relay for Life is the Canadian Cancer Society's signature event, honouring people who have survived cancer, remembering the lives lost, and raising money to help find a cure.

Special thanks to all those who participated, organized and donated to this great event.

If you'd like more information on other upcoming Relay for Life events, contact Gail MacDonald, Relay for Life coordinator, Canadian Cancer Society, PEI division at 566-4007.

The UPEI men's and women's soccer teams finished off their seasons strongly by advancing to the finals, respectively. Unfortunately, both teams were unsuccessful during their final games with the SMU Huskies winning back the AUS men's banner (6-0), and the Dalhousie Tigers taking home the women's banner (2-0). Despite these tough losses, both soccer teams had impressive seasons:

On the men's side
-Finished regular season play in 2nd place with a record of 7-2-4
-AUS coach of the year award: Lewis Page and Bruce Norton
-First Team All-Star: Jimmie Mayaleh, 4th year striker from Charlottetown, PEI
-Second Team All-Star: Jared Murphy, 3rd year midfielder from Charlottetown, PEI

On the women's side
-Finished regular season play in 1st place with a record of 11-1-1
-First Team All-Stars: Chelsie McInnis, 5th year striker from Summerside, PEI, Andrea Archibald, 4th year midfielder from Saskatoon, Sask., Sara Stewart, 5th year defender from Charlottetown, PEI, Chanelle Roy, 4th year keeper from Bathurst, NB.
-Second Team All-Star: Maria Scichilone, 1st year striker from Rothesay, NB.

Congratulations to both teams on their successful seasons!

The Faculty of Education is hosting an open house on Wednesday, November 16 from 4:30-7:30 pm in Memorial Hall (3rd floor). Program presentations will take place from 6:30-7:15 pm.

Come and check out displays on our BEd specializations in Indigenous Education, International Education, BEd (français langue seconde), BEd HRD, CAE, MEd and PhD programs.

Discuss with students, faculty, and admissions committee. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, please call (902) 620-5154.

Kyle Simpson, a fourth-year business student at UPEI, recently won a brand new 2011 Mazda 3 Sport GT after Mazda Canada chose his video as the winner of its 'What Do You Drive?' Facebook contest.

When Simpson found himself in the market to buy a new car, he stumbled upon the Mazda Canada contest. The contest asked participants to write a story, share a picture, or create a video, answering the question 'what do you drive?' Simpson noticed that there were not many video entries, so he decided to put his creative skills to use.

The contest officially closed on August 31, and by the middle of September, with no word from Mazda, Simpson assumed he didn't win. At the end of September, Simpson was shocked to receive an email stating that he had been chosen as the ‘grand prize' winner. Simpson said, 'After a few months of collecting votes and watching my ranking rise and fall, the fact that I actually won was surreal.'

UPEI assistant professor, Dr. Susan Graham, and dean of UPEI's school of business, Alan Duncan were impressed by the business student's contest entry. Graham used Simpson's video as a case study in her third year marketing class, while Duncan personally tweeted to his followers to vote for Simpson, and tweeted again after Simpson was announced as the contest winner.

Simpson was thrilled by UPEI's support, 'It made me feel pretty proud that so many people at school were supporting me, including UPEI faculty.' He added, 'Honestly, without their support, I wouldn't have been able to get as many votes as I did.'

Simpson also gives credit to his marketing class with Graham, 'Susan's marketing class certainly influenced how I went about making my video. We had a contest in her class to make a commercial and I was able to apply a lot of what I took away from that exercise into this Mazda contest.' He laughed, 'It definitely paid off.'

Mazda Canada delivered Simpson's new wheels to MacIsaac Mazda in Charlottetown, on November 1. Kyle is grateful for all the support and humorously added, 'If I promised anyone a drive in exchange for a vote, just let me know, I'll stay true to my word!'

To view Simpson's winning entry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vnNsztvmG8

Steven Heighton, one of Canada's most talented, versatile, and eloquently riveting writers, will be the Winter's Tales featured author for November on November 24, at 7:30 pm in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. A book signing and reception will follow.

As a novelist and short story writer, Heighton combines spell-binding narratives, intensely realized characters, vivid settings, rich language, and illuminating intelligence. Of his latest novel, Every Lost Country, set in Tibet, T.F. Rigelholf writes in The Globe and Mail, 'Heighton takes the bare bones of an event occurring on the borderlines of most of our geographical, political and moral experiences, and refashions it into a novel that offers readers more than [just] big ideas and beautiful language… Every page, minor character and plot twist matters. Every Lost Country not only rivets readers to their seats, it challenges them to rethink the David-and-Goliath inequalities of this new millennium.'

John Barber in The Globe and Mail says, 'What sets the novel far above the thriller norm is the diversity of the viewpoints it incorporates, blended invisibly into the heart-pounding narrative by means of constant small miracles of characterization.' The Toronto Star says this novel 'recalls a Hitchcock thriller, but with better scenery.'

A dazzling poet, Heighton will also read from his new poetry book, Patient Frame. Previous novels are Afterland, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and The Shadow Boxer, a Publisher's Weekly Book of the Year. His short fiction collections are Flight Paths of the Emperor and On Earth As It Is. He has published four other poetry collections and a book of essays, The Admen Move on Lhasa.

Widely anthologized and translated into ten languages, Heighton lives in Kingston, Ontario. An excellent athlete, during his last visit to PEI on a book promotion tour, in the middle of winter, Steve ran at impressive speed for several miles along Dalvay Shore. His presentation on November 24, and the official timing of a repeat run, is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from The Canada Council for the Arts. www.steveheighton.com

UPEI faculty and staff members who volunteer with Academics for Higher Education & Development (AHED) made a recent trip to Namibia to revisit the University of Namibia (UNam). AHED, an organization that actively works to promote and improve higher education in developing countries has a project which teams up UPEI and UNam.