UPEI head coaches, Tim Kendrick, of the men's basketball team and Bruce Donaldson, of the women's hockey team were awarded AUS coaches of the year this week.

AUS Coach of the Year: Tim Kendrick, men's basketball

Kendrick, in his first year at the helm of the UPEI program, becomes the first Panthers men's basketball coach to be named AUS coach of the year since George Morrison was honoured following the 1995-96 season.

This year, he guided the Panthers to a third place finish in the Atlantic conference with a record of 13-7, just one year removed from UPEI missing the AUS post-season with a 7-13 record. The 13 regular season wins this year are also the most by a UPEI squad since 1993-94 when the Panthers also finished with a 13-7 mark.

UPEI's women's hockey team claimed their first ever AUS hockey banner on March 4 during the AUS Championships in Halifax, NS. The team shocked fans and even themselves, when they downed the Mount Allison Mounties 3-0 to claim the AUS banner.

Ranked fourth heading into the championship weekend, the Panthers fate came down to the semi-final game on Saturday, March 3, against the top ranked AUS team and fourth ranked CIS team, StFX. The Panthers upset the X-Women defeating them 2-1 sending UPEI to the championship game on Sunday.

Fifth-year forward Jenelle MacKenzie expressed her shock to Charlottetown's newspaper, The Guardian, 'Back then (five years ago), we were lucky to keep StFX under 10 goals and we beat them yesterday.' For MacKenzie, beating StFX was a great birthday present, and her power play goal in the first period gave her team an early lead in Saturday's semi-final.

In Sunday afternoon's championship game, UPEI came out with the will to win. UPEI was strong on the defensive end and goaltender, Kristy Dobson had a solid showing. With minutes left in the third period, Mount Allison pulled their goaltender in hopes to make a comeback as UPEI led 2-0. UPEI's Amber Gaudette scored on Mount Allison's empty net to secure the win at 3-0.

Panthers Head Coach and 2012 AUS Coach of the Year, Bruce Donaldson, explained his pride to The Guardian during an after game interview, 'I just looked at them all and they had tears in their eyes and I'm pretty sure I had some in mine too. I said ‘I'm amazingly proud of what you have accomplished.''

UPEI's Christina Kelly and Kristy Dobson were named to the Championship Tournament All Star Team. Dobson was also named Championship Tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The Panthers are off to Halifax on Tuesday as they begin their journey to Edmonton for the 2012 CIS National Championships hosted by the University of Alberta. The games will take place from March 8-11.

Come on out to an informal send-off at the entrance of the MacLauchlan Arena on Tuesday, March 6 at 12 pm. Wear your Panther gear and/or green and white and show your Panther pride!

Since mid-November, more than 140 UPEI students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members have been collaboratively engaged in the Reflections & Future Directions visioning exercise. The UPEI community is invited to learn more about the progress of this campus initiative during a Campus Conversation on:

Thursday, March 8 from 2:30 to 4:00 pm in The McCain Foundation Learning Commons, AVC

Students from UPEI's psychology honours program are working alongside Dr. Annabel J. Cohen, Professor, and AIRS (Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing) to conduct two research studies and are seeking assistance from the community.

'The AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills' study is looking for approximately 150 participants, over the age of five, with no singing experience necessary. Participants will be required to take part in a short singing interview. The purpose of this study is to examine how singing abilities develop and change across one's lifespan. This study will be conducted by Erica Ross and Michael Leblanc.

The second study, 'Pitch Imitation in Infants,' conducted by Moira Shaw, is seeking 24 sets of infants (3-6 months old) and their caregivers. Pitch imitation will be tested through vocal and musical interaction of the infants and their caregivers. The purpose of this study is to research infants and their ability to imitate musical tone. The research also hopes to provide evidence of an individual's ability to imitate and the accuracy of this ability from birth on.

This research project has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Department of Psychology, as a subcommittee of the UPEI Research Ethics Board.

If you're interested in signing up for a study, please contact the students or liaison listed below. This is a great opportunity for anyone with a little time available to support UPEI students and their research-not just music lovers!

The medical world is abuzz with several high-profile reports of a promising new treatment that appears to reduce brain damage done by the most common type of stroke. The experimental drug, named NA-1, underwent some of its most important preclinical testing at UPEI by a team including Dr. Andrew Tasker, Dr. Catherine Ryan, and Dr. Tracy Doucette.

Dr. Tasker, Professor of Neuropharmacology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at UPEI's Atlantic Veterinary College, is one of six founding scientists of NoNO Inc., a Toronto-based company dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of several common health disorders, including stroke. One of its most promising compounds is the drug NA-1.

'The name NoNO Inc. refers to ‘no nitric oxide,'' says Dr. Tasker. 'Nitric oxide is one of the compounds most responsible for cell death in the brain after a stroke. If we can prevent further cell death in the hours following a stroke, we can avoid a great deal of the damage associated with stroke.'

Dr. Tasker says there are currently no drugs available to prevent cell death in stroke. The only useful treatment for ischemic stroke, the clot-busting medication tPA, has some practical limitations. It must be given to patients within a relatively short amount of time after the stroke, and the type of stroke must first be confirmed by complicated testing.

'Our tests showed NA-1 proved to be effective at preventing cell death and long-term functional deficits even when administered up to three hours after the stroke,' says Dr. Tasker. 'And, it only targets the cells which are destined to die because of the stroke. It has no negative impact on other cells in the body.'

Dr. Tasker, Dr. Ryan, and Dr. Doucette were brought into the project in 2002 after being teamed up by the Canadian Stroke Network with University of Toronto scientists Dr. Michael Tymianski and Dr. Michael Salter.

'Most of the pre-clinical work demonstrating the long-term efficacy of NA-1 in ischemic stroke was conducted here at UPEI, and was instrumental in establishing NoNO as a company and getting NA-1 fast-tracked into Phase 1 clinical trials,' says Dr. Tasker. 'This work was done in conjunction with Dr. Ryan in Psychology and was coordinated by Dr. Doucette, who was then working as a post-doctoral fellow and is currently an Assistant Professor in Biology. Dr. Doucette's team involved technicians, graduate students, and a small army of undergraduate volunteers.'

Favourable results from a Phase 2 human trial of NA-1 in 185 patients in Canada and the US were recently reported by Dr. Michael Hill, the principal investigator on the trial. Further clinical trials are required before the drug can be brought to market.

TD Canada Trust's Charlottetown main branch, located in the downtown Confederation Court Mall, is showing Panther Pride to support the UPEI women's hockey team. Employees have created posters and are wearing Panther swag as the AUS champions begin play in Edmonton on March 9.

Bruce Donaldson, UPEI's Head Coach, has been the Branch Manager of TD since 1999. The bank employees decorated the branch in support of Donaldson and his team's recent AUS success.

The women's hockey team travelled to Alberta, earlier this week where they are competing at the CIS championships that kicked off today, and finish up on Sunday, March 11. UPEI's first game will be on Friday, March 9, at 3:30 pm MST. The Panthers will take on the losing team of today's match between the #6 Montreal Carabins and the #1 Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks.

Bruce Donaldson, Head Coach of the UPEI women's hockey team will be showcased on tonight's edition of Island View. Donaldson will be accompanied by members of the women's team to share their memories from the AUS championships where they claimed their first-ever AUS banner. The team will also chat about their experiences from their time at the recent CIS national championships in Edmonton, Alberta.

Watch the show live on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00 pm on EastLink TV's Island View hosted by Matt Beardsley. If you miss the show tonight, tune in this week as it will be aired at 8:30 am, 12 pm, 2:00 pm, 4:30 pm each day.

Kelly Gillis, third-year psychology student at UPEI, has been selected as one of 12 Canadian students to take part in the 2012 International Seminar in Mali supported by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC). The seminar has been offered by WUSC for the past 60 years and is now managed by the Uniterra Program, a joint initiative of WUSC and the Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI).

Each year, the International Seminar offers Canadian post-secondary students their first in-depth experience in a developing country through volunteer work in projects that are relevant and important to the host country. This year's seminar will take place, in Bamako, the capital city of Mali, from June 25-August 5. This year's theme is 'Employability, Health and Well-Being of Youth in Mali,' and students will be supporting the RENAPESS Mali, a network of local non-government organizations who seek to improve social, economic, and ethical issues in human socio-economic development. Gillis and the other Canadian students will join students from this year's host country for a six-week collaborative community project.

Gillis can't wait to start her volunteer adventure as she is interested in pursuing international development as a career. 'I want to make a tangible difference in the lives of others. I love helping people and I'm attracted to career opportunities that emphasize this,' she said. 'I am very grateful and excited to have this opportunity, and I can't wait to work with other students and RENAPESS this summer.'

Leo Cheverie, UPEI staff advisor for the WUSC local committee, was thrilled to hear that Gillis was chosen to take part in this year's seminar. 'She has shown a strong commitment in promoting international awareness and development throughout UPEI's WUSC committee,' he said. 'I hope that Islanders and the UPEI community can assist Gillis in achieving her fundraising goals, and I wish her all the best as she prepares to take on this exciting challenge.'

Most of the financial costs for the 2012 International Seminar are covered by the Uniterra program with support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). However, participants are still required to fundraise and contribute $3,500 towards the program for related costs.

Gillis has been selling raffle tickets for a scratch card Lotto Tree and movie rentals, and will continue to do so for the next two weeks until the draw on March 24. She will be selling the tickets on campus as well as at the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. She is also hosting a St. Patrick's Day bake sale on March 15 from 11:30-1:30 pm in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre, as well as a Zumba class with certified instructor Lyndsey Paynter at the Murphy's Community Centre on Sunday, March 18 from 6:30-7:30 pm.

For more information, contact Kelly Gillis at (902) 218-0244 or ksgillis@upei.ca http://www.facebook.com/groups/249394371808248/

In its second year of competition, teams from UPEI travelled to Halifax to take part in the Atlantic Throwdown Case Competition, March 9-10. With nine student teams, the event pitted rival professors, Sujit Sur (Dalhousie) and Edward Gamble (UPEI), against each other. UPEI teams placed first and third and retained the challenge trophy (awarded to the team with the highest cumulative total points) for the second consecutive year.

The Throwdown is designed to give third-year students their first taste of competitive case analysis. It is also used as a tryout for the fourth-year case competition class whose members, this year, have been successful in numerous national and international competitions.

The pressure on students competing for the first time added increased stress levels and the participants certainly were at a fever pitch. This was a baptism of fire for these students. Using the current fourth-year case team members as student advisors and mentors, the teams had to prepare for a two pronged case analysis. Friday night involved a 'Buy Sell or Hold' analysis of a company, testing financial valuation knowledge and portfolio management theory.

Alana Mckie, one of the mentors for UPEI's first place team, had a great experience sharing her techniques and methods. 'They were very receptive to our feedback and they learned really quickly. By seeing success this weekend, hopefully they will be motivated to apply for the UPEI case team to represent the University at future competitions.'

On Saturday, the teams were then presented with a broader based strategic case. This tested not only financial knowledge but also included marketing, product distribution, and detailed strategic analysis. The teams were required to present their recommendations to the assembled panel of judges. This required the teams to analyze the situation within a three hour timeframe and to craft a presentation with their recommendations. They then had 10 minutes to pitch their case and answer any questions that the judges put to them. Knowledge, confidence, quickness of thought, and logic of rationale were all put to the forefront in this process.

Case competitions have been an integral part of business education; for example, they are a staple at the Harvard School of Business, which pioneered their usage. The scenarios provide students with the requirement to analyze real world business situations and to make recommendations as if they were the business executives or consultants.

Success at these events does not come easily, and is the result of many hours of preparation combining classroom knowledge, with analytical skills that need to be wrapped in a presentation style to present their conclusions. Thanks goes to Professor Edward Gamble for his guidance and mentoring, and to the 4th year case students who acted as coaches and inspiration for the competing teams.