Laura Simms, award-winning performer, writer, and educator, advocating storytelling as compassionate action for personal and community transformation, will highlight the 2014 International Development Week at UPEI. This year's theme is 'International Storytelling.'

Simms received the Brimstone Award for Engaged Storytelling, the CHOICE award for best story collection, and Sesame Street's SUNNY DAYS award for her work with children worldwide. She is the mother of Ishmael Beah, former child solider from Sierra Leone, and author of 'A Long Way Gone,' an international best seller.

Simms' lecture entitled 'Healing through Story,' will take place, on Thursday, February 6 at 4:30 pm in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium (Room 242), Don and Marion McDougall Hall, with a reception and book signing to follow in Schurman Market Square. Tickets can be purchased for $20.

To purchase tickets and to view a full schedule of events for UPEI's International Development Week, visit upei.ca/idw

The Public Health Agency of Canada advises how to protect yourself and others from the flu:

· Get your annual flu shot
· Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water
· Keep your hands away from your face
· Cough and sneeze into your arm, not your hand
· If you get sick, stay home until your symptoms are gone
· Keep common surface areas clean and disinfected

The UPEI Student Health Centre has now completed distributing its supply of the flu shot, but for a list of available PEI Flu Shot Clinics, visit: www.healthpei.ca/fluclinics

For more information, visit www.fightflu.ca.

UPEI Athletics and Recreation announced the UPEI Panther Athletes of the Week for the week of January 13-19. UPEI Athletics and Recreation showcase these talented athletes to recognize their hard work and dedication to their respective sports throughout the season. UPEI Athletes of the Week are also nominated to Atlantic University Sport and Canadian Interuniversity Sport for possible recognition in the region and/or country.

Who: Darcy Zinck, Women's Basketball; and Wayne Savage, Men's Hockey

What: UPEI Panther Athletes of the Week

When: Week of January 13-19

Why: Darcy Zinck, a third-year arts student and women's basketball player from Halifax, Nova Scotia, led the Panthers offensively while providing excellent defense and leadership. The 5'8' point guard scored 15 points, including shooting five for seven from beyond the 3-point arc, collected three rebounds, and had four assists in the Panthers 62-60 loss to Acadia on Friday. On Saturday, the team rebounded for a 58-50 win over Acadia, with Zinck producing 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

Wayne Savage, a fourth-year arts student and men's hockey player from St. Thomas, Ontario, provided outstanding goaltending on the weekend backstopping the Panthers to two important road wins. On Friday, the Panthers won 3-0 over StFX, with Savage recording the shutout in a 34-save performance, and was selected first star of the game. On Saturday, the Panthers defeated Saint Mary's 3-2, with Savage stopping 38 of 40 shots, and assisting the game-winning goal by sending Chris Desousa on a breakaway.

Zinck and Savage will be recognized at this week's UPEI Athletes of the Week Celebration on Thursday, January 23 at 12:45 pm in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre's McMillan Hall. All are welcome.

Wayne Savage, Men's Hockey

For information:
Ron Annear
UPEI Athletics and Recreation
(902) 566-0991, annear@upei.ca

The annual UPEI music department performance competition finals concert will be held on Thursday, January 23 at UPEI's Dr. Steel Recital Hall at 7:30 pm.

The students chosen from the preliminary round include: Rebecca Apps, third-year voice major, performing music by Weinzweig, Floyd, and Somers; Jillian Clow, third-year voice major, performing music by Samuel Barber; Nadine Haddad, fourth-year voice major, performing cabaret songs by William Bolcom; Evan Hammell, third-year trombone major, performing a sonatina by Halsey Stevens; Melissa MacKenzie, second-year voice major, performing works by Adam Guettel and Leonard Bernstein; and, Lucas MacPhail, third-year saxophone major, performing Wings by Joan Tower.

Apps, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, is a vocal performance major under the direction of Sung Ha Shin-Bouey. She is a graduate of the music theatre-performance program at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, Ontario. She is a member of the UPEI Concert Choir, as well as the UPEI Chamber Ensemble. She was a featured soloist in the UPEI Concert Choir's rendition of Bach's Christmas Oratorio this past year. In 2013, Apps represented PEI in the CFMTA Voice Competition in Halifax, has been a participant of the Kiwanis Music Festival for several years, and was a finalist in the UPEI Performance Competition in 2013.

Clow is a mezzo-soprano and was a cast member in the Confederation Centre of the Arts Young Company production of Les Feux Follets in 2012. She has also performed with the UPEI Concert Choir as a featured soloist in works such as Vivaldi's Gloria and Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Under the direction of Sung Ha Shin Bouey, Jillian hopes to be accepted into the University of Toronto following her graduation in 2015 to earn a master of music in opera.

Haddad is in her final year and is very fortunate to have studied the past four years under the direction of Sung Ha Shin-Bouey. She has also participated in the Kiwanis Music Festival and placed third at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) in 2012 at the University of Moncton. In 2013, she was also a finalist in the Music Performance Competition. This year, Haddad is excited to be performing some of her favorite cabaret songs.

Hammell is a bass trombone major under the direction of Dr. Gregory Irvine, with previous instruction from Bob Nicholson and Steve Giddings. A native of Charlottetown, Hammell is currently the bass trombonist for the UPEI Wind Symphony, the UPEI Jazz Ensemble, the UPEI Brass Quintet, and the Prince Edward Island Regiment Band, and is also a member of the UPEI Percussion Ensemble and UPEI Concert Choir. After graduating from UPEI, he intends to pursue graduate studies in composing and arranging.

Second-year voice major MacKenzie is currently studying vocal performance under the direction of Sung Ha Shin-Bouey, piano with Dr. Frances Gray, and is pursuing a theatre studies minor at UPEI. Recent theatre work includes Good Golly Miss Molly (Molly/Alex, Feast Dinner Theatres, Summer 2013) and Beauty and the Beast (Belle, Fandango Musical Players, Christmas 2012). Melissa was the recipient of the 2013 Junior Rose Bowl from the Queens County Music Festival, as well as the Indian River Performance Award (2013) and various provincial music festival titles in voice, musical theatre, and piano throughout the years.

MacPhail, a native of Warren Grove, PEI, is studying saxophone performance with Kevin MacLean. He is currently the principal alto saxophonist for the UPEI Wind Symphony and a member of the UPEI Jazz Ensemble. This past summer he competed at the FCMF National Competition at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

Judges for this year's competition are well-known PEI educators and musicians: Leo Marchildon, Jennifer Gillis, Kirk White, Alexandra Gallant, and Doug Millington.

Tickets are $15 adults, $10 for students and seniors, and are available at the door, or in advance by calling 566-0507 or by emailing music@upei.ca

UPEI student group, the Mindfulness Club, will host an introductory session on transcendental meditation on Friday, January 24 at 7:30 pm in Main Building's Faculty Lounge. The session will be led by Peter Cameron, certified transcendental meditation instructor with over 40 years of teaching experience in Atlantic Canada. Cameron will present some of the research that verifies the many subjective benefits of practicing this meditation technique, including improved quality of life and grade point average through stress reduction.

The Mindfulness Club was created to provide a space for those interested in calming their minds and reducing stress and anxiety levels. The demands of modern life have accelerated our lifestyles and this burdens our minds and bodies to the point of exhaustion. The group's weekly gatherings are an opportunity to share positive and effective coping techniques, and offers members a space to participate in practices that foster a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

All are welcome to attend.

For more information on the event, or the Mindfulness Club, please contact Derrick Biso at dbiso@upei.ca

The Honourable Gail Shea, Canada's Minister for Fisheries and Oceans, on behalf of the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of State (Science and Technology) announced today the renewal of two Canada Research Chairs at the University of Prince Edward Island. Dr. Russell Kerr begins a second term as the Canada Research Chair in Marine Natural Products. The announcement also saw Dr. Crawford Revie renewed as the Canada Research Chair in Population Health: Epi-informatics.

'Our government remains committed to attracting and retaining the world's best researchers, creating jobs and strengthening Canada's economy,' said Minister Shea. 'Through programs such as the Canada Research Chairs, we are supporting cutting-edge research at Canadian universities and fostering innovation by helping researchers bring their ideas to the marketplace, benefiting Canadians and improving their quality of life.'

Dr. Russell Kerr's research takes him from the tropics to the arctic in search of marine compounds with potential as therapeutic agents. The demand for such compounds from the ocean environment is tempered by a limited and delicate supply. Dr. Kerr seeks new ways to discover and extract these compounds without damaging the environment. Dr. Kerr first came to UPEI in 2006 from Florida Atlantic University as the Canada Research Chair in Marine Natural Products (Tier 1).

'The renewal of the CRC funding is exciting as this will allow my research group to continue its work directed at the development of marine microbes as a sustainable resource for drug discovery. The research will be directed at the discovery of antimicrobial agents as well as anticancer drug leads,' said Dr. Kerr. 'Importantly, this will also allow for the training of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the field of marine drug discovery.'

As Canada Research Chair in Population Health: Epi-Informatics (Tier 2), Dr. Crawford Revie is exploring new ways to use techniques from informatics-such as data mining, data-driven modelling and semantic web technologies-to gain a better understanding of disease epidemiology. Dr. Revie's work focuses specifically on the transmission of pathogens between wild and farmed fish, and it has been instrumental in bringing together industry, government, and non-government organizations in British Columbia.

'While the renewal of my own position is very gratifying, I am even more pleased that this greatly strengthens the broader epi-informatics team that has been built up over the initial phase of this Chair,' said Dr. Revie. 'There are many research goals we aim to fulfill during this second phase, including the creation of Web 2.0 ontology tools for syndromic surveillance data consolidation and the delivery of mobile-phone based tools for disease diagnosis and surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa.'

'UPEI is extremely proud to have Dr. Kerr and Dr. Revie renewed in these roles,' said UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El Aziz. 'These are two exciting and outstanding researchers who demonstrate the community of discovery and innovation we foster at UPEI. Their research has a very real impact on the world, and gives our students and post-doctoral fellows access to word-class expertise and instruction.'

The Government of Canada will provide $108.9 million through the Canada Research Chairs Program, to support 135 newly awarded and renewed Canada Research Chairs. Of that total, 26 researchers have been recruited from abroad, including 11 Canadians returning to work in their home country-demonstrating the success of the program in attracting and supporting research excellence and innovation in Canada. The research will be conducted at 41 Canadian post-secondary institutions, and will lead to benefits for Canadian families, businesses, practitioners, and policy-makers.

The Canada Research Chairs Program was created with an annual budget of $300 million to establish up to 2,000 research professorships across the country and to position Canada as a world leader in post-secondary research. The program currently supports researchers, in more than 70 Canadian post-secondary institutions, who are conducting research in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities disciplines.

UPEI Athletics and Recreation have scheduled the seventh annual Shoot for the Cure fundraiser taking place on Saturday, February 8. The women's basketball team will host CIS #1 ranked Saint Mary's Huskies with a tip off time of 3:00 pm.

Shoot for the Cure is a fundraising initiative by the CIS women's basketball coaches association to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and other related charities.

The Shoot for the Cure campaign has proven an overwhelming success since it was launched in the fall of 2007, with over $600,000 in donations. Last season, for the second year in a row, all CIS women's basketball teams participated in the program.

The entire Panther team is involved in the local fundraising effort, with a committee led by UPEI student-athletes Danielle MacDonald and Jenna Jones. The fundraising goal has been set at $3,000 to be achieved through activities including: Shoot for the Cure t-shirts, paper icons, a bake sale, a 50/50 draw, and other Panther team initiatives.

Everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend. Go Panthers Go!

For information:
Ron Annear
UPEI Athletics and Recreation
(902) 566-0991, annear@upei.ca

The University of Prince Edward Island recently celebrated the behind-the-scenes efforts of two outstanding individuals with the first two Katherine Schultz Research Recognition Awards. Dr. Lisa Chilton, associate professor of history, and Dr. Jonathan Spears, assistant professor of biomedical sciences and UPEI's University Veterinarian, were given these awards in thanks for their work to help promote the community of research and discovery at UPEI.

The Katherine Schultz Research Recognition Awards were created out of a gift received from Dr. Katherine Schultz, UPEI's first Vice-President Research. Under her tenure, from 2001 to 2012, UPEI enjoyed a seven-fold increase in research funding and intensity.

'A university's research doesn't experience that much growth without the hard work of a lot of people-people who don't often make it into the press releases or on the magazine covers; people who nonetheless deserve our praise and thanks. That's what these rewards are all about. They represent our appreciation of Dr. Chilton and Dr. Spears,' said Dr. Robert Gilmour, UPEI's current Vice-President Research and Graduate Studies.

Dr. Gilmour also opened the nominations for the 2013-14 Katherine Schultz Research Recognition Awards. Individuals or groups of people can nominate a UPEI faculty member, staff member, or volunteer who has made an outstanding contribution to the research enterprise at UPEI. The Scholarships and Awards Committee will accept nominations until March 1.

For information:
Dave Atkinson, Research Communications Officer, UPEI
(902) 620-5117

On Tuesday, January 28, UPEI's Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie and her research team at the University will present new research findings on abortion access for PEI women. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, January 28 in Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Room 242 from 6:30-8:00 pm. The focus of the presentation will be on understanding the impacts of PEI's abortion policies on women's lives.

'We have some chilling new data and some ground-breaking research to report from our two-year inquiry into the impacts of PEI's abortion policies,' said MacQuarrie. 'The effects we have found on women's health, including some recently uncovered provincial statistics regarding illegal abortions in PEI, are eye-opening.'

The release is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 1988 Supreme Court of Canada's Morgentaler decision that struck down abortion laws as contravening women's human rights. The evening will include a series of presentations from members of the research team to highlight issues of concern to Islanders. What happens on an Island when you create the conditions of blocking access to safe abortions? How does abortion stigma impact womens' lives? What happens to Island women when their attempts to self induce go awry? What do women have to say about their post-abortion experiences? These questions and more will be addressed during the presentation.

Additionally, the presenters will share recommendations for change that come from women reflecting on their post-abortion experiences. Members of the public are encouraged to attend to gain a better understanding of women's experiences when accessing abortion.

'Our research reveals a solid direction for women's health to better align PEI with the principles of the Canada Health Act and the recommendations from both the United Nations and the World Health Organization on access to safe abortion,' added MacQuarrie.

Jane Ledwell, Executive Director of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, will moderate the event.

For more information, please contact Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie at (902) 566-0617 or cmacquarrie@upei.ca

At the next Research on Tap, join us for a discussion about support for publishing in a province where the tourism industry is built largely on the success of a single book. Dr. Richard Lemm, professor of English at UPEI, will lead a talk entitled: Who needs books in the land of Anne?

'I'll focus on the provincial support for Island authors and Island publishers, sung to the tune of ‘You can't have one without the other,'' said Dr. Lemm. 'Indeed, support for publishers is support for the development of Island writing and literary culture.'

Sound interesting? Join us on Tuesday, February 4 at 7:00 pm at the Pourhouse, above the Old Triangle in Charlottetown.

Research on Tap is a series of public discussions with UPEI researchers. For more information, contact Dave Atkinson at 620-5117, or datkinson@upei.ca