69´«Ã½

Everyone is invited to a free public reading by Bill Richardson at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery on Thursday, July 30, 7:00 p.m., an event co-hosted by the P.E.I. Writers' Guild, the Friends of the Confederation Centre Public Library, the 69´«Ã½Department of English, and the Indian River Festival.

Bill Richardson is a writer and broadcaster. He has contributed to CBC Radio since 1984, and has been the host of a number of programmes, both on CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2. His books include Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, which won the Stephen Leacock medal for humour, Waiting for Gertrude, and After Hamelin, a novel for children and winner of the Silver Birch award. He has also been the recipient of a Vancouver Arts Award, and a gold medal for fiction in the National Magazine Awards.

Bill Richardson hosts CBC Radio Two's flagship classical performance shows: "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera" and a Sunday afternoon that features live performances. His CBC Radio hosting has included Crosswords, As You Like It, Richardson's Roundup, Bunny Watson, Ten Times Table, and Canada Reads. As a lyricist, he has collaborated with composers Rodney Sharman and Cameron Wilson, and also worked as anarrator with Quartetto Gelato, the Vancouver Summer Chamber Music Festival, Stratford Summer Music and the CBC Radio Orchestra.

Bill Richardson will be on the Island to be guest host of the Indian River Festival's annual Midsummer Magic Weekend, July 31-August 1. At his public reading on Thursday, July 30, 7:00 p.m., at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, The Bookmark will have books available for sale and Bill says he will happily autograph them.

For more information, contact Deirdre Kessler, kessler@upei.ca.

Alumni from the 69´«Ã½ (UPEI), St. Dunstan's University (SDU) and Prince of Wales College (PWC) will gather at 69´«Ã½from July 30 to August 2 for their annual fun-filled Reunion Weekend.

'Reunion Weekend is a great opportunity for alumni from 69´«Ã½and its founding institutions, SDU and PWC, to reconnect with each other, take a trip down memory lane and see the wonderful changes that have taken place on campus,' says Betty Johnston, president of the 69´«Ã½Alumni Association.

During the weekend, the classes of '45,'49, '55, '59 and '69 will renew friendships and trade memories at class events during the weekend. Special anniversaries include 60 years for the Class of '49 and '50 for the Class of '59.

69´«Ã½will honour alumni by raising its new flag for the first time on Thursday, July 30, at 11 a.m., at the flagpoles next to the Kelley Building.

The 69´«Ã½Alumni golf tournament takes place on Friday, July 31, at the Green Gables Golf Course in Cavendish. Tee-off time for the 150 golfers who are expected to participate is at 8 a.m. Free transportation on a first-come, first-served basis for registered golfers is available on the Panther-branded bus; it will leave from the W.A. Murphy Student Centre at 7 a.m.

Bishop Faber MacDonald, Bishop Emeritus of Saint John, a member of the Class of '59 and an honorary graduate of UPEI, will celebrate the 25th annual SDU Alumni Mass on Friday at 7:30 p.m., in the Dr. Steel Recital Hall, followed by a reception in McMillan Hall of the W.A. Murphy Student Centre. He will be assisted by concelebrants Father Charlie Cheverie, 69´«Ã½chaplain, and Father Robert MacDonald, Class of '59.

A tour of the campus takes place on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. at the front steps of Main Building.

A highlight of the weekend, the PWC annual reunion luncheon, will take place on Sunday, August 2, from 1 to 4 p.m., in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre's McMillan Hall.

For the first time, overnight accommodation on campus for alumni attending the weekend is available for a special rate.

For more information, contact Sarah MacInnis, Alumni Outreach Coordinator, at (902) 566-0687 or alumni@upei.ca. For the complete Reunion Weekend schedule, visit .

The Canada Games PEI Women's Soccer Team and the 69´«Ã½Women's Soccer Team will hold a charity co-ed tournament on Saturday, August 1, on the 69´«Ã½soccer field to raise funds to help buy myoelectric hands for Mohamed Mara, a refugee from Sierra Leone now living on P.E.I.

During the civil war in Sierra Leone, rebel forces massacred Mara's mother, father and siblings. Mohamed escaped but was caught later by rebels who cut off his hands.

Mara uses prosthetic hooks and is able to do some simple movement functions with them. However, because of the abnormal motions his body must perform to use the hooks, he is developing problems in his shoulders, neck and back.

In March 2009, a group of people established a Friends of Mohamed campaign, which is raising funds to pay for two myoelectric hands, rehabilitation and maintenance. The total cost will be approximately $80,000.

69´«Ã½has donated the soccer field for the August 1 tournament. The registration of $20 per person includes a barbeque and t-shirts. Each team will have five to seven players, and Mara himself will play. Games are played five v five, for a minimum of three games.

To register, contact the 69´«Ã½Soccer Office at (902) 566-6054 or e-mail soccerfriends@live.com.

Jackie MacPhail and Wensley Power, two Facilities Management staff members, display the Communities in Bloom Stone awarded to 69´«Ã½by the City of Charlottetown at its recent Make Charlottetown Bloom Awards ceremony.

69´«Ã½received a special recognition award for its commitment to the beautification of University Avenue, improving the safety of the area and enhancing the campus, including the construction of a wrought iron fence along the property fronting University Avenue, the re-establishment of flower beds, and aesthetic improvements to the Main Quadrangle.

Julie Bull, a graduate of the 69´«Ã½, was named the Canadian recipient of the Hart Hansen Award at a ceremony at the International Union for Circumpolar Health's 14th international congress held recently in Yellowknife, NT.

Bull received the award from the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health, one of five charter members of the International Union for Circumpolar Health. The Union and its members are dedicated to promoting research, exchanging knowledge, and fostering greater awareness and responsiveness to health issues affecting circumpolar people.

The goal of the Hart Hansen Award is to increase cooperation in circumpolar health research and education by mentoring and encouraging emerging researchers and health-care workers.

Bull received her bachelor of arts (honours) and master of applied health services research degrees from UPEI. She is now working on an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from Dalhousie University with a focus on aboriginal research ethics.

"It was an honour to have such recognition from the Canadian Society of Circumpolar Health. There are so many aspiring young health researchers in Canada deserving of this and I feel privileged to receive this award,' says Bull. 'It is through the support of established researchers, health workers and organizations who have the passion to mentor young people that we will see generations of Aboriginal youth not only working in the health field, but taking control of the research, policy and practice."

Bull is now project manager of aboriginal education at UPEI. Her work involves providing support to current aboriginal students at the university and working on recruitment and retention of new aboriginal students. She also educates university faculty and staff about issues affecting aboriginal students and manages the Mawiomi Aboriginal Student Centre, which opened in January of this year.

Originally from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, Bull was a National Aboriginal Role Model in 2007. The National Aboriginal Role Model Program celebrates the accomplishments of First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth aged 13 to 30. She is involved in the Native Council of PEI and the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island.

UPEI's Tourism Research Centre has released a new report profiling differences and similarities between first-time and repeat visitors to PEI. This report is one of many based on Exit Survey results collected between July 2007 and June 2008.

'This report is important as most travel parties to PEI are comprised of visitors who have visited PEI previously,' states Dr. Paul Lewis, Research Director at the TRC. 'In fact, only 21 per cent of our guests are on their first visit.'

Where visitors come from has a strong bearing on the likelihood that they will be repeat visitors. Visitors from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia are extremely unlikely to be visiting for the first time, whereas those from international countries outside the US are almost certainly on their first visit to PEI.

Reasons for visiting the Island vary. Most first-time travel parties came primarily for a holiday, vacation or a short getaway, whereas repeat travel parties indicated a variety of other reasons as being the primary purpose of their trip. For example, only 3 per cent of first-time travel parties came to visit friends/relatives, but 26 per cent of repeat travel parties came for this reason. Not only was visiting friends/relatives a much more prevalent reason for visiting PEI, it was also a much more common activity for repeat travel parties (54 per cent) than first-time travel parties (14 per cent).

First-time travel parties were more likely to participate in typical tourist activities than repeat visitors. They went sightseeing, went to the beach, visited National and Provincial parks and visited tourist attractions at rates well above those of repeat visitors. This was especially the case for visiting Anne of Green Gables attractions (51 per cent of first-time visitors took in Anne attractions compared to only 10 per cent of returning visitors). The types of activities that are more popular among repeat travel parties are generally activities with overall low participation rates. For example, only 15 per cent of repeat visitors participated in outdoor sports and activities but even fewer first-time visitors did so (11 per cent).

Repeat travel parties stay slightly longer in PEI (an average of 4.3 nights versus 3.8 nights for first-time travel parties) but they spend less per night ($95 per-person-per-night for repeat travel parties versus $109 for first-time visitors). Accommodations are the largest per-person-per-night expense for both groups, but the figure is notably higher for first-time visitors. In addition, first-time travel parties also spend more at restaurants and less on groceries than repeat visitors do. Both these findings would suggest that many repeat visitors have discovered, through previous travel to PEI, either cheaper accommodations with cooking facilities or else they stay with families or friends at no cost and contribute toward the grocery bill.

'Overall, first-time visitors are high-yield visitors. They spend more, stay in the most expensive types of accommodations and they see and do a lot while visiting,' elaborates Dr. Lewis. 'The challenge with this group of visitors is that almost 40 per cent do not consider Prince Edward Island to be their main destination. They have other places to go. In many respects, repeat visitors are the opposite. They stay longer but they stay in less expensive accommodations, and see and do less.' Nevertheless, repeat travel parties don't just settle in and relax; they are more active in terms of recreational and even community-based activities than first-time travel parties.

The full report is available on the exit survey section of the TRC's website: . More information about the report can be obtained from the Tourism Research Centre, School of Business, University of PEI, at (902) 566-6096 or trc@upei.ca.

The Tourism Research Centre (TRC) was created out of a vital need for independent, high-quality research on the PEI tourism industry. Housed in the 69´«Ã½School of Business, the TRC is dedicated to significantly expanding the tourism research capacity on the Island. An independent body established in 2006, it studies, develops, analyzes and recommends tourism research processes, frameworks, models, strategies, insights and other research offerings to the tourism industry. Generating PEI-specific reports for industry and government, as well academic papers, the TRC distributes value-added information to enhance the Province's tourism competitiveness.

A new focus within the Master of Education (MEd) program at the 69´«Ã½ is making it easier for experienced adult educators and leaders to pursue advanced study that relates specifically to the modern community college environment.

69´«Ã½is delivering an executive-style Master of Education through a combination of online courses and face-to-face summer institutes, making it practical for students from across the Atlantic region, and elsewhere, to combine work and study. Most of the participants in the inaugural class come from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and PEI. The class also includes students from communities in Ontario and Manitoba.

The first of three intensive summer institutes for the new MEd cohort was launched at 69´«Ã½in early August. It is addressing theories of research and learning in community colleges, and educational leadership. UPEI's tenured and adjunct faculty will present online courses throughout the winter and spring semesters for the next two years using a highly interactive distance delivery program.

Dr. Miles Turnbull, Co-ordinator of Graduate Studies for the 69´«Ã½Faculty of Education says that the new focus on the interests of community college leaders reflects the University's commitment to provide educators with access to a full range of educational options, and to foster the development of a vibrant educational research community.

'The community college post-secondary environment is undergoing significant change,' says Dr. Turnbull. 'This innovative and responsive approach will support the development of expertise that is urgently needed to meet new demands and ensure leadership succession for the future.'

An advisory committee that includes representatives from UPEI, Holland College and Nova Scotia Community College is guiding the development and delivery of the program. The students are expected to graduate with their Master of Education degrees in May 2012. More information is available at upei.ca/education.

It's hot, it's exciting, it's a jungle out there - that's the New Student Orientation theme this year at 69´«Ã½- and the sense of anticipation is getting stronger every day. NSO registration is already open, and 70 student volunteers are working feverishly to make sure this year's program is an unforgettable experience for everyone attending 69´«Ã½for the first time.

'Through NSO, new students get to know the campus, our facilities, some of our faculty, and the city of Charlottetown. It is the perfect way to experience campus life and to get to know one another before the semester even starts,' says Patrick Greco, one of this year's NSO co-ordinators. 'Last year everyone had a blast. The only major complaints came from people who were disappointed that they didn't sign up.'

NSO 2009 activities include everything from Tarzan and Jane's Jungle Gala, to a Baboon Brunch, to a Picnic Face Comedy Hour, to a mesmerizing performance by Damian the Hypnotist. And during their annual Shinerama campaign, new students will spread their high spirits around the bustling streets of Charlottetown to raise funds to help conquer Cystic Fibrosis.

This year New Student Orientation will continue well beyond the traditional welcome-week activities. The University has expanded the program to include one NSO event every month, from October through to the end of March.

Students can now sign up for NSO 2009 online at upei.ca, via Campus Login. More information about the schedule is available at upei.ca/nso