69´«Ã½

The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) released its 2012-2013 preliminary survey of enrolments for its 16 member universities-including the 69´«Ã½-last week. UPEI's overall enrolment numbers show a slight decrease by 0.9%, due to a decline in part-time student registrations, but show increases of 1.1% in full-time, 15.1% in full-time graduate, and 3.7% in full-time international student registrations.

The 69´«Ã½Registrar's Office reported 4,555 full-time and part-time students at the Island's only university, compared to 4,596 last year. There are 299 graduate students and 556 international students from 62 countries registered at 69´«Ã½for 2012-13.

'UPEI's enrolment numbers continue to be strong as we've maintained our enrolments to last year's level, after a number of record years,' said 69´«Ã½Registrar Kathleen Kielly. 'We are so pleased to see an increase in graduate and international student numbers. It's wonderful that our recruitment efforts in these areas are reaping rewards.'

Among full-time, first-year students, registrations from other provinces increased 26 per cent, and international registrations increased 19%. The overall number of registrations for full-time, first-year students was up by 1.0%.

'International students and students from across Canada are an increasingly important component of UPEI's student body, adding to the diversity of the entire Island community,' Kielly added. 'As reflected in our off-Island first-year registrations, our recruitment team has been able to deliver the message that 69´«Ã½offers a quality education, highly competitive tuition, and an intimate, and unique educational experience. Undergraduate students can become involved in high-level research and access exchange, internship, and co-op opportunities at home and around the world.'

In the winter of 2010, a subcommittee-69´«Ã½campus food strategy committee-was struck to develop a healthy campus food strategy. So far, we have been consulting with staff, faculty, and students and surveying other campuses across the country for best practices. We plan to provide recommendations to the healthy campus committee as to how we can work together to encourage a healthy food environment at UPEI.

This past summer, we held several focus groups to get input on what a healthy campus could/should look like. We had an excellent turnout, but would like to hear from more people from our campus community (students, staff, faculty) who may not have been around in the summer months.

Two focus groups, led by Foods and Nutrition Dietetic intern Sara Chin, will be held in the Health Sciences Building board room, 323, on Wednesday, October 24 and Thursday, October 25 from 4:00-5:00 pm.

The 69´«Ã½Wind Symphony will collaborate with the Montague Senior High School Concert Band in a recital on Thursday, October 25 at 7:30 pm at Montague High School.

The Wind Symphony will perform an eclectic set of pieces designed to engage the audience and showcase the unique sounds of the wind band. Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovitch's 'Festive Overture' will open their performance. Written in 1954, this work is a favourite of the orchestral repertoire as it is noted for its opening fanfare and rapid, lyrical melodies.

'Traveler,' by the American composer David Maslanka, is the centrepiece of the program. An emotional and virtuosic work, listeners will be immediately captured by its cascading runs, colourful orchestration, and spiritual melodies.

Saxophonist Kevin MacLean is soloist in the performance of Claud T. Smith's 'Fantasia.' This work exploits the technical and lyrical capabilities of the saxophone. MacLean is UPEI's sessional saxophone instructor and is known for his body of work as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been featured with the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra.

The 69´«Ã½Wind Symphony consists of 25 music majors, other 69´«Ã½students, and community musicians. Its mandate is to provide opportunities for its participants to apply their performance skills and develop musically through the study and performance of original and transcribed wind band literature. In addition, it is a forum through which professional attributes of ensemble performance are developed. It is within its mission to give its audiences meaningful and personal experiences with quality wind music, in the widest possible range of musical style and expression. The Wind Symphony has one, two-hour rehearsal each week.

Each year the Wind Symphony tours selected areas of the region to provide its membership with additional performance experiences and share its musicking with a wider audience. As part of this process we have partnered with most of PEI's school band programs.

During the past fourteen years, the Wind Symphony has produced an annual CD featuring selected repertoire from each year's performances. Cathedrals, released in May 2010, received the 2011 Music PEI Award for Best Classical Recording. In February 2011, the Wind Symphony released its 'O Canada' CD, a project exclusively for PEI public schools. Its most recent CDs-'Freebirds,' (2011) and 'Lord of the Rings' (2012)-have been highly acclaimed.

The Wind Symphony last performed in Montague two years ago as part of the inaugural recital at the new high school and captivated the audience with its rendition of 'Angels in the Architecture.' The ensemble hopes to engage patrons in much the same way with its program this Thursday. The Montague Senior High School Band under the direction of Kirk White will open the recital.

UPEI's Dr. Benet Davetian, associate professor in sociology, was the invited speaker on October 15 at the University of Maryland's President's Symposium. Davetian spoke on the benefits of civility instruction and practice in the legal, medical, and social work professions.

Davetian held two cups of water during his presentation; one represented a cup half-empty, and the other, half-full. 'We would be wrong to look at the cup and lament that it is half-empty, just as we would be wrong to cheer that it is half-full. Truth be told, our cultural cup is both half-empty and half-full. We need equal doses of pessimism and optimism if we are to come up with lasting solutions that revitalize our social and communal morale.'

Davetian's research indicates that breakdowns in civility and collegiality have a measurable negative effect on the workers and beneficiaries of medical, legal, and social work services. 'How motivated do you think a pharmacist would be to call a prescribing doctor to warn them that the wrong medication has been prescribed, if that doctor receives the news with rudeness? The pharmacist might not call the next time it happens.'

As for social workers and lawyers, he suggested that they are social therapists and should be compassionate when dealing with their clients, be they in the right or in the wrong. When asked by a member of the audience how one was to know what was deemed civil, he answered. 'Ask yourself what is the right thing to do at that moment. The human spirit always has a truthful answer, even in a courtroom where everyone wants to win.'

Davetian was honoured to be invited to share his thoughts and speak at the President's Symposium. 'I was heartened that we all seemed to agree that we have reached a point in history where we need to re-think the distracting, and addictive, effects of superficial, hurried social networking, and instead, embrace age-old basics such as thoughtfulness.'

UPEI's Relay for Life will take place October 26 at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre giving students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to celebrate life, and remember those who have won or lost their battles with cancer. The first campus Relay for Life took place in October 2008.

More than 20 student teams will take part in the 12-hour, overnight event from 6 pm until 6 am, Saturday, October 27. Staff and faculty are invited to join 69´«Ã½students by putting together their own relay teams. Everyone on campus is encouraged to attend and contribute. Come cheer on cancer survivors as they take part in the victory lap!

Students like Ben Cudmore will be on-site and have great stories to share. Cudmore has taken his personal fundraising initiative to a whole new level. Aside from setting up an online donation page, he also rolled out a where he promised to donate $1 for every 'like' or 'share,' as well as a hefty $10 donation for every friend that shaved their head and posted a photo to support the cause. Cudmore shaved his head in support of his mother who is battling cancer.

If you are not available to participate, there's still time to support the teams involved. Donate online .

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Canada's Minister of State for Science and Technology, has announced the latest round of funded projects through the CFI's Leaders Opportunity Fund. The list includes $250,000 towards a new collaborative research laboratory within UPEI's Department of Chemistry. Existing space at the K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre will be refurbished to house a collaborative laboratory for UPEI's growing expertise in macromolecular chemistry.

The project is led by Dr. Rabin Bissessur, Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Bissessur's research examines nanomaterials which could be used as inexpensive, lightweight replacements for current electrolyte elements within lithium rechargeable batteries.

'Our research space is currently housed in multiple areas of the building,' said Dr. Bissessur. 'To achieve the bold and ambitious goals of our research programs, it is imperative that we bring together the collective expertise available within our academic unit and create a much-needed collaborative research and training space that will accommodate our expanding department but, more importantly, serve as a vehicle for accelerating discovery.'

The new synthetic and characterization laboratory will add significant research and trainee capacity and will allow 69´«Ã½to accommodate its growing macromolecular sciences research cluster, which includes the research program of Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, Professor of Chemistry and a materials scientist.

'My graduate students are excited about the opportunities that this new lab will offer,' said Dr. Abd-El-Aziz, 'It is a privilege to be a part of the energy and excitement that flows out of discovery and exploration. This Leaders Opportunity Fund project helps make that happen.'

This funding will also assist in the purchase of an electron microscope and an elemental analyzer. This equipment is unique in the Atlantic region, and will allow 69´«Ã½to be a leader and hub for macromolecular science research.

The collaborative research space will be available to other members of the Department of Chemistry, including students in UPEI's new PhD program in Molecular and Macromolecular Science.

'Given the right infrastructure, this talented group of innovators will create solutions that benefit Canadians and Canadian communities,' said Dr. Gilles G. Patry, President and CEO of the CFI.

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation

69´«Ã½music students will be turning the Steel Building into a spooky three story haunted house on Saturday, October 27 from 7:00 pm-midnight. The fright tour will begin in the recital hall and proceed through a maze of haunted practice rooms and hallways.

Admission is $5.00 and will include a cup of hot chocolate or apple cider and a real Halloween scare. The society would like to remind everyone that this event is not recommended for small children.

Proceeds from this event go towards music scholarships and bursaries awards to the 69´«Ã½Wind Symphony for their annual tour and such community affairs as the Kiwanis Music Festival.

69´«Ã½students are going door to door in surrounding neighborhoods to collect non-perishable food items on Wednesday, October 31 from 5-7 pm in support of UPEI's food bank.

'Trick or Eat' is a national Hallowe'en food drive organized by Meal Exchange, a registered charity that empowers student leaders to address hunger in their communities. Since 1993, the charity has raised over $3M worth of food and engaged over 87,000 youth across North America.

Suggested items include: pasta products/pasta sauce, rice, canned meats and fish, peanut butter, cereal, canned vegetables, dry and canned soups, fruit juices, canned/powdered milk, baby food, diapers, beans and legumes.

Food and/or $1 donations to purchase a paper pumpkin for Bernardine Hall's Hallowe'en pumpkin wall can also be donated to the group organizers. All proceeds will support UPEI's Food Bank.

Interested in canvassing for the campaign? Contact 69´«Ã½organizers Kaylee Graham, 69´«Ã½Residence Life Advisor at krgraham@upei.ca (902) 218-3772, or Jill Martin, 69´«Ã½Aboriginal Student Society leader at jimartin@upei.ca (902) 394-7750.

Help support UPEI's food bank, and have a safe and happy Hallowe'en!

UPEI's dean of education, Dr. Miles Turnbull, was recognized recently by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers' (CASLT) Robert-Roy Award for his outstanding contribution as an educator and researcher in the field of French as a second language.