You're Invited!

The University of Prince Edward Island invites you to join us virtually* to mark the

Official Opening of the new UPEI Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Centre

Friday, November 28, 2025, 3:00 pm

Join at this link

*In-person attendance is restricted to a limited guest list due to occupancy constraints. We will also hold an open house/community event in the spring
when all areas are operational so that you can tour and view the new facility in-person!

The Faculty of Science ESC/HB Seminar Series invites the Campus community to a presentation by Dr. Diego Quintanilla (Coastal Ecology Lab, Biology Department) entitled "Colors and intensities of artificial light at night and their impact on sandy beach organisms". 

Everyone is welcome. 

Faculty and Staff Festivus Dinner

Celebrate the season with Dana Hospitality at the Faculty and Staff Festivus Dinner in Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall on Friday, December 19, 2025.

Seating options:

• 11:30 am
• 12:45 pm

Menu highlights:

• Turkey carvery
• Honey ham carvery
• Field Roast Tofurkey
• Whipped PEI potatoes
• Savory stuffing
• Meatballs with gravy
• Lazy man cabbage rolls
• Gravy with dumplings
• House made cranberry
• Pumpkin seed slaw
• Garden salad
• Uncle Terry’s rigatoni
• Seasonal punch
• Sweets table

Cost: $18.75 per person plus HST

Reservations are required.

RSVP by emailing kevin.nagy@dexterra.com with your name, number of attendees, and preferred seating time (11:30 am or 12:45 pm).

We look forward to welcoming you and celebrating the season together as a campus community!

Understanding sensory processing and how it impacts learning is key to designing inclusive teaching practices. This blog post considers how individual students’ social, mental, and sensory needs impact their learning.  The importance of the sensory environment in Higher Education

This panel event on allyship will explore what meaningful, sustained support can look like within the UPEI community. Featuring Dr. Wendy Rodgers, Dr. Jane Ngobia, and Sister Sue Kidd, alongside student organizers Grace McQuaid, Brennan McDuffee, and Chloe Dobrinsky, the discussion will consider how to move beyond symbolic gestures toward practices that genuinely and consistently support equity-deserving communities. Panellists will reflect on how allyship can shift across different contexts, how leaders can balance power and responsibility without reinforcing harmful dynamics, and how their own personal commitments to equity can translate into institutional change. This event is part of the DSJS In Practice Directed Study and is open to all members of the campus community interested in deepening their understanding of allyship.

Coffee and tea provided. 

Tuesday, December 2nd at 12:30: Join Diversity and Social Justice in Practice students for a public forum featuring AUS Coach of the Year Darell Glenn, and Sister Sue, recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Grace McQuaid and Kaylee Harper will serve as moderators, while Bethany Pauliszyn and Zare Onaivi will participate as panellists alongside our guest speakers. Together, they will discuss how they approach difficult conversations and the tools they use to navigate them. This event is open to all members of the campus community and aims to create a welcoming space for listening and learning.    

Light refreshment provided. 

The Master of Arts in Island Studies program invites you to attend the thesis defence for Bailey Clark's research entitled “If we had not that gentleman’s authority”: Domestic politicians, foreign promoters, and the narrow-gauge railway on Prince Edward Island, 1871." Supervisors are Drs. Josh MacFadyen and Ed MacDonald. Everyone is welcome!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 2-4 pm
Memorial Hall, Room 104

Join us Friday, November 28 in FSDE 128A for our second Pizza Seminar of the semester where Dr. Dania Tamayo-Vera will be speaking on the topic of artificial intelligence. There will be FREE pizza and drinks to follow.

The Monopoly Man Never Had a Monocle: How Our Stories Become the Stories LLMs Learn 

Why are we so sure of things that are not true sometimes, and why do our language models inherit that same confidence? Many people recall the Monopoly man wearing a monocle or see a picture of Einstein with the phrase “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots” and repeat it, even though there is absolutely no evidence he ever said it. The truth is that humans create explanations that feel right but are not necessarily accurate. That quote sounds wise, it resonates with our feelings, and we have no doubt how smart he was. This talk begins with these familiar errors and follows them into the world of large language models (LLMs). We explore how LLMs pick up human patterns of explanation, why their responses shift under small changes in context, and how these shifts reveal the influence of the data that shaped them. Through accessible demonstrations, the talk connects human habits of interpretation with model behavior and considers what this means for trust, explanation, and everyday use of LLMs.

Title of the Thesis: “Mapping Potato Late Blight Risk using High-Resolution Weather Data”

Potato late blight (PLB), caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most damaging potato diseases in the world, and growers rely on frequent fungicide sprays to protect crops. While this approach has been effective, it does not always reflect actual disease risk and can lead to unnecessary costs, environmental impacts, and resistance issues. Newfoundland and Labrador’s (NL) cool, humid climate is well-suited to the disease, and PLB is observed in most growing seasons, but growers do not have access to reliable tools to inform timing of fungicide applications to protect their crops. Forecasting models such as Blitecast and NegFry are designed to guide spray decisions using weather and crop data but because of the spatial distance between many farms and available weather stations, these tools lack reliable inputs in NL and other parts of Atlantic Canada. To address this data gap high-resolution gridded weather data from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) High-Resolution Deterministic Prediction System (HRDPS) were evaluated as model inputs. Disease risk maps were then created in ArcGIS Pro to visualize disease risk, and we undertook a two-year field trial that compared model-based and calendar-based spray programs. This work evaluated existing PLB forecasting models in NL and found that forecasting models could potentially provide a practical and sustainable alternative to traditional PLB management practices in the region.

December 1, 2025, 12:30 pm via Web Conferencing

If you wish to attend the public presentation, please contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator at gsc@upei.ca to receive the link.

All UPEI students, staff and faculty are invited to attend the annual fall Global Village celebration held this year on Saturday November 29. Doors open at 3 pm for the cultural booth display. There will be a brief change over at 5 pm before the fashion show, the performances and open dance begin. The evening festivities conclude at 9 pm. 

This is a student led event hosted by the UPEI International Relations Office. The students have been working very hard to prepare a very special event for you,and we can't wait to see you there!

Feel free to stop by with the kids before going to the parade. Please note that you must use the Belvedere Avenue entrance. 

The deadline for the employee and spouse/dependent tuition waiver forms for the Winter 2026 semester is January 9, 2026. We encourage you to have your tuition waivers submitted as soon as possible to assist in timely processing. Tuition waiver forms must be submitted electronically.

The online tuition waiver fillable forms can be found on the HR Portal of the myUPEI site, under Training and Development.

Please note that the employee or spouse/dependent must be registered in the course prior to applying for the tuition waiver.

If you have any questions, please contact Human Resources at (902) 566-0514 or hrgeneral@upei.ca.

UPEI Jazz Ensemble - Tuesday, December 2 – 7:30pm, SDU Stage, Steel Recital Hall

The UPEI Jazz Ensemble will present an evening of big band jazz music. Numerous UPEI Music majors will showcase their ensemble and solo talents in this show, which will include charts in the style of mambo, samba, funk, swing, and ballads.

UPEI Choral Concert - Friday, December 5 – 7:30pm, SDU Stage, Steel Recital Hall

This choral spectacular will include heartwarming choral works, selections from Handel’s Messiah, and other seasonal gems, performed by the UPEI Concert Choir, UPEI Chamber Singers, soloists from the voice studios, alumni, and Le Ragazze Vocal Ensemble.

Tickets are available in advance at upei.universitytickets.com or by cash at the door.

Join us this Giving Tuesday and make your gift count for UPEI students!

Every donation, big or small, directly supports scholarships, programs, and opportunities that empower the next generation of leaders. Help UPEI students thrive - make your gift count this Giving Tuesday.

You may choose to direct your gift to an area that resonates most with you, or you can make an unrestricted gift that will go toward the areas of greatest need, supporting students on their path to success. 

A gift to UPEI this Giving Tuesday is an investment in student success and wellbeing. Your generosity touches nearly every corner of campus life and ensures that students have access to the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their goals.

Let's come together, donate, and support UPEI students.

Visit UPEI Giving Tuesday and see how your donation can support today's students.

Your gift. Their future. Our UPEI.

Ways to participate:
Donate online
For employee payroll deductions, please contact Tammy Pigott, Gift Processor at tpigott@upei.ca
Call: 902-894-2888
In Person: 618 University Avenue, Charlottetown

Giving Tuesday is a global movement for giving and volunteering that takes place each year after Black Friday. To learn more about Giving Tuesday, visit givingtuesday.ca.

Don't miss our annual staff and faculty appreciation week, last day is tomorrow.

Staff and faculty save 30% on all UPEI and AVC hoodies, crews and zip-up sweaters, save your regular 20% on all other eligible items.

All salaried employees can charge up to $500 on their staff account and pay in 2026, ask us for more details.

We are now open late until 6:00 pm on Thursday and Fridays and open Saturdays 10:00 - 3:00 until Christmas. 

The Charlottetown Christmas Parade will take place on Saturday, November 29, 2025, beginning on University Avenue at Enman Crescent at 5:00 pm. As a result, there will be traffic restrictions at UPEI’s University Avenue entrance, as the staging of the parade walking groups will take place on campus in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre parking lot.

To ensure the safety of parade participants and members of the campus community, the University Avenue entrance will be closed from 2:30 to 6:00 pm. The entrance on Belvedere Avenue will remain open, and the access road between the sports fields (Alumni Road) can also be used to enter and exit campus during the University Avenue closure.

Please be aware of increased traffic on campus.

We are excited to invite UPEI alumni and friends back to Mill River Resort for the third annual outdoor winter family fun day on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

Our friends at Mill River Resort are offering UPEI Alumni a 20% discount on individual and family outdoor activity day passes and equipment rentals. Your pass enables you to enjoy all the outdoor activities at Mill River and includes tube, snowshoe, and cross-country ski rentals. Guests must bring their own skates. Discounted passes can be purchased from the Pro Shop beginning at 9:00 am or when you arrive at the resort.

Join us for an end-of-day campfire with complimentary s'mores, hot chocolate and an alumni gift beginning at 3:00 pm.

If you would like to make it a weekend getaway, Mill River is offering standard rooms (two queen beds) for just $195+ tax. This is $74 off regular rates, available for the nights of January 23 and 24 only. To take advantage of this special rate, please call Mill River Resort directly at 1-844-375-3555 and mention that you are part of the UPEI alumni group. This rate is based on room availability. Please book your room by Sunday, December 14, 2025. 

Please use this form to let us know that you're coming - so we can order an appropriate amount of hot chocolate and s'mores and to keep you informed if anything changes. 

The second UPEI Board of Governors meeting of the 2025-2026 academic year will take place on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 102, Alumni Hall. All board meetings generally include sessions that are open to the public. Certain agenda items, including but not limited to human resources discussions, may require the board to go into a closed session. For logistical purposes, members of the public who wish to attend the open session of a meeting are asked to contact board@upei.ca one week prior to the meeting. Members of the public wishing to attend the public portion of a meeting must adhere to the UPEI Board of Governors' Meeting Observer Guidelines.

The fourth meeting of the UPEI Senate will take place on Friday, December 19, 2025, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in Room 102 at Alumni Hall (618 University Avenue). To view the 2025-2026 calendar of Senate meetings or documents for the upcoming meeting, click here. (Posted one week before the meeting)

All meetings are open to members of the University community, although certain in-camera items (e.g., granting of degrees) may require the Senate to go into a closed session. Only members of Senate are permitted to address the Senate unless otherwise recognized by the chair. 

For logistical purposes, members of the UPEI community who wish to attend the open session of a UPEI Senate meeting are asked to contact senate@upei.ca one week prior to the meeting. While Senate is an in-person meeting, members of the University community may request a virtual connection when they are unable to attend in person. 

The Health, Safety, and Environment Department (HSE) is offering Basic (previously called Emergency) First Aid/CPR training sessions on the following dates:

• December 8, 2025, 8:30 am–4:00 pm. Registration cut off: December 1, 2025

**Seats are limited, please register early to guarantee your spot!

To register, please email HSE@upei.ca. Include your name, department, contact number and the session date you are registering for. 

The cost of registration will be covered by HSE for all UPEI faculty and staff, including students who require training for on-campus employment. Students who do not require training for on-campus employment are welcome to attend; however, the cost of registration will not be covered by HSE. 

Intermediate (Previously called Standard) First Aid/CPR training is a comprehensive two-day course that offers first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills for those who need enhanced training as a work requirement. Please contact HSE at HSE@upei.ca if you require this training.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to scramble your way through a presentation you have no control over? It’s more fun than you think, and you can experience it yourself (or just come to watch!) on Tuesday, December 2, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship in 201 Robertson Library! No pre-registration required!

Note: If you would like to participate, please bring a phone or computer that can access wi-fi or cellular data.