Colleagues are invited to participate in an open call for nominations for the AAU Teaching and Educational Leadership Awards in 2026 and the 3M National Teaching Fellowship for 2026-2027. Consider nominating a deserving colleague. Self-nominations, an important option for colleagues who identify as an equity-deserving group member, are encouraged. Self-nominators must identify a sponsor to support their nomination.  

• For information about the AAU Distinguished Teaching Award: https://atlanticuniversities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Teaching-Award-Nomination-Guidelines-Eng_Oct23.pdf

• For information about the AAU Educational Leadership Award: https://atlanticuniversities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Educational-Leadership-Nomination-Guidelines-Eng_Dec20.pdf

• For more information about the 3M National Teaching Fellowship: https://www.stlhe.ca/awards/3m-national-teaching-fellowship/ 

Submitting a nomination takes only a few minutes using this nomination form.  Initial screening will begin January 15, 2026 

The Teaching and Learning Centre invites you to the 2026 Winter Sessional Faculty Academy, an online onboarding session designed to support new and recently hired sessional instructors. This session is a great opportunity to explore:

• Instructional design support and professional development opportunities available through the Teaching and Learning Centre
• Moodle, UPEI’s Learning Management System
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)—strategies to design courses where all learners can access, engage, and succeed
• Assessment best practices, including grading, feedback, and considerations for generative AI
• Syllabus essentials, including guidance on incorporating Gen AI statements

Date and Time:Thursday, January 8, 6:00 – 7:00 pm (Online)

Register here: Teaching & Learning Centre 2026 Winter Sessional Faculty Academy Registration Form

Can’t attend live? No problem! The sessions will be recorded and shared upon request.

For questions, please contact TLC@upei.ca. 

Contact

Jason Hogan and Angie Petty

TLC@upei.ca

The UPEI Counselling Services and Academic Support Services office (5th floor Dalton Hall) will close at 10 am on Friday, December 19 for a staff meeting. The office will re-open on Monday, December 22 at 8:30am. 

To book an appointment, please email studentserv@upei.ca. Messages received during the closure will be answered as soon as possible. 

The UPEI Research Ethics Board (REB) wishes a good end to the semester, start to the new year, and restful and joyous break in between to our UPEI community!

Please be advised that REB applications submitted or resubmitted after Friday, December 19 will be received and assigned for review on Monday, January 5.

Help make the 2025-2026 Annual Fund a huge success!

Donations to the UPEI and AVC Annual Fund Campaigns help ensure students have the tools and supports they need.

Annual gifts from alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of UPEI which are received and spent in the same year, go to work immediately to support the best of UPEI by:

• Attracting and supporting top notch students with increased scholarships and student engagement programming.
• Improving student access and exposure to experiential learning, global education, research and career opportunities.
• Encouraging collaboration, innovation, and partnerships with communities and industries island-wide and around the world.

Ways to Give

• For employee payroll deductions, please contact Tammy Pigott, Gift Processor at tpigott@upei.ca
• Online
• By Mail: UPEI Annual Fund, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3
• Telephone: 902-894-2888 
• In Person: 618 University Avenue, Charlottetown

The Robertson Library’s Open Education Resource Development Program is accepting grant applications for the creation or adaptation of open educational resources (OERs). The grant types include: 

• Open Educational Resource or Textbook Grant: up to $7000 
  • the development of a new open textbook on a topic that is currently not covered by an existing open textbook, or major adaptations of existing textbooks; 
• Open Textbook Adaptation Grant: up to $4,500 
  • the adaptation of one or more open educational resources or open textbooks to create a new version or edition of a resource (i.e. a Canadian edition of an existing open textbook); 
• Supplementary Resources Grant: up to $2,500 
  • the creation of ancillary materials for existing open textbooks, including, but not limited to test banks, slide decks, recordings, or interactive media, etc. 

All applications will be reviewed and considered, however, applications that meet either/both of the following criteria will be prioritised: 

• Applications that support first-year courses (as they reach the greatest number of students); and/or 
• Applications with evidence of consultation with the TLC and/or a Librarian.  

Applications close January 7, 2026. 

For more information, or to apply, visit https://library.upei.ca/OERProgram/grants. 

Questions about the grants, OERs, Pressbooks, or any other related topics can go to Keri McCaffrey, One Health and Scholarly Communications Librarian at knmccaffrey@upei.ca or Charlene VanLeeuwen in the Teaching and Learning Centre at cvanleeuwen@upei.ca. 

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. 

For this final Tea(ching) break for 2025 we're sharing a post from the Teaching Matters blog. It's a reflection on sixteen blog posts from their ‘Student Voice in Practice’ series published May-June 2025. The author offers five key takeaways from the series. Here's a link to Five things I took away from the ‘Student Voice in Practice’ series.

Often, our users upgrade their phones, especially over the holidays, and forget that their UPEI Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) was tied specifically to their old device. When they attempt to log in to UPEI services using their new phone, they are unable to do so, resulting in Help Desk resets and delays.  This article can save everyone time and frustration.

Before you switch phones:

• Open the Microsoft Authenticator app on your old phone.
• Go to Settings → Backup and turn on Cloud Backup (Android) or iCloud Backup (iPhone).
• Confirm your Microsoft account is linked for recovery.

On your new phone:

• Install Microsoft Authenticator from the App Store or Google Play.
• Open the app and select Begin Recovery.
• Sign in with the same Microsoft account you used for backup.
• Your accounts will restore automatically. Some may require revalidation (e.g., scanning a QR code).

Add a backup method:

• Visit aka.ms/mfasetup.
• Click Add Method and choose an alternate option (phone number or email).
• This ensures you can still log in if your primary device is unavailable.

Do NOT remove the app from your old phone until the new one is fully set up.

For more information, visit go.upei.ca/itss 

The Teaching and Learning Centre is calling for proposals for Internal Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Research Grants - VALUE: up to $2,000 for a two-year term. The Internal SoTL Research Grant (ISRG) program provides funding for SoTL research at UPEI. The scholarship of teaching and learning involves the systematic study of teaching practices and learning experiences that are grounded in context and methodologically sound. SoTL research is frequently conducted in partnership with students with findings made appropriately public. This call is open to all faculty, sessionals, lab instructors, CNIs, etc. in all faculties at UPEI. Applications are due by January 16, 2026, by 4 pm. Please review the general information in the guidelines for eligibility considerations. Support in developing proposals for these grant programs is available through the UPEI Teaching and Learning Centre. 

Program guidelines and application instructions can be found on the UPEI Internal Funding webpage.

As 2025 comes to a close, let’s take a moment to celebrate the people who make our workplace shine. Here’s to ending the year with gratitude and the joy that comes from seeing the good in those around us

How to submit: 

Complete this short form: https://forms.office.com/r/766cg9JsT6  
 
You’ll be asked to share: 

• Who are you recognizing? (Name and department/faculty)
• Why are you recognizing them? (Briefly describe what they did or the impact they made)
• Your name  

Please note, we now have a dedicated page for this program on the Human Resources SharePoint: Recognizing Remarkable Colleagues. 

Not a current subscriber to Campus Connector? Click here for information on how to subscribe. 

The deadline for our next issue is Tuesday, December 23, 2025. Please contact Human Resources at hrengage@upei.ca should you have any questions.  

The UPEI Research Ethics Board (REB) wishes a good end to the semester, start to the new year, and restful and joyous break in between to our UPEI community!

Please be advised that REB applications submitted or resubmitted after Friday, December 19 will be received and assigned for review on Monday, January 5.

The VHM 8120: Research Methods in Epidemiology (Epidemiology II) for the 2026 Winter Semester will take place from January 6 to March 13. The lectures will be held in person on Tuesdays from 1-4 pm and Fridays from 9 am-12 pm in The McCain Foundation Learning (278N) at AVC.

Prerequisites for the course are VHM 8010, VHM 8110, or permission of the coordinator. Instructors are Dr. Javier Sanchez and Dr. Hendrik Stryhn.

To (informally) register for the course, send an e-mail with your name and affiliation to jsanchez@upei.ca (Dr. Javier Sanchez, Dept. of Health Management). Formal registration at the Registrar's Office takes place through the myUPEI portal.

For information about the course content and texts, please contact Dr. Sanchez at jsanchez@upei.ca.

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.

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 UPEI Counselling Services and Academic Support Services office (5th floor Dalton Hall) will close at 10 am on Friday, December 19 for a staff meeting. The office will re-open on Monday, December 22 at 8:30am. 

To book an appointment, please email studentserv@upei.ca. Messages received during the closure will be answered as soon as possible. 

Often, our users upgrade their phones, especially over the holidays, and forget that their UPEI Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) was tied specifically to their old device. When they attempt to log in to UPEI services using their new phone, they are unable to do so, resulting in Help Desk resets and delays.  This article can save everyone time and frustration.

Before you switch phones:

• Open the Microsoft Authenticator app on your old phone.
• Go to Settings → Backup and turn on Cloud Backup (Android) or iCloud Backup (iPhone).
• Confirm your Microsoft account is linked for recovery.

On your new phone:

• Install Microsoft Authenticator from the App Store or Google Play.
• Open the app and select Begin Recovery.
• Sign in with the same Microsoft account you used for backup.
• Your accounts will restore automatically. Some may require revalidation (e.g., scanning a QR code).

Add a backup method:

• Visit aka.ms/mfasetup.
• Click Add Method and choose an alternate option (phone number or email).
• This ensures you can still log in if your primary device is unavailable.

Do NOT remove the app from your old phone until the new one is fully set up.

For more information, visit go.upei.ca/itss 

Are you teaching a course for the winter semester (or beyond!) and planning or considering work-integrated learning components? Experiential Education staff can support your work, from brainstorming to assessment. Reach out to Shannon at smsnow@upei.ca to schedule a time to talk about your goals and how we can help!

The SSHRC Exchange Publication Award supports the publication of manuscripts, written or edited by UPEI faculty, by Island Studies Press (ISP). This award is being funded by a SSHRC Institutional Grant, therefore, the subject matter of the publication must be compatible with SSHRC’s mandate (see http://science.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_FEE7261A.html for more information). One (1) award is available for fiscal 2025-26.

The award of $7,000 will be disbursed to Island Studies Press to cover publication costs (including editing, photo and other permissions, design, printing, marketing, and other costs associated with publishing a book). Authors will be offered ISP’s standard publication contract, which ensures authorial copyright and includes a royalty structure. Authors will also see their manuscripts reviewed through a peer-review process where appropriate.

ELIGIBILITY:

• Eligible applicants must be Tenured, Tenure Track, Term or Sessional UPEI Faculty, who are employed by UPEI at the time of application.
• Manuscripts may be single- or multi-authored results of academic research projects; textbooks; edited proceedings of a conference; or works of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, or drama that pertain to the author(s)' discipline.
• The subject matter of the manuscript must meet SSHRC’s mandate.
• Past recipients of the SSHRC Exchange Publication Award or UPEI Internal Publication Award cannot apply for support for the previously funded manuscript.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 31, 2026

Submit documents electronically to Research Services, researchservices@upei.ca.

APPLICATION PROCESS: 

Applicants are to submit a package that includes:

• Book proposal/summary (maximum of one page)
• A completed or close-to-complete manuscript and a Table of Contents. Note: the manuscript must be complete no later than three months after winning the award
• A curriculum vitae that includes your credentials as author(s)/editor(s)
• Two letters of support (e.g., from your Department Chair, Dean, professional association)

Selection Committee: A selection committee comprised of the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Island Studies, plus two members of the ISP Publishing Committee, will assess the proposals and make a recommendation to the Associate Vice-President Research. The Managing Editor of the ISP will be a member of the Committee in a non-voting capacity.

To assist in making its recommendations, the selection committee will use a single-blind peer review of the submitted manuscript. Final decisions on publication remain with the Island Studies Press and the Institute of Island Studies.

Reporting: A copy of the book, along with a narrative outlining the publication process – prepared in collaboration with staff at Island Studies Press – must be submitted when the book is complete.

Previous recipients of the UPEI Internal Publication Awards include Lori Mayne, Department of English, Laurie Brinklow, Institute of Island Studies, Linyuan Guo, Faculty of Education, and Josh MacFadyen, Faculty of Arts.

For more information on the Publication Awards program, contact Dr. Laurie Brinklow at brinklow@upei.ca or 902-894-2881.