Campus Notices
SCENT (Senate Committee on the Enhancement of Teaching) is back and ready for the Fall semester with a new theme “What is university for?” To explore this question our articles for the semester focus on four interrelated themes: the relationship between professors and students; learning and/or/vs assessment, grading, and credentialing; the role of the syllabus; and the changing university.
While an apparently simple question, considering “what is university for?” raises a number of complex issues and points to a range of tensions that currently affect our work as academic staff at this, or any, university. Clearly this question will be answered very differently by different audiences for it: faculty, students, administrators, parents, politicians, the broader community. Contemplating this question focuses our attention on both micro-moments of our academic lives (the syllabus, grading) and larger contexts within which we operate (university policies, life after graduation)--all of which force us to (re)consider what teaching is and does. This semester’s SCENT blog offers up a number of previously published short articles that range across these and other issues, raising provocative questions, challenging some of our taken-for-granted or simply unquestioned notions of what we do everyday, and always asking us to think more complexly about “what university is for”--and the consequences of how any of us answer that question.
SCENT’s first blog post is titled “Let’s ban PowerPoint in lectures – it makes students more stupid and professors more boring”. This article is as provocative as the title suggests. It focuses on learning vs satisfaction and circles around SCENT’s theme for Fall semester “What is university for?” Find this short article and a new blog post each week at projects.upei.ca/scent. We are looking forward to lots of comments and discussion!
For more information please contact Ann Braithwaite, Chair of SCENT, at abraithwaite@upei.ca or Gerald Wandio, Coordinator of the FDO, at gwandio@upei.ca.
The UPEI Student Union would like your feedback on the WA Murphy Student Centre as we are looking at doing some updates to the bulding. Click on the following link to fill out the survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/
The Fall Seminar Series in Environmental Sciences & Human Biology starts this Friday, September 16th, 12:30 PM, Duffy Science Centre, Room 204. It is hosted by the UPEI Biology Department and everyone is welcome! Coffee and treats provided.
On Sept 16, Dr. Guy Perry will present “The Daughters of Mercury: Sex, genes and environment in the noise of medicine and nature.”
Upcoming seminars in the series:
On Sept 30, 2 graduate students will present their work.
* Derek Ellis (PhD-c), “Development of PEI’s climate change adaptation strategy: A comparison and evaluation of local and international approaches.”
*Hannah Gehrels (MSc-c), “Habitat mediated predation: How habitat structure affects green crab (Carcinus maenas) predation rates.”
Electronic T4 Slips
Have you signed up to receive your electronic T4 slip? If you completed the consent form for a previous tax year (since 2014), you will automatically receive your 2016 tax slip electronically. There is no need to complete the consent form again. New consents must be received no later than January 31, 2017.
Online tax slips will be available, through Campus Login, to current and former employees, who received taxable earnings or benefits in 2016. Online T4s are official tax slips accepted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). However, CRA requires employees to give their consent in order to access their tax slips electronically. Your consent will be valid for all subsequent tax years. New employees can grant consent for online T4s after they have received their first pay cheque.
Employees who do not provide consent will have their 2016 T4s mailed to the address on file no later than February 28, 2017. Electronic T4s will be available sooner than the printed versions due to a lesser processing time.
The consent form can be accessed through Campus Login:
https://secure.upei.ca/cls/login.html. The consent form must be completed by January 31, 2017, in order to receive your 2016 T4 slip electronically.
We still have a few $75 fitness subsidy grants available for UPEI employees to use towards either small group training or cycle classes. Application form can be found at https://files.upei.ca/athletics/wellness/wellness_employee_subsidy_form.pdf
Small group training opportunities involve 12 sessions with a personal training and 6-8 people. A number of groups and times available include training at 6:15am, noon, 1 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 7 and 8 pm. Please visit https://www.upei.ca/ar/small-group-training
Cycle Fit and Cycle n' Lift class information https://www.upei.ca/ar/fitness-classes
Contact Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca
Everyone is invited to attend the Atlantic Veterinary College’s 28th annual Open House on Saturday, September 24, from 10 am until 2 pm. A free event hosted by students, faculty and staff, AVC Open House offers the community an opportunity to get an inside view of a busy veterinary college.
There is something for everyone including family-friendly activities, exhibits, live animal demonstrations, a parade of dog breeds, farm animals, community organizations, and much more. Come walk through a model of a cow’s stomachs, dress like a surgeon, and tour the hospital. Children are encouraged to bring their stuffed animals to be examined by a veterinary student at the teddy bear clinic, get their faces painted, or take home a balloon animal. Families and children are invited to pick up an AVC Open House passport and collect stamps from the various stations as they tour the college. Once their visit is completed, children can visit the passport office to receive their AVC Open House certificate.
Everyone is welcome. We respectfully request that you do not bring personal pets to this event.
For more information, please call (902) 566-0589.
On Tuesday, September 20, Jordi Segers, the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative’s national bat white-nose syndrome scientific program coordinator based at AVC, will give a public talk about bat species of PEI and the world, the importance of bats, and threats to bats, including white-nose syndrome and what scientists are doing against this devastating disease. All are welcome.
When: Tuesday, September 20, 6:30 pm.
Where: Confederation Centre Public Library, 145 Richmond Street, Charlottetown
Ethics protocols that involve ‘more than minimal risk’ must be reviewed by the full UPEI Research Ethics Board. The next deadline for submitting these protocols is Friday October 7 2016. They will be reviewed at the October meeting. Protocols involving ‘more than minimal risk’ that are received after October 7 will be reviewed at the November meeting.
Other ethics protocol submissions, including new applications that do not involve ‘more than minimal risk’, renewals, and amendments may be submitted at any time. They will be sent for delegated review as soon as all necessary forms are received.
Please ensure that you download and use the current forms from http://www.upei.ca/research/forms. Use Adobe Reader to complete forms.
Submit the following:
• one hard copy of the signed application form and associated documents to Joy Knight at the Office of Academic and Research, 200 Kelley Memorial Building and
• one e-copy of all documents to reb@upei.ca
For more information, please contact Joy Knight at 620-5104 or reb@upei.ca.
Submit the following:
• one hard copy of the application form with signatures and associated documents to Joy Knight at the Office of Academic and Research, 200 Kelley Memorial Building and
• one e-copy of all documents to reb@upei.ca
Please note that applications received after this deadline will be reviewed the following month. For more information, please contact Joy Knight at 620-5104 or reb@upei.ca
Are you new to graduate studies at UPEI? Do you want to meet fellow grad students? Want to meet your Graduate Students’ Association?
Come out to our Graduate Student Orientation!
12:30-2:30 pm, Friday, September 9
McMillan Hall, WA Murphy Student Centre
Pizza will be served!
Contact: gsa@upei.ca
*Special Guest: Carissa Rose Taylor, National Graduate Caucus Representative for the Canadian Federation of Students!*
Sister Sue
UPEI’s Department of Development and Alumni Engagement is moving to a new temporary home as of Monday, September 12. The department and its staff will be moved to the third floor of Dalton Hall.
This is a temporary move as its previous space in Steel Building is renovated to make room for more laboratory space, and its new home at 618 University Avenue is prepared.
Contact Development and Alumni Engagement at 902-566-0615, shastelow@upei.ca, or drop by its new home on the third floor of Dalton!
The Offices of the Comptroller and VP Admin. & Finance have a surplus of binders. If you are in need of, or have a use for any, please visit our office in Kelley 205 and we will be happy to supply you with some. First come first served.
Collaborative Leadership and Facilitation Certificate
- Apply collaborative leadership concepts in real and simulated situations;
- Practice a wide variety of facilitation skills and techniques;
- Analyze successful and unsuccessful change/transformation efforts;
- Determine the relationship between leadership and transformation in organizations;
- Understand and apply the components of effective group process in a variety of settings;
- Develop an understanding of organization/group culture and how it can change;
- Understand and work with diversity in all its forms;
- Examine and refine a personal, evolving, ethical and reflective philosophy of collaborative leadership and facilitation.
Course Dates
Introduction to Collaboration and Facilitation- Sept 27-28, 2016
Leading Creative Change- Oct 25, 2016
Facilitation Skills- Nov 17-18, 2016
Organizational Values, Culture and Decision Making- Dec 8, 2016
Collaboration and Facilitation: Practice and Feedback- Jan 24-25, 2016
Grant opportunities available. For more information contact Jennifer Hogan at 403-620-5216
Another academic year is upon us and with this in mind, UPEI's Security Services division wishes to advise the campus community that parking enforcement begins on the first day of classes, Wednesday, September 7, 2016. Unlike prior years, there is no grace period. If you have questions, consult theUPEI Parking website or contact Security Services.
Please join us on Tuesday, September 6 from 10:00 –11:00 am, in Memorial Hall 306, as the University community celebrates the retirement of our friend and colleague Dr. Fiona Walton. Light refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there to wish Fiona all the best in her retirement.
As the roll-out of "Active Directory" continues across campus, the classroom computers will now have a different look when signing in. However, the newly configured classroom PCs are still accessed with your current UPEI credentials.
Be advised that the log-in period will now take up to FIVE MINUTES to allow the computer create the Active Directory profile of the person logging in. If this process takes longer than five minutes, there may be an issue with the profile or the computer itself. Please do not insert a USB stick into the computer prior to the booting up of the machine as this will cause startup issues.
While we configure the drive mappings in our new Active Directory service, users WILL NOT have access to their network drive mappings (H:/drive for example) on the Academic Network which were previously provided through Novell. We apologize for this inconvenience; however, it will only be temporary.
During this time, users can access files on their Novell drives by visiting the NetStorage website:
https://acad-files.upei.ca/
Please contact the ITSS Helpdesk at helpdesk@upei.ca or 902-
Booking of Computer Labs
Please note the change in the process for the booking of computer labs. The three bookable computer labs that are currently booked through IT Systems & Services are AVC 218S, AVC 225N and RL 312. These bookings will now go through the Room Booking Process at www.upei.ca/facilities/
Another academic year is upon us and with this in mind, UPEI's Security Services division wishes to advise the campus community that parking enforcement begins on the first day of classes, Wednesday, September 7, 2016. Unlike prior years, there is no grace period. If you have questions, consult the UPEI Parking website or contact Security Services.
We have two spots available for a NEW small group training with Kris Lutwick on Monday/Wednesday/Fridays 6:15 am - 7:00 am beginning October 3 (12 sessions). This group is for intermediate - advanced participants. Fee:Sports Centre members - $129+hst/person, Non-Members - $139+hst/person.
UPEI employees can also apply for a personal training subsidy grant for $75 to use towards the fees of the program. To register or for more information please contact Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca.
