On August 6, the UPEI Career Services Office will join the International Student Office for a presentation on working in Canada. During the session, we'll discuss the importance of a cover letter, available career services, employment standards, SIN, tax slips, and where to search for job opportunities.

While some of the information in this presentation will be aimed at international students, all UPEI students may benefit from the discussion.

Topic: Everything International Students Should Know About Working

Time: August 6, 2025 10:00 am 

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 835 8898 2747

Passcode: 160415

The University of Prince Edward Island recently received the sad news that Dr. Peter Meincke, President Emeritus, has passed away. He was the second president of UPEI, serving from 1978 to 1985; he was named President Emeritus in 2001 and a Founder of the University in 2015.

Friends and family may gather at Capital Funeral Home and Cemetery, 3700 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, on Friday, August 22, 2025, from 2 pm to 4 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm. A memorial service will be held at the funeral home on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at 10 am. For those not able to attend in person, the service will be live-streamed. Please use the following link to the funeral home website to pre-register to view the service: https://www.arbormemorial.ca/en/capital.html. A reception will follow the service. Donations to the Ottawa Hospital Foundation or the UPEI Annual Fund are gratefully accepted. The complete obituary may be read here.

The UPEI community expresses condolences to Dr. Meincke’s family, friends, and colleagues. Read the message issued to the University community on July 29. 

The flags in front of the Kelley Memorial Building and at UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place have been lowered to half mast in Dr. Meincke’s memory.

The Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, invites all to attend Chaya Seale's public dissertation defence presentation of her PsyD research titled "Veterinarians navigating and overcoming challenges in clinical practice: A collaborative narrative inquiry."

Date and time: August 6, 2025, at 1:00 pm 
Location: AVC 219S 

The Faculty of Education would like to invite all to attend Lu Rao's public presentation of her MEd research titled: "Becoming Globally Competent Leaders: Student Leaders’ Perceptions and Experiences in Canadian Higher Education"

Please join us August 7 at 1:00 pm in Memorial Hall, Room 417 or through the Zoom link below.

https://upei.zoom.us/j/61292555464?pwd=a9coNX8sAQEQwH0LMohMvZInOUsEXB.1

Meeting ID:612 9255 5464

Passcode: 412481

The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, September 5 for the September meeting. 

Please note that as of June 1, 2020 all animal user protocols must be submitted through UPEI Researcher Portal at https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/

For new protocols select ‘applications’ and for renewal or amendment protocols select ‘events’.

To view any UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice, they can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx. 

Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The Committee requires at least one month for processing applications.

Epjila’si, Kulahsihkulpa, Welcome! 

The Association of Atlantic Universities Committee on Faculty Development is pleased to partner with the University of New Brunswick to host the 2025 Annual Atlantic Universities' Teaching Showcase on the unsurrendered and unceded traditional lands of the Wolastoqiyik peoples, in beautiful Fredericton. The 2025 AAU Teaching Showcase will take place in person on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at the University of New Brunswick’s Fredericton campus. This year's theme of Reimagining Higher Education calls on educators, scholars, and learners to rethink the purposes, practices, and possibilities of teaching and learning. Full details about the theme and guidelines for submitting a proposal are available in this document.   

Proposal Deadline: August 25, 2025 

In September 2024, UPEI launched a five-phase process to develop our next five-year strategic plan.

Each phase of the process has been anchored in consultation with our University and community members. In total, more than 700 participants have provided us with input, ideas, and candid feedback to help shape UPEI’s focus for the future.

Since our last consultation session, the UPEI Strategic Plan Steering Committee and team members have worked to review input and develop the draft UPEI Strategic Plan (2025–2030).

In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we are sharing the draft strategic plan framework with you for reflection and further input. Feedback on the draft can be provided through the feedback form linked in the document or by email to strategicplan@upei.ca. Input will be collected until August 14, 2025.

Read the Message from the President

Join the Music Cognition Lab members at our fifth annual Music and the Mind Maritimes-Access to Music Education conference for an afternoon of research, dialogue, and community connection focused on music, psychology, and education.

This event brings together researchers, educators, students, and community members to explore topics such as emotion in speech and music, the role of music in adolescence, and access to music education.

When: Wednesday, August 6, 1:30–4:30 p.m.
Where: Bill and Denise Andrew Hall, Room 142
Who: Free and open to all--Registration is required for planning purposes.

For more information and registration, please visit https://musicog.discoveryspace.ca/events/music-and-mind-maritimes-2025. For inquiries, please contact Liz Pan at paneli@upei.ca or 902-628-4331.

On August 6, the UPEI Career Services Office will join the International Student Office for a presentation on working in Canada. During the session, we'll discuss the importance of a cover letter, available career services, employment standards, SIN, tax slips, and where to search for job opportunities.

While some of the information in this presentation will be aimed at international students, all UPEI students may benefit from the discussion.

Topic: Everything International Students Should Know About Working

Time: August 6, 2025 10:00 am 

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 835 8898 2747

Passcode: 160415

Due to the civic holiday on Monday, August 4, there will not be any outgoing courier or mail service.  Shipping and Receiving will be open for all your other shipping needs. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at shipping@upei.ca

It’s time for another cybersecurity Ask Me Anything session. This is an invitation to students, faculty, and staff at UPEI to join in and ask me questions about cybersecurity, and I’ll do my very best to answer them. This is also an opportunity to share concerns, comments, or complaints about cybersecurity issues at UPEI or in general. I look forward to seeing you at this session!

This will be an online session on Tuesday, August 5, at 12:00 pm. Please register with your UPEI account with this link. 

Who I am: My name is Dave Kubert, and I’m the slightly-less-new-than-last-time Director of Information Security and Information Management here at UPEI. I’ve worked in higher university IT and cybersecurity for my entire career and have been with UPEI since late January.

As part of the UPEI Hearing Conservation Program, audiometric testing will take place on August 11, 2025. Tests take approximately ten minutes to complete. 

It is important to have your hearing tested annually, especially in workplaces with high noise levels. All UPEI employees are welcome to participate.

Please pre-register for audiometric testing by contacting HSE@upei.ca or 902-566-0901 by August 5, 2025.

We are pleased and excited to invite all to attend Jill Anne McDowall's PsyD dissertation defense presentation titled: "Exploring the Caregiver Experience: Participating in the Social ABCs Program with a 
Toddler with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder.“ on August 13, 2025 at 10:00 am. Please join us in supporting Jill Anne on this momentous occasion!

Location: Memorial Hall, Room 104 
Date and Time: August 13, 2025 at 10:00 am 

To better support the campus community, ITSS has updated how support requests are submitted and handled. These changes help ensure tickets are created and triaged properly, with critical issues prioritized.

IT Forms
All equipment, access, and other IT forms can now be accessed via go.upei.ca/itforms 

Submit Requests via Online Form
All IT help and service requests should now be submitted through our new ticket form go.upei.ca/itrequest
This sends your request directly to our Help Desk system for faster triage.

Email and Phone Use Changes
We are moving away from using the helpdesk email and phone as the main contact methods for general issues.

• The helpdesk email inbox will still be checked throughout the day, but it is no longer the primary way to request support and should not be used for urgent issues.
• The ITSS phone number is now for live critical issues only. We will do our best to answer, but there may be times when all agents are assisting others. 
  • Please note: If your issue is not critical, you will be asked to submit a ticket through the online form.

If you are experiencing a live critical issue and cannot reach anyone by phone, you may escalate to Deryl Gallant, Manager of ITSS Operations.

We appreciate your understanding as we adapt to current staffing realities and continue working to provide the best possible service to the campus.

If you have questions or feedback, please contact Deryl Gallant, Manager of ITSS Operations. 

The Faculty of Education would like to invite all to attend Lu Rao's public presentation of her MEd research titled: "Becoming Globally Competent Leaders: Student Leaders’ Perceptions and Experiences in Canadian Higher Education"

Please join us August 7 at 1:00 pm in Memorial Hall, Room 417 or through the Zoom link below.

https://upei.zoom.us/j/61292555464?pwd=a9coNX8sAQEQwH0LMohMvZInOUsEXB.1

Meeting ID:612 9255 5464

Passcode: 412481

The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, September 5 for the September meeting. 

Please note that as of June 1, 2020 all animal user protocols must be submitted through UPEI Researcher Portal at https://upei.researchservicesoffice.com/Romeo.Researcher/

For new protocols select ‘applications’ and for renewal or amendment protocols select ‘events’.

To view any UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice, they can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx. 

Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The Committee requires at least one month for processing applications.

Canadians are not always aware that Black and Indigenous Peoples were once enslaved on the land that is now Canada. Those who fought enslavement were pivotal in shaping our society to be as diverse as it is today.

On March 24, 2021, August 1 was unanimously designated by the House of Commons as Emancipation Day in Canada to mark the enactment of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 on August 1, 1834, in many countries that were a part of the British Empire. On March 23, 2022, the Prince Edward Island Legislature followed by unanimously passing a bill to recognize Emancipation Day on PEI.

Emancipation Day celebrates the strength, courage, and perseverance of people of African descent in Canada, recognizes their struggles to end enslavement, and acknowledges their contributions towards Canadian society. Canadians and Islanders are invited to reflect, educate, and engage in the ongoing fight against both anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination.

On August 1, Emancipation Day will be marked by the Black Cultural Society of PEI with the following events:

• Virtual tour of The Door of No Return on Gorée Island (Senegal) at Beaconsfield Carriage House from 12 noon–1:30 pm
• Emancipation Day 2024 Celebration at The Bog (Rochford Square) in Charlottetown from 5:00–8:00 pm. There will be entertainment, and attendees can enjoy a series of activities, games, food, and more at this all-ages event. All are welcome.

Summer is in full swing, and with the sunny days come higher temperatures. However, please remember that appropriate lab attire is required at all times to ensure your safety.

This includes:

• Full leg coverage – shorts, capris, and skirts that do not fully cover the legs are not permitted.
• Proper footwear – shoes must fully cover the feet. Flip flops, clogs, sandals, and ballet flats are not considered safe lab wear.

On hot days, consider bringing lab-appropriate clothing and footwear to change into when you arrive at work, and switch back into your cooler street clothes once you're done in the lab.

Enjoy the beautiful summer on PEI and stay safe while at work!

Due to the civic holiday on Monday, August 4, there will not be any outgoing courier or mail service.  Shipping and Receiving will be open for all your other shipping needs. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at shipping@upei.ca

Due to a succession of cloudy Fridays, the Department of Physics has added an extra viewing of the sun with our telescopes for Friday, August 1, from 12:30-2:00 pm. Meet us on the grassy area between Memorial Hall and Robertson Library. There you can view one layer of the sun's atmosphere (the chromosphere) through our ground-based telescope before climbing to the observatory and viewing another layer (the photosphere) through a different telescope. You'll get to see sunspots and prominences and learn about our nearest star.

If the weather is cloudy on Friday, we will have to cancel this event, but we will be holding additional events throughout the remainder of the summer.

Check our website after 10:00 am on Friday for the status of the event.