Use your day away from classes on November 10 to experience UPEI in an entirely different way, at two great events designed to teach, engage, and let you meet up with friends while making new ones.

UPEI's Relay for Life was another successful event raising $14,800 in its annual fundraiser to fight cancer. On Friday night, October 28, 145 student, faculty, and staff participants walked the track until 6 a.m. Saturday morning to spread awareness and celebrate the lives of those touched by cancer.

This event marks UPEI's fourth year hosting the Canadian Cancer Society's fundraiser and the 10th year that it's been held on PEI. Relay for Life is the Canadian Cancer Society's signature event, honouring people who have survived cancer, remembering the lives lost, and raising money to help find a cure.

Special thanks to all those who participated, organized and donated to this great event.

If you'd like more information on other upcoming Relay for Life events, contact Gail MacDonald, Relay for Life coordinator, Canadian Cancer Society, PEI division at 566-4007.

The UPEI men's and women's soccer teams finished off their seasons strongly by advancing to the finals, respectively. Unfortunately, both teams were unsuccessful during their final games with the SMU Huskies winning back the AUS men's banner (6-0), and the Dalhousie Tigers taking home the women's banner (2-0). Despite these tough losses, both soccer teams had impressive seasons:

On the men's side
-Finished regular season play in 2nd place with a record of 7-2-4
-AUS coach of the year award: Lewis Page and Bruce Norton
-First Team All-Star: Jimmie Mayaleh, 4th year striker from Charlottetown, PEI
-Second Team All-Star: Jared Murphy, 3rd year midfielder from Charlottetown, PEI

On the women's side
-Finished regular season play in 1st place with a record of 11-1-1
-First Team All-Stars: Chelsie McInnis, 5th year striker from Summerside, PEI, Andrea Archibald, 4th year midfielder from Saskatoon, Sask., Sara Stewart, 5th year defender from Charlottetown, PEI, Chanelle Roy, 4th year keeper from Bathurst, NB.
-Second Team All-Star: Maria Scichilone, 1st year striker from Rothesay, NB.

Congratulations to both teams on their successful seasons!

The Faculty of Education is hosting an open house on Wednesday, November 16 from 4:30-7:30 pm in Memorial Hall (3rd floor). Program presentations will take place from 6:30-7:15 pm.

Come and check out displays on our BEd specializations in Indigenous Education, International Education, BEd (français langue seconde), BEd HRD, CAE, MEd and PhD programs.

Discuss with students, faculty, and admissions committee. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, please call (902) 620-5154.

Kyle Simpson, a fourth-year business student at UPEI, recently won a brand new 2011 Mazda 3 Sport GT after Mazda Canada chose his video as the winner of its 'What Do You Drive?' Facebook contest.

When Simpson found himself in the market to buy a new car, he stumbled upon the Mazda Canada contest. The contest asked participants to write a story, share a picture, or create a video, answering the question 'what do you drive?' Simpson noticed that there were not many video entries, so he decided to put his creative skills to use.

The contest officially closed on August 31, and by the middle of September, with no word from Mazda, Simpson assumed he didn't win. At the end of September, Simpson was shocked to receive an email stating that he had been chosen as the ‘grand prize' winner. Simpson said, 'After a few months of collecting votes and watching my ranking rise and fall, the fact that I actually won was surreal.'

UPEI assistant professor, Dr. Susan Graham, and dean of UPEI's school of business, Alan Duncan were impressed by the business student's contest entry. Graham used Simpson's video as a case study in her third year marketing class, while Duncan personally tweeted to his followers to vote for Simpson, and tweeted again after Simpson was announced as the contest winner.

Simpson was thrilled by UPEI's support, 'It made me feel pretty proud that so many people at school were supporting me, including UPEI faculty.' He added, 'Honestly, without their support, I wouldn't have been able to get as many votes as I did.'

Simpson also gives credit to his marketing class with Graham, 'Susan's marketing class certainly influenced how I went about making my video. We had a contest in her class to make a commercial and I was able to apply a lot of what I took away from that exercise into this Mazda contest.' He laughed, 'It definitely paid off.'

Mazda Canada delivered Simpson's new wheels to MacIsaac Mazda in Charlottetown, on November 1. Kyle is grateful for all the support and humorously added, 'If I promised anyone a drive in exchange for a vote, just let me know, I'll stay true to my word!'

To view Simpson's winning entry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vnNsztvmG8

Steven Heighton, one of Canada's most talented, versatile, and eloquently riveting writers, will be the Winter's Tales featured author for November on November 24, at 7:30 pm in the UPEI Faculty Lounge, Main Building. A book signing and reception will follow.

As a novelist and short story writer, Heighton combines spell-binding narratives, intensely realized characters, vivid settings, rich language, and illuminating intelligence. Of his latest novel, Every Lost Country, set in Tibet, T.F. Rigelholf writes in The Globe and Mail, 'Heighton takes the bare bones of an event occurring on the borderlines of most of our geographical, political and moral experiences, and refashions it into a novel that offers readers more than [just] big ideas and beautiful language… Every page, minor character and plot twist matters. Every Lost Country not only rivets readers to their seats, it challenges them to rethink the David-and-Goliath inequalities of this new millennium.'

John Barber in The Globe and Mail says, 'What sets the novel far above the thriller norm is the diversity of the viewpoints it incorporates, blended invisibly into the heart-pounding narrative by means of constant small miracles of characterization.' The Toronto Star says this novel 'recalls a Hitchcock thriller, but with better scenery.'

A dazzling poet, Heighton will also read from his new poetry book, Patient Frame. Previous novels are Afterland, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and The Shadow Boxer, a Publisher's Weekly Book of the Year. His short fiction collections are Flight Paths of the Emperor and On Earth As It Is. He has published four other poetry collections and a book of essays, The Admen Move on Lhasa.

Widely anthologized and translated into ten languages, Heighton lives in Kingston, Ontario. An excellent athlete, during his last visit to PEI on a book promotion tour, in the middle of winter, Steve ran at impressive speed for several miles along Dalvay Shore. His presentation on November 24, and the official timing of a repeat run, is sponsored by the UPEI English Department, with support from The Canada Council for the Arts. www.steveheighton.com

UPEI faculty and staff members who volunteer with Academics for Higher Education & Development (AHED) made a recent trip to Namibia to revisit the University of Namibia (UNam). AHED, an organization that actively works to promote and improve higher education in developing countries has a project which teams up UPEI and UNam.

Four UPEI business students recently returned home after a well-deserved first place finish at the Wing Lung Bank International Institute for Business Development (IIBD) Case Competition in Hong Kong.

Jordan McNally, UPEI case team member said, 'Not many people are able to say they are international champions, and the fact that we can is incredibly exciting and overwhelming.' He added, 'Our whole team dedicated many hours of hard work preparing for this competition-and it has most definitely paid off. The opportunities this win will create for us are incomprehensible.'

The IIBD competition focuses on strategic challenges and managerial dilemmas faced by today's global business leaders. Students had to work under pressure and a tight deadline to solve a real world business problem and form action-oriented recommendations.

During the first round of competition, thirty-three teams submitted written case reports which focused on this year's theme, 'Value Creation Through Branding.' Five teams, including UPEI, were then chosen to compete in the final round hosted at Hong Kong Baptist University on November 11.

The finalists were presented with a real business case and had only six hours to prepare for their presentation to a panel of judges. After evaluating each of the teams on analysis comprehension, relevance, originality, persuasiveness, and overall presentation, UPEI was ranked first.

Among the judges were professors and successful entrepreneurs, including Mr. Raymond Tong, CEO of Pacific Coffee Limited, who was so impressed with the UPEI team that he offered each of them a job upon graduation.

UPEI President Alaa Abd-El-Aziz said, 'On behalf of the UPEI community, I extend our congratulations to the students who represented UPEI, the province, and our country, while participating in the 2011 IIBD Case Competition. We are so proud of their international accomplishment and wish them the very best as they continue their studies at UPEI.'

UPEI business case teams celebrated other successful results recently including at the Atlantic Schools of Business Conference, September 30-October 2 hosted by UPEI; UPEI had teams placing first and second. UPEI also entered two teams in the Dalhousie Business Ethics Case Competition on November 10-12, with second and fourth place finishes.

More information about IIBD Competition
UPEI team members: Jordan McNally, Jingshu Zhang, Kristina MacLean, Janell MacDonald
Faculty supervisor: Edward Gamble, Assistant Professor, UPEI School of Business
The five finalist teams included: Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines; Baylor University, USA; Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR; University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Canada; Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands. UPEI was one of two Canadian representatives; the other was Simon Fraser University, BC.

UPEI's ProfitLearn, in association with CBDC West Prince Ventures, Resources West and the Rural Action Centre (Alberton), are joining forces with the RCMP to host a half-day event: Internal Fraud Prevention Forum: Tips, Trends & Tactics.

Maxine Rennie, Executive Director of the CBDC West Prince Ventures, said, 'ProfitLearn has built this program by collaborating with the business community and its professionals who have solid advice on how to diminish fraud.' She added, 'This forum is a great way for business owners to learn how to protect their businesses.'

The forum is aimed to aid the West Prince business community, and will assist owners and managers to minimize the risk of becoming victims of internal crime. It also hopes to increase understanding of appropriate internal protection practices. The program will be lead by two certified fraud examiners, Corporal Troy MacLean, 'L' Division Commercial Crime with the Charlottetown RCMP and Mary H. Best, CA at Arsenault, Best, Cameron, Ellis Chartered Accountants. Forum topics include: 'What are the Red Flags' and 'Controls to have in Place.'