The monthly meeting of the UPEI & Friends Neuroscience Journal Club will be held on Friday Arpil 13, 2018 from 3-4 pm in the "fishbowl" of the Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre (NRC). All neuroscience research students as well as faculty, scientists and staff with an interest in neuroscience topics are welcome to attend. For a copy of the controversial recent paper to be discussed please contact Bob Deziel (bdeziel@upei.ca)

The Faculty of Science wishes to announce KIMBERLY MACDONALD, masters student, will be defending her thesis entitled "Barriers and Enablers to Implementing and Adhering to the Healthy Eating Guidelines for PEI Early Years Centres." The defense will take place on April 12, 2018 from 12:30 to 4:30 pm in the Health Sciences Building, 3rd Floor Boardroom Everyone welcome!

Join us for the 2018 Panther Golf Classic, presented by Stewart McKelvey. Thursday June 21, 2018 Belvedere Golf Course Registration: 12:00—12:45 pm Shotgun start: 1:00 pm All funds raised go directly to the Athletic teams to help enhance their respective programs. $800 per team; $200 per individual Deadline for registration is June 7, 2018. Read more and register

shOUT! PEI Get Engaged With PEI’s LGBTQ2S+ Community The Diversity and Social Justice Studies program at the University of Prince Edward Island is pleased to announce it will be hosting the fifth annual shOUT! PEI’s Gender and Sexuality Awareness Conference. The conference is a day-long event featuring hands-on workshops, engaging presentations, and thought-provoking discussion panels around LGBTQ2S+ issues faced by our Island community. This day will begin with a land acknowledgement and opening ceremony led by Eliza Star Child Knockwood, followed by a panel of queer Islanders sharing their stories. Throughout the day, we will have presentations covering topics such as LGBTQ2S+ mental health, how to start your own GSA, inclusive safer sex education, and workshops on drag make-up and zine-making. Resources from local groups and businesses such as PEERS Alliance, Women’s Network, Pride PEI, Wild Impulse, etc will be available throughout the day. We are proud to announce the conception of QueerScape: an Island showcase of artists in the LGBTQ2S+ community open to any artistic medium. The day will conclude with a keynote performance by Island-born artist, Tanya Davis, and a closing ceremony by Eliza Star Child Knockwood. The event is free and open to the public: youth, parents, students, educators, healthcare providers, and anyone interested in exploring gender and sexuality. Our event will have volunteers trained in peer mental health support on-site if any of our participants require it. Coffee and tea will be available for purchase in the morning and lunch will be provided free of charge. We will be accepting donations throughout the day to support PEERS Alliance and their LGBTQ2S+ programming. Registration begins at 9:30am in McMillan Hall in the W. P. Murphy Student Centre on the UPEI campus. All venues for the conference are accessible, and there are all-gender washrooms on site. The conference begins at 10am and ends at 5pm. 

The UPEI community is invited to join our 2018 graduates with their families and friends at a Mass of Thanksgiving to celebrate their accomplishments and to wish them well. His Grace Richard Grecco, Bishop of Charlottetown will preside. 

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Carol Evans (Chair in Higher Education at the University of Southampton, UK National Teaching Fellow, and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy) and Dr. Martina Doolan (Senior Blended Learning Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and UK National Teaching Fellow) for an afternoon of workshops and discussion on university teaching. On May 7, 2018 two concurrent workshops will be offered at 2:00 pm in Don and Marion McDougall Hall:Workshop A: “Pedagogical Framework For Collaborative Learning in a Social Blended E-Learning Context: an Overview of the Dialogic Shamrock” with Dr. Doolan (MCD 328).Workshop B: “Enhancing Assessment and Feedback: a Pragmatic, Research-Informed Approach: EAT” with Dr. Evans (MCD 329). The workshops will be followed at 3:30 by a panel, including Dr. Srinivas Sampali (Dalhousie), on the topic “What Makes you Hopeful for the Future of Higher Education?” Please register by May 2 with Shannon Murray (smurray@upei.ca) and indicate which of the two workshops you plan to attend. This event is sponsored by the Vice-President Academic and Research and the Faculty Development Office. All are welcome!

The Faculty of Science wishes to announce Sean Landsman, PhD candidate from the Department of Biology, will be defending his thesis entitled "Movement, Behaviour, and Marine-Derived Nutrients: A Comprehensive Assessment of Issues Related to Fish Passage in Atlantic Canada" on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 9:00 am. All PhD defences are open to the public and you are welcome to attend. Please note seating may be limited.

Sacred Water: Standing Rock is the first in an 8-part documentary series that showcases Indigenous activists across the Americas rising up to protect their ancestral homelands and the environment. There will be a public screening of the documentary on Monday, April 23 on the UPEI campus (7:00 pm) in honour of Earth Day 2018. The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation of North and South Dakota are fighting to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline from being built on their ancestral homeland. The pipeline would snake its way across four states, bisecting sacred Indigenous sites and burial grounds along the route. The 45-minute film was shot towards the beginning of the Standing Rock protests in 2016, and ends just as new protestors and allies join them, responding to desperate social media calls for support. It is a moving examination of a protest movement on the brink of gaining international attention. The film will be introduced by Eliza Starchild Knockwood. Eliza has recently released her own film, The Water Protectors Journey - Along the Sipekne’katik River, which she will be premiering at City Cinema on May 6. Hosted by the UPEI Aboriginal Student Association, Sierra Club PEI, Cinema Politica Charlottetown and the UPEI Environmental Society. Admission by donation, all are welcome!  

Sisters Elizabeth and Carolyn Epperly will be launching Summer in the Land of Anne, an illustrated children's book, on Wednesday, May 2 at the Faculty Lounge in SDU Main Building at 7 pm. All are welcome to attend. From the Acorn Press website: Six-year-old Elspeth’s mother has a surprise in store for her daughters. She’s taking Elspeth and her eleven-year-old sister on a surprise vacation. When she starts reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to the girls, they catch on—they’re going to Prince Edward Island! Elspeth proudly dons her Anne hat on the ferry, ready to explore the Land of Anne. Although she knows she’s really visiting Lucy Maud Montgomery’s house, she feels like she recognizes everything from the books and is thoroughly enchanted. At first devastated that Montgomery’s first house was torn down by Montgomery’s uncle, Elspeth sees signs of life—chipmunks living in the old cellar. Elspeth’s imagination is ignited. No longer satisfied with pretending to be Anne, Elspeth is instead inspired to become more like Montgomery: famous writer Elspeth of Cavendish, writing about the world she loves. Summer in the Land of Anne is a celebration of the books we love and all the ways they inspire us. Author: Elizabeth R. EpperlyIllustrator: Carolyn M. Epperly

A special guest lecture in the Island Studies Lecture Series takes place Thursday, May 3, at 7 p.m. in the SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge on the UPEI campus. It features David Earl from Alderney, in the Channel Islands, speaking about Alderney: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats! Alderney is the third largest of the British Channel Islands, which are UK Crown Dependencies. According to the results of a Census carried out in 2013, 50 per cent of the population (less than 2,000) is now aged 55 or over, while the number of young working-age persons on the Island has dropped by 47 per cent since 2001. More worrying, the number of children under 15 has dropped by 50 per cent over the same period. Despite a 17 per cent drop in the Island’s population in the period 2001‒2013, the States of Alderney (the Island's government) has, so far, failed to reverse the decline. The aim of this lecture is to paint a picture of the island and its people, as well illustrating its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The lecture will be followed by an opportunity for questions, answers, and suggestions! David Earl began his working life in the world of advertising and marketing but has spent much of his professional life in broadcast television and communications. He was recently awarded an MA in Modern War Studies from the University of Buckingham. David is visiting Prince Edward Island in order to learn more about the Island, and the work of the Institute of Island Studies. Admission to the lecture is free and everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902)-894-2881.