Campus Notices
The 17吃瓜 Alumni Association invites students, staff, faculty, and alumni to join us as we celebrate and recognize the following 2025 Alumni Award recipients:
Distinguished Alumni
- Dr. Janice Keefe, BA 1984
- Dr. Lesley Steele, DVM 1997
Inspiring Young Alumni
- Dr. Derek Schipper, BSc 2006
- Katie Arsenault, BBA 2007
- Alexia Riche, BA 2020
Please before September 17, 2025.
Visit the Alumni Awards and Recognition page to learn more or to submit a nomination for 2026.
The Department of Music invites 17吃瓜 alumni to help celebrate their new Yamaha CFX concert grand piano! Homecoming Week kicks off with a piano recital of attractive and accessible solo, piano duet, and two-piano music chosen to showcase the new piano鈥檚 range and versatility. Featuring 17吃瓜 piano professor Dr. Magdalena von Eccher along with invited guests Dr. Frances Gray, 17吃瓜 Professor Emerita, and PEI-based pianist Glen Montgomery.
Panther Perk Alert! Alumni are eligible for 20% off tickets with a special Homecoming promo code.
All faculty, students, and staff are invited to a cross-disciplinary workshop on 鈥楧ecentralized Energy and Active Learning鈥� on September 24, 2:00-4:00 pm in Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Grant Thornton Lecture Theatre, Room 329.
What do renewable energy transitions and student-centered teaching strategies possibly have in common?
An overarching goal of decentralizing authority, a deep commitment to transparency, building trust amongst participants, and an active role for supporting institutions 鈥� to name just a few possible parallels.
In this workshop, leading experts from the fields of 鈥榙ecentralized energy systems鈥� and 鈥榓ctive learning pedagogies鈥� will participate in a facilitated discussion about potential synergies between their fields. Audience participation will be encouraged throughout 鈥� and a Q&A session will be held with the thought leaders.
Coffee, tea, and light snacks will be provided.
Contact any member of the research team with questions: Dr. Nick Mercer (Environmental Studies/Island Studies) at nmmercer@upei.ca, or Jehaan Cooper (Student Research Assistant) at jcooper13697@upei.ca.
The Office of Continuing Education and Professional Development (OCEPD) is offering an exciting lineup of Certificates and courses this Fall to help you build skills, advance your career, and make an impact in your workplace.
17吃瓜 Staff, Faculty, and Alumni save 15% on tuition!
Fall 2025 Offerings:
- 鈥�Indigenous Cultural Awareness鈥� 鈥� September 24, 2025
- Certificate in Case Management 鈥� Specialization in Health Care 鈥� Starting October 1, 2025
- New Managers Certificate (in-person) 鈥� Starting October 7, 2025
- New Managers Certificate (online) 鈥� Starting October 14, 2025
- Certificate in Project Management 鈥� Starting October 20, 2025
- Certificate in Professional Office Administration 鈥� Starting October 28, 2025
- Certificate in Case Management 鈥� Advanced Collaboration in Care 鈥� Starting November 12, 2025
- Certificate in Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being 鈥� Starting November 12, 2025
- Certificate in Conflict Resolution 鈥� Starting November 27, 2025
Learn more and register: upei.ca/professional-development Email: pdp@upei.ca
Feedback on University Librarian candidate presentations due September 19, 2025
The search committee for the University Librarian has arranged the recorded presentations of the finalists.
Svetlana Kochkina's presentation can be viewed at the following link:
Melissa Fraser-Arnott's presentation can be viewed at the following link:
Ignacio Albarracin's presentation can be viewed at the following link:
The search committee welcomes your feedback on the candidates. Please send feedback by email to vpar@upei.ca by 4:00 pm on Friday, September 19, 2025.
Thank you for your valued input into this search process. All feedback remains confidential.
This Tea(ching) break article offers some recommendations for addressing sensory needs of neuro divergent students that are neuro-inclusive. To read more about what the authors have to say about how clear course structures, Universal Design for Learning, and responsive support services remove barriers for neuro divergent students which can benefit all students, here's a link to.
The Academic Integrity Badge only needs to be completed once during a student鈥檚 time at the University. It is no longer an annual requirement.
Students who have already completed the Badge do not need to retake it. Instructors are asked to update their course information accordingly.
The following September sessions may be of interest to faculty and students, and are free of charge.
- September 16, Introduction to ACENET and High Performance Computing (HPC)
- September 17, Introduction to the Linux Command Line
- September 18, Introduction to Shell Scripting
- September 19, Job Scheduling with Slurm
- September 25, Carpentries: Introduction to Computational Thinking
Registration is through our training portal 鈥�
There are more courses available for registration on the portal.
Join us for an engaging bring-your-own-lunch session to learn more about Mootimeter, a live-polling tool inspired by Mentimeter. This tool has recently been added to our Moodle at 17吃瓜. This session will go over how to setup and use the tool. Registration is not required, but registering will add you to the calendar event as a reminder:
Wednesday September 24 at 12:00 pm, Robertson Library Annex, Room 230.
The 17吃瓜 Writing Centre (Robertson Library 274) is now open for one-on-one support. This service is free and available to everyone in the campus community. Register now and get ready to make that first appointment!
Please note that availability will be limited until October 1 when we will add appointment times to our online schedule. Please go to for more information.
We look forward to working with you!
At times, teaching can feel isolating. With so many demands on our time and desiring to do the best for students, we can set high expectations for ourselves. And 鈥� we are expected to be life-long learners, by adapting our teaching approaches during the pandemic and now again in the wave of AI.
In this workshop, participants will receive a teaching resource that was developed by the 2024 3M National Teaching Fellows to create a sense of community and rediscover the joy of learning. Some instructors may like to use this resource as a daily planner or notebook, while others may use it to journal about their teaching practices.
Through the workshop, participants will explore how they use time and space, what some barriers to joy might be, engage in conversation to build community, and utilize a resource so that we can collectively rediscover the joy of learning. For more details regarding the learning objectives of the workshop and bios for the two wonderful 3M National Teaching Fellows from the 2024 cohort, please check out the campus events calendar.
There are two workshop options to choose from:
Monday Sept 22 at 9:00 am in the Teaching and Learning Centre - Robertson Library Annex - Room 230
Monday Sept 22 at 11:45am in the Teaching and Learning Centre - Robertson Library Annex - Room 230
Please let us know which workshop session you plan to attend. We have space for 20 participants in each session 鈥� Come a few minutes early to enjoy refreshments, conversation with colleagues and to celebrate two 3M National Teaching Fellows.
Whether or not you attended events during 17吃瓜's 2025 Welcome Week, your feedback helps us improve future programming for students, staff, and faculty across the 17吃瓜 campus. This year, various Welcome Week events were open to all Panthers, not only incoming new students.
This form will take less than 10 minutes to complete. Enter for a chance to win 17吃瓜 merch by providing your email address at the end of the survey! There will be two prize draws for staff, two for faculty, and 10 for students!
for the survey.
If you have any questions, please contact studentculture@upei.ca. Thank you for your time! Go Panthers!
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT (EXTENDED TO): Monday, September 22, 2025
You're Invited to the Teaching and Learning Centre Lunch and Learn: Building Rubrics for Fairness, Transparency, and Consistency
Join us for an engaging bring-your-own-lunch session where we鈥檒l explore how to design rubrics that support equitable assessment, clear expectations, and consistent feedback. Whether you're refining existing or starting from scratch, this is a great opportunity to share ideas and strengthen your evaluation practice.
Let鈥檚 build better rubrics together!
Tuesday September 16 at 12:00 pm, Robertson Library Annex, Room 230.
Please "save the date" for our next town hall featuring a conversation with Board of Governors Chair Shannon MacDonald and President Wendy Rodgers on Friday, September 26, at 9:30 am in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre.
Board Chair MacDonald will lead a 'fireside chat' with President Rodgers, touching on goals and priorities and opportunities and challenges as we pursue the coming year and our strategic plan for the next five years.
This event will be similar to past ones where there will be an opportunity to ask questions. You will be able to attend in person (always preferable) or online. If you are unable to participate in person, you are welcome to join us virtually at this .
We look forward to seeing you!
The Island Lecture Series presents an illustrated talk by Dr. Doug Sobey on the historical forest composition of PEI in the mid-1800s based on the survey-books of Alexander Anderson (1795-1884), government surveyor for Prince County from the 1830s to the 1870s. The Island Lecture Series will be held on September 16, 2025, at 7: 00 pm, in the Faculty Lounge, Main Building Room 201, 17吃瓜.
Because many of Anderson鈥檚 survey lines, especially his road lines and township boundary lines, ran over land that had not yet been cleared of forest, collectively, his more than 2,700 forest descriptions constitute a valuable body of information on the composition of the pre-settlement forests, especially in the area west of Summerside. Sobey鈥檚 analysis of the survey-books resulted in the identification of eighteen distinct pre-settlement forest-types, most of which no longer occur in the region: nine are in 鈥渦pland鈥� habitats and nine in 鈥渓owland,鈥� upland referring to the region鈥檚 drier well-drained soils, and lowland to the region鈥檚 imperfectly-drained, and especially to its poorly-drained soils. Sobey will reveal how the forest that Anderson encountered bears no comparison to the remnant degraded woodland of today.
Doug Sobey has taught at various institutions in Northern Ireland for thirty years, including the University of Ulster. Eleven of his monographs on the present and historical forests of the Island have been published by the Island government, along with historical papers in the Island Magazine. He co-authored a book on Samuel Holland鈥檚 1765 survey of Prince Edward Island, and he contributed a chapter on the Island鈥檚 forest history to Time and a Place 鈥� An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island.
The lecture is free, and all are welcome. For more information, contact Bren Simmers at Island Studies Press, 902-566-0386 or ispstaff@upei.ca.
The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship and TD Small Business Insurance invites you to attend our Speaker Spotlight and Entrepreneurial Showcase featuring From Idea to Impact: The Woveo Story, happening on Thursday, September 25 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
Discover how a bold idea from 17吃瓜 alumni became a rising Canadian fintech company empowering community savings. Join us as Woveo co-founders Jonah Chininga (17吃瓜 Class of 2018) and James Muhato (17吃瓜 Class of 2013) share their journey from early inspiration and campus roots to building a venture that鈥檚 changing how people manage money together. Hear the behind-the-scenes story of how determination, purpose, and a powerful mission came together to create one of Canada鈥檚 most exciting fintech startups.
The Woveo Speaker Spotlight will take place at Schurman Market Square in Don and Marion McDougall Hall.
Interested in attending the event?
The Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship invites you to join our biweekly speaker series. We are pleased to have Coltin Handrahan, founder of Stay Golden Customs, joining us to talk about his 13-year journey in entrepreneurship, from starting a PEI-based company and what advantages and disadvantages that can hold, to how he has identified when and how to adapt in the market! The speaker series takes place on September 16 at 12:00 pm, at the Catherine Callbeck Centre for Entrepreneurship in 201 Robertson Library.
More about the speaker:
Coltin Handrahan is a 31-year-old entrepreneur from Charlottetown. His company, Stay Golden Custom helps busy leaders easily design and source custom merch that their teams, customers and community will be proud to wear. Since founding the company in his senior year of high school, it has developed into a B2B focused custom manufacturer working with clients across Canada. The company's head office and production facility is based in Hunter River, PEI.
Interested in attending the session? !
The following September sessions may be of interest to faculty and students, and are free of charge.
- September 16, Introduction to ACENET and High Performance Computing (HPC)
- September 17, Introduction to the Linux Command Line
- September 18, Introduction to Shell Scripting
- September 19, Job Scheduling with Slurm
- September 25, Carpentries: Introduction to Computational Thinking
Registration is through our training portal 鈥�
There are more courses available for registration on the portal.
We鈥檙e pleased to announce two upcoming workshops on celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, led by renowned dietitian Shelley Case, RD.
There will be 2 sessions on Wednesday October 15, 2025:
- 1:00鈥�4:00 pm: Health Professionals Session 鈥� 鈥淲hat Every Health Professional Needs to Know鈥�
- 7:00鈥�9:00 pm: Public Session 鈥� 鈥淲hat鈥檚 New and What鈥檚 Not鈥�
Location: Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Room 242
These workshops are organized by the Celiac Canada PEI Chapter in collaboration with 17吃瓜s Foods and Nutrition Program.
Join us for a relaxed and informative Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) lunch and learn session focused on our micro course Teaching With Technology. Instructional Multimedia Specialist, Martyn Lannece, will be providing an overview of the course, explaining how it helps instructors to choose technology that supports and aligns with their pedagogy.
Bring your own lunch and join us for an engaging session.
Session Date: Tuesday September 23, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Teaching and Learning Centre - Robertson Library Annex - Room 230
