UPEI Celebrates 50 Years

people • excellence • impact 1

Thanks for celebrating with us!

In 2019, the University of Prince Edward Island marked a major milestone—50 years of serving as a leader in education and research. We welcomed alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends to celebrate UPEI’s achievements. And our “UPEI at 50” celebration will live on through our many legacy projects!

Visit the Robertson Library’s Celebrating 50 Years of UPEI website

Donate to the Alex B. Campbell University of Prince Edward Island Scholarships

50.library.upei.ca

upei.ca/donate

TO UPEI ON YOUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS

Part of your family since 1979 For all your automotive needs visit: www.centennialautogroup.ca

CONTENTS UPEI campus circa 1974

Published in co-operation with the University of Prince Edward Island. Content contributed by UPEI Marketing and Communications, unless otherwise attributed. Thank you to those who provided additional articles and photographs.

UPEI Nicole Phillips, Acting Director, Marketing and Communications Myrtle Jenkins-Smith, Executive Director, Development and Alumni Engagement 550 University Ave., Charlottetown, P.E.I. upei.ca

SaltWire Network Mark Lever, President and CEO Colin Sly, Director, Regional Sales Lindsey Bunin, Director, Product Management Paula Bugden, Editor and Project Manager Julia Webb, Senior Designer Meghan O’Neil, Regional Product Manager Copyright 2020 by

All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph or artwork without expressed written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

04 06

Celebrating 50 years of research, graduate studies excellence at UPEI

08

Honouring the contributions of Dr. Elizabeth Epperly

09

UPEI’s first president a bridge builder

10 12 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

MESSAGES BLAZING A TRAIL OF SUCCESS

FROM FIRST STUDENT TO PRESIDENT ANSWERING THE CALL UPEI AT 50

Commitment to excellence, education key to decades of success

UPEI’S HISTORY AT A GLANCE

Timeline highlights important UPEI moments

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

UPEI unveils new terrace, announces endowment fund in honour of Alex B. Campbell

ENDURING LEGACY

Remembering Father Charlie and his contributions to UPEI

FLASHBACK TO THE ’90S

Dr. Shannon Murray shares special times at UPEI

TOP FIVE PANTHER SPORT MOMENTS REMEMBER WHEN …

GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND

Atlantic Veterinary College serving Atlantic Canada since the 1980s

REFLECTIONS OF AN ALUMNUS Why UPEI has enjoyed more than 50 years of successful reunions

SHAPING THE FUTURE

Sharing a (sort of) history in five decades 3

Messages

Celebrating UPEI’s 50th anniversary On behalf of the Government of Prince Edward Island, I want to offer my warmest congratulations to the University of Prince Edward Island as it wraps up its 50th anniversary and heads into 2020.

of so many who have crossed its campus over the years. Sitting on a strong foundation that engages students and strengthens community, the university continues to enjoy a proud and growing international reputation of excellence.

Last year’s milestone celebration was an opportunity to reflect on the past, recognize the present and embrace the future.

So much has been accomplished over the past 50 years, I am confident that UPEI’s future will be even brighter over the next 50!

UPEI has a long and proud history of progress and innovation because of the leadership

Hon. Dennis King

Premier of Prince Edward Island

C H A R LOT T E TOW N A I R P O RT

Education is about intellectual and social enrichment.

With first rate post-secondary programs and the beautiful PEI backdrop to inspire their dreams, that’s exactly what UPEI students experience.

Congratulations on five decades of su success! s

UPEI’s 50th anniversary is a wonderful opportunity for the entire Island community to come together and celebrate the university’s remarkable achievements.

PrinceEdwardIsland.ca Paid for by the Government of Prince Edward Island

4

W W W. F LY P E I . C O M

Messages

Building on a strong foundation The University of Prince Edward Island marked an amazing milestone in 2019 with its 50th anniversary. On behalf of UPEI, I am pleased to present this commemorative publication that caps our year of celebration and pays tribute to our 50 years serving as Prince Edward Island’s university.

Since 1969, UPEI has continued to grow and thrive, building capacity through innovative programming and research, offering our students a high-quality, experiential education. At 4,926, our student population is the largest it has ever been. Of that number, 1,423 are international students from 93 countries around the world, making UPEI’s global reach greater than ever.

While celebrating our present and looking eagerly toward a bright future, we are not neglecting our past. We recognize that we owe so much to our founding institutions, Saint Dunstan’s University and Prince of Wales College, and the people who led, taught and learned there. They laid a strong foundation for the advancement of post-secondary education on Prince Edward Island during our 50 years as UPEI. We, the faculty, staff and students, continue to be proud to build on that foundation.

I am so excited about the work we have accomplished and more great advancements to come in the next 50 years and beyond at UPEI.

Dr. Alaa S. Abd-El-Aziz

President and Vice-Chancellor University of Prince Edward Island

5

Research excellence

Blazing a trail of success Celebrating 50 years of research, graduate studies excellence at UPEI When the University of Prince Edward Island was first created as the Island’s provincial university and opened its doors in 1969, its reputation was based on that of its two founding institutions: Saint Dunstan’s University and Prince of Wales College.

UPEI’s motto, “Fides Scientia Beneficium,” Latin for “Faith, Knowledge, Service,” was steeped in tradition, exemplifying its mission of providing students with a quality liberal arts education. However, it also alluded to the opportunity and promise of “scholarly research, the re-examination of old knowledge and the creation of new,” as stated in the Inventory of UPEI Research by the senate research committee in 1976. If the research activity at UPEI over the past 50 years is any indication, the university has both seized the opportunity and kept its promise.

During UPEI’s first 25 years, academic departments overcame the opinion that it was more difficult to pursue research at a small university, where it might not be able to access the expertise found in larger centres.

An impressive list of activities across all faculties ranged from the production of refereed articles, authored and co-authored books, book reviews and the publication of scholarly journals. Between 1990 and 2008, UPEI scholars had published more than 295 books, more

than 245 book chapters and edited books and more than 6,600 journal articles and had made nine recordings in the performing arts.

With the construction of the Robertson Library in the mid-1970s, UPEI gained a major research base not only for faculty and students, but also for the province. The library has continued to evolve, given the rapidly developing information technologies and the changing concept of information. The library continues to provide a local collection, which is supportive of the university’s curriculum, and gives access to worldwide research-related resources. As of 2018, the library included more than 600,000 books and e-books and tens of thousands of print and electronic serial subscriptions, as well as thousands of audio and video recordings. Many research databases can be searched in the library from offices and computer labs on campus or by authenticated access.

Another game changer came in 1986, when the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was established. With a new cohort of tenured faculty positions, UPEI’s first master’s and doctoral programs were introduced at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) and millions of dollars of research grants and contracts were secured. In 1990, a co-operation agreement was signed with the federal Department of

A prime example of the interdisciplinary, collaborative research taking place at UPEI: Dr. Nadja Johnson Bressan (second from left), assistant professor of engineering, along with Dr. Cate Creighton (second from right), assistant professor of anaesthesiology from the Atlantic Veterinary College, and a team of students.

6

Fisheries and Oceans and the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture to promote development of research and diagnostic services for Prince Edward Island’s aquaculture industry. And, with the potential of interdisciplinary and collaborative research through this agreement and others, UPEI’s other faculties followed AVC’s lead and began to develop honours and master’s programs.

Beginning in 1999, a master of science degree was offered through the Faculty of Science and, in the same year, the first students were admitted to the university’s new master of education program. In the last decade alone, the number of graduate students at UPEI has grown by more than 200 per cent, with several new programs being offered across eight academic faculties and schools, significantly adding to UPEI’s research output.

By 2005, research activity had increased so dramatically that the university established University Partnerships, Enterprise and Innovations Inc. as an independently incorporated company, which later became Three Oaks Innovations, to help transfer the expertise and knowledge housed at UPEI into products, processes, services and insights that could provide practical, social and economic benefit. Now known as Synapse, the company works closely with other organizations that

are focused on innovation and economic development in the region and receives funding from several important partners, including UPEI, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Innovation PEI and Springboard Atlantic.

UPEI’s research expertise over the years has included 11 Canada Research Chairs. In 2011, the university was awarded the prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chair in Aquatic Epidemiology. UPEI also has one UNESCO Chair and several endowed chairs, along with eight research institutes and centres.

When the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering was launched in 2016, a number of new faculty, with impressive research credentials, were attracted to UPEI. Already several interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers from other faculties have materialized, as well as a number of opportunities created for undergraduate and graduate student research.

UPEI was also one of three universities in the Atlantic region to receive $25 million in funding for ocean research projects in 2018 through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and distributed by the Ocean Frontier Institute. Projects include work to understand ocean change and help improve the potential for fisheries and aquaculture to meet global seafood demand.

In 2019, UPEI announced the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation, to be built in St. Peter’s Bay, P.E.I., representing the first time the university will have a campus and residence outside of Charlottetown.

“UPEI’s Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation,” said Dr. Alaa Abd-ElAziz, UPEI’s president and vice-chancellor, “will be a destination for world-class research and learning, incorporating a collaborative, multi-disciplinary model that will provide students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty with opportunities to work with engaged industry, community and government partners.”

Quilts for Loved Ones 61 Capital Drive, Charlottetown

902.628.1998 • quiltingb.ca

PROUDLY SUPPORTING

UPEI Sports

“The centre will form a cluster of discovery in the areas of coastal impacts and health of populations and industry, mobilizing expertise for application on P.E.I., in Canada and around the world,” added Abd-El-Aziz.

With 50 years of history and recent significant examples, UPEI continues to be a growing centre of research excellence in Atlantic Canada and a huge economic driver for Prince Edward Island, managing more than $11 million in annual research expenditures. With this track record, research and graduate studies at UPEI will only further the university’s global reach and reputation for the next 50 years and beyond.

Official supplier of UPEI Rings

Nortons Jewellers Shops of Confederation Court Mall Downtown Charlottetown 902.894.3922 • Toll Free 1-800-565-6119 7

UPEI firsts

From first student to president Honouring the contributions of Dr. Elizabeth Epperly

UPEI’s first registered student and past president, Dr. Elizabeth Epperly, sits in the presidential plaza named in her honour. The plaza is located outside the Robertson Library, where many of the L.M. Montgomery Institute collections are housed. Epperly founded the institute in 1993.

In the summer of 1969, a young woman from Virginia, Elizabeth Rollins Epperly, became the first student to register at the newly created University of Prince Edward Island.

taught English for 30 years, 22 of them at UPEI, and amassed an impressive publication record along the way, much of it focused on Montgomery.

Epperly was drawn to Prince Edward Island because of her love for the writing of renowned Island writer L.M. Montgomery.

She came by that love honestly. Her grandfather had read Montgomery’s famous Anne of Green Gables novels to her father when he was a boy and, in turn, he read them to his daughter.

In 1992, she published The Fragrance of Sweet-Grass, the first full-length critical study of all Montgomery’s novels. In addition to dozens of essays and book chapters, she has published books on Montgomery’s photography, scrapbooks, letters and Canadian context. She has served as curator for real-time and virtual Montgomery exhibitions and has

The previous summer, Epperly and her mother visited Prince Edward Island and she fell in love with the place Montgomery described so eloquently in her writing. She decided she wanted to attend Montgomery’s alma mater, Prince of Wales College — one of UPEI’s two founding institutions — and secretly applied to the school.

“After graduating in June 1969 and much too late to apply anywhere else, I received a letter telling me PWC no longer existed, but I could come to the new University of Prince Edward Island if I wished. Of course, I went.

I arrived so early that I ended up being the very first student to register at the new school.”

She planned to stay at UPEI for one year and then return to the United States to become a scientist. But she loved her life at UPEI and on the Island, so she stayed. She went on to have a profound impact on the Island’s only university as a teacher and as a leader.

After graduating in 1973 with a bachelor of arts in English literature, Epperly earned a master of arts degree from Dalhousie University in 1974 and a PhD in English literature from the University of London in 1978. She 8

UPEI is an essential part of life on P.E.I. — an economic and cultural driver. People, some of whom initially may have had some skepticism, now identify the university as a great treasure, helping the Island to grow and enriching the life around it.

— Dr. Elizabeth Epperly

UPEI past president and Founder, Dr. Elizabeth Epperly, was conferred with an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2017.

From 1995 to 1998, Epperly served as UPEI’s fourth — and first female — president and vice-chancellor. In that role, she focused on reshaping the university into a more vibrant, forward-looking institution, while respecting its past. Under her leadership, changes were made to infrastructure in several areas, allowing for significant improvements in teaching and research. New faculty members were hired and the administrative structure was streamlined and reorganized. (She discusses her time as president in her 2017 memoir, Power Notes: Leadership by Analogy.)

UPEI has recognized Epperly for her many contributions to her alma mater. She was granted the designation of professor emerita after she retired in 2006. A plaza located outside the Robertson Library, where the L.M. Montgomery Institute is housed, was dedicated in her honour in 2012. She was named a UPEI Founder in 2006 and 2015 and awarded an honorary degree in 2017.

pursued Montgomery research in Sweden, Japan, Spain, Scotland and China, as well as in the United States and Canada.

While she no longer lives on Prince Edward Island, she maintains her strong connection with the province and university through her ongoing work with the L.M. Montgomery Institute. She has watched with great interest the progress and growth of the university over the years.

In 1993, she founded the L.M. Montgomery Institute at UPEI, now an internationally recognized centre for the study of the life and works of the Island’s beloved author. She regards this as her greatest personal accomplishment during her time at the university.

“UPEI is an essential part of life on P.E.I. — an economic and cultural driver,” she said.

“People, some of whom initially may have had some skepticism, now identify the university as a great treasure, helping the Island to grow and enriching the life around it.”

UPEI firsts

Answering the call UPEI’s first president a bridge builder Dr. Ron Baker sat in the sunny atrium of Don and Marion McDougall Hall in a quiet moment during UPEI’s 50th anniversary Reunion Weekend. Hundreds of former students, staff, faculty and friends were gathering on campus to celebrate half a century of UPEI and the formation of the provincial university in 1969. He, as its first president, had a unique perspective on it all.

“There was always an advantage, I think, of being a province on an island,” said the 94-year-old scholar. Baker’s task of bringing two schools — Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University — together was no small feat, but he knew the community had a keen interest in its success. “I was fascinated when I came here by how many of the faculty and administration had close friends in town.

That was quite unique in Canadian academia.

They had a strong relationship with their community and that was a great help.”

The 1960s were an exciting time for universities in Canada. Existing universities were expanding and new ones were being created.

After helping establish Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Baker was offered a number of jobs across Canada, but the call from Prince Edward Island was intriguing.

“I thought it would be an interesting job,” said Baker. “I was approached by a number of schools. I didn’t want to go to a big university.

I thought it would be interesting putting two schools together, but also building a university as I saw a university.”

Fifty years later, Baker’s Reunion Weekend schedule was packed with ceremonies and receptions, but he made time to visit the building he’s most fond of on campus: the Robertson Library. It was the first major construction project for the new university.

It was his top priority when he arrived.

I thought it would be an interesting job. I was approached by a number of schools. I didn’t want to go to a big university. I thought it would be interesting putting two schools together, but also building a university as I saw a university.

— Dr. Ron Baker

“I thought the library was the absolute centre of the university,” said Baker. “In science and engineering, as well as the arts. We hired a talented architect from Nova Scotia. He was happy to have an opportunity where, basically, we took his advice. He was determined that the library be capable of change. You only have to look at the business of periodicals and, of course, it’s a completely different world now. Everything is online! I was really pleased with the library.

I’ve always been nuts about libraries.”

Baker had believed his biggest challenge would be bringing two institutions together, but it actually happened very naturally. It was clear to him, after just a few years, that students, faculty and administration already strongly identified with the new university.

It was an exciting time for Baker, one that required much listening, talking and building.

“I really devoted my time to the university.

I thought, ‘That’s what I’ve been brought in for.’” Baker moved on from UPEI in 1978, but he’s kept his eye on the university ever since.

He has enjoyed watching it grow in size and in reputation. It has become more than the sum of its parts, but he believes the seeds of that growth were planted early by a group of founders, of which he’s proud to be a member.

“It’s been pretty obvious to me from comments over the years that people think pretty highly of the university,” he said with a smile.

“It’s done very well.”

Congratulations To UPEI for 50 years of leading education and research on Prince Edward Island and beyond.

From all of us at

Dr. Ron Baker, UPEI’s first president, has returned to campus many times to visit with former colleagues and students. Here he stands in the iconic UPEI Quadrangle in 2015.

Serving The Healthcare Needs of Islanders For Almost 40 Years 9

Cover story

UPEI at 50

Commitment to excellence, education key to decades of success Located in Charlottetown, the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) has a rich history with roots in two founding institutions: Prince of Wales College (est. 1834) and Saint Dunstan’s University (est. 1855). Formed in 1969 as the provincial university, UPEI honours its proud legacy through academic excellence and research innovation.

In 2019, the university marked its 50th anniversary of outstanding leadership and achievement in education and research with a full year of commemorative events and activities.

UPEI has a long-standing tradition of academic excellence dating back to the early 19th century and proudly embodies historic symbols of Saint Dunstan’s University (SDU) and Prince of Wales College (PWC) in positions of honour within the shield that anchors the university’s official coat of arms and flag.

The commitment to education on Prince Edward Island can be traced to debates of the colony’s earliest legislative council. A particular champion was Lt.-Gov. Edmund Fanning (1786 to 1805). Fanning actively promoted the view that education was central to the colony’s progress and that it should be seen as a priority, along with the enhancement of agriculture, fisheries, commerce and population growth.

In 1804, he personally donated the land on which PWC was to stand “for the purpose of laying the foundation of a college thereon.”

Kent College, later to become Prince of Wales College, opened in 1820. A related predecessor institution, Central Academy, received a royal charter in 1834. In 1860, the colleges were renamed for the Prince of Wales in honour of the visit of the future King Edward VII. The predecessor of SDU, St. Andrew’s College, was founded in 1831 under the leadership of Bishop Angus MacEachern.

Saint Dunstan’s College was established in 1855 by Bishop Bernard MacDonald on a large farming property, which today is surrounded by the city of Charlottetown.

This property, including the historic SDU Main Building constructed in 1854, now serves as the UPEI campus, well-known for its respectfully maintained historic architecture, complementary modern structures and red-brick, well-manicured appearance.

10

By the 1960s, the Prince Edward Island government began to acknowledge a serious shortage of educated and skilled workers and began a critical study of its post-secondary education institutions, PWC and SDU. The government, under the leadership of then premier Alex B. Campbell, concluded that forming a provincial university was the desired funding and service model for future students.

The provincial legislature passed the University Act in 1969, incorporating the University of Prince Edward Island. In May 1969, the last classes graduated from PWC and SDU, while UPEI opened for the first time that September.

The depth of UPEI’s academic heritage is reflected not only in the buildings and scholarships named in honour of education pioneers and benefactors, but also in personal, day-to-day connections. In the early days of UPEI, graduates of SDU and PWC taught at UPEI and now children of current and former faculty and staff attend and teach at the university, with many families proudly reporting multi-generational alumni connections to the institution.

The university has a long history of welcoming international students and many graduates remain actively engaged with UPEI as part of the local community or networked through professional and collegial worldwide relationships. Alumni of UPEI, SDU and PWC — now numbering more than 26,000 — whether on Prince Edward Island, elsewhere in Canada or abroad, maintain a close sense of connection with their university.

UPEI remains instituted under the terms of the University Act, a statute of the province of Prince Edward Island, and is governed by a board of governors and a senate. The university works within a bicameral structure and, therefore, the board of governors, as the senior governing body, shares institutional governance with the senate.

The University Act vests the responsibilities of conduct, management, administration and control of the property, revenue, business and affairs of the university with the board of governors. The board of governors is responsible for the stewardship of the university and delegates the daily management of the university to the president and

vice-chancellor and senior administration.

The chancellor of the university, currently the Hon. Catherine Callbeck, is a volunteer who presides over convocations and confers degrees, diplomas and certificates.

UPEI is divided into eight faculties: arts, business, science, education, nursing, veterinary medicine, sustainable design engineering and graduate studies. It has two schools: the School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences and the School of Climate Change and Adaptation.

UPEI has seen important developments in its programming over the past 50 years. While bachelor programs were prevalent from UPEI’s inception, master’s and doctoral degree programs were first introduced through the Atlantic Veterinary College when it opened in 1986.

Beginning in 1999, a master of science degree was offered through the Faculty of Science and, that same year, the first students were admitted to the university’s new master of education program.

Since then, several programs have been added: master of arts in island studies; master of applied health services research; bachelor of integrated studies; master of business administration; bachelor of business studies; PhD in educational studies; bachelor of wildlife conservation; bachelor of science in kinesiology; master of nursing; bachelor of arts in applied communication, leadership and culture; bachelor of environmental studies; bachelor of science in sustainable design engineering; bachelor of science with specializations in actuarial science, analytics, computer science, financial mathematics, mathematics, statistics; bachelor of science in applied climate change and adaptation; MBA in global leadership; master of science in sustainable design engineering; master of global affairs (with Universidad Rey Juan Carlos); doctor of psychology; bachelor of science in paramedicine (plus an honours option); and bachelor of science in biotechnology (articulated degree/pathway).

Underlying the university’s programs and activities is a commitment to rigorous study and inquiry and belief in the value of knowledge, lifelong capacity building and the development of the whole person — along

Cover story Campus circa 1974

with a sense of community at UPEI and in its local, regional, national and international contexts. Faculty in all disciplines produce research and scholarly works of national and international calibre, while continuing to give priority to UPEI’s well-earned reputation for high-quality teaching characterized by individual attention.

UPEI has been home to 11 Canada Research Chairs, a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Aquatic Epidemiology, a UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability, endowed or sponsored research chairs and 3M National Teaching Fellows and it offers its students access to exceptional faculty, researchers and staff. Students come from all walks of life and from local, regional, national and international locations to study and learn at UPEI. In the fall of 2019, international students from 93 countries comprised almost 29 per cent of the university’s total enrolment.

In addition to welcoming students to its home campus, UPEI extends its reach beyond the province’s shores, with approximately 70 post-secondary exchange agreements in 27 countries. Students have the opportunity to experience other cultures while studying abroad and earning credits toward their UPEI degree. The university is also offering post-secondary students in Asia, Africa and Europe the opportunity to earn certain UPEI degrees based on its curriculum and rigorous educational standards.

(1997); the W.A. Murphy Student Centre (2002); Bill and Denise Andrew Hall (2006); Don and Marion McDougall Hall (2008); the Health Sciences Building (2012); and the School of Sustainable Design Engineering (2016).

Athletics facilities have grown substantially over the past 50 years, including the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place track and field facility; a lit, synthetic-surface sports field; and the community-based Bell Aliant Centre, which features competitive and leisure pools, and MacLauchlan Arena with two NHL-sized ice surfaces.

The campus also houses the National Research Council’s Institute for Nutrisciences and Health at the Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre. In 2019, the governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island, along with UPEI, announced the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation will be built in St. Peter’s Bay, P.E.I. This represents the first UPEI academic and research facility located outside the city of Charlottetown.

for a new 277-bed residence to be built in advance of the 2023 Canada Winter Games and which will feature much-needed multi-purpose, performance and academic space.

With more than $6 million in scholarships, international exchange and experiential study opportunities, an active student union, expanding graduate programs and outstanding student-faculty interaction, the university offers its students educational experiences designed to help them reach their potential as future leaders and contributors to a global society. UPEI’s dedication to the highest standards in education is reflected in its alumni, who enjoy success in their chosen fields around the world.

Also in 2019, the Government of Prince Edward Island joined UPEI in unveiling plans

The university’s beautiful 140-acre campus consists of 30 academic, administrative, residential and athletics buildings and facilities, the newest of which is the 76,000-square-foot Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering building. The campus is a reflection of the character of UPEI on many levels — a complementary blend of old and new, of tradition and innovation.

Original SDU buildings have been renovated tastefully to retain integrity of design, while meeting modern standards. Many new buildings have been integrated into the campus, including the Central Utility Building (1973); Blanchard Hall (1973); the Robertson Library (1975); the Atlantic Veterinary College (1986); the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre (1990); the Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall (1990); the K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre

Campus 2019

UPEI proudly embodies historic symbols of its founding institutions, Saint Dunstan’s University and Prince of Wales College, in positions of honour within the shield that anchors the university’s official coat of arms and flag.

11

Timeline

UPEI’s history at a glance University presidents Ronald J. Baker, 1969 to 1978 Peter P.M. Meincke, 1978 to 1985 C.W.J. “Willie” Eliot, 1985 to 1995 Elizabeth Epperly, 1995 to 1998 H. Wade MacLauchlan, 1999 to 2011 Alaa S. Abd-El-Aziz, 2011 to present

Chancellors Hon. Thane A. Campbell, May 14, 1970 Gustave Gingras, May 12, 1974 David Macdonald Stewart, Oct. 1, 1982 Hon. Gordon L. Bennett, March 9, 1985 Doris H. Anderson, Oct. 24, 1992 Norman Webster, Nov. 2, 1996 William (Bill) Andrew, March 6, 2005 Donald (Don) McDougall, March 30, 2014 Hon. Catherine Callbeck, Sept. 29, 2018

UPEI employees 1994 (25th anniversary): 644 2019 (50th anniversary): 824

Current UPEI President Alaa Abd-El-Aziz and past presidents Elizabeth Epperly, Peter Meincke, Ron Baker and Wade MacLauchlan gathered on Founders Day in 2015

Campus circa 1980s

Late 1960s

Alumni Gym 1984

Milestones

1969 • Act of legislature is passed to establish the University of Prince Edward Island.

• Government of Prince Edward Island purchases grounds and buildings from Saint Dunstan’s University for $5,700,000.

• Faculty Association is established with Dr. James Rigney as first president.

• UPEI receives full membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

• First edition of student newspaper The Cadre is published.

1970 • IBM 1620, UPEI’s first computing system is purchased from the UNB Student Union.

1971 • The Barn opens as UPEI’s student centre.

1972 • Lady Panthers field hockey team wins Atlantic Intermediate Championship.

1973 • Central Utility Building officially opens.

• Dalton Hall is renovated to house home economics.

• Campus plan is redesigned with new parking and peripheral road is added.

• Hon. Walter R. Shaw is named Islander in Residence.

1974 • Provincial bid is made to establish a veterinary college at UPEI. 12

SDU postcard • University Progress Fund raises close to $3 million for a new library.

1975 • Robertson Library officially opens.

• Saint Dunstan’s Chapel is renovated to accommodate music department and renamed in honour of Dr. G. Douglas Steel, a former principal of Prince of Wales College.

1976 • First Alumni Annual Fund launches.

1977 • Women’s curling team wins Atlantic Universities Athletics Association championship.

1978 • Renovated SDU student union coffee shop is dedicated as the new Chaplaincy Centre.

1979 • MPHEC approves the Atlantic Institute of Education/UPEI Education program.

1980 • Observatory is installed atop Memorial Hall.

1981 • Business administration department becomes the School of Business.

The Barn 1982 • UPEI hosts the Canada Council’s 25th jubilee celebrations.

1983 • Federal/provincial agreement for AVC is signed.

• Senate approves honours program in history.

• Panthers win first men’s AUAA soccer championship.

1984 • Panthers win second men’s AUAA soccer championship.

1985 • Panthers win first men’s AUAA hockey and third men’s soccer championships.

• Institute of Island Studies is established.

1986 • Panthers win first AUAA men’s basketball championship.

• First veterinary medicine students are admitted.

Timeline

1987 • University adopts official coat of arms and motto: “Faith, Knowledge, Service.”

• Challenge of the Eighties campaign surpasses goal of $5,000,000.

• Panthers win first AUAA women’s basketball and second men’s hockey championships.

1988 • Panthers win second AUAA women’s basketball, second AUAA men’s basketball and third AUAA men’s hockey championships.

• Veterinary teaching hospital opens.

• Upei.ca is registered as the first .ca domain name.

1989 • Renovated Main Building officially reopens.

• Women’s basketball team wins silver medal at CIAU championship after capturing third AUAA title.

Men’s basketball game at the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre

1992 • First students are admitted to the School of Nursing.

• Dr. Doris Anderson is installed as UPEI’s first female chancellor.

1993 • L.M. Montgomery Institute is founded.

• Panthers win fourth AUAA women’s basketball championship.

1994 • Capital campaign for new chemistry building begins.

1995 • Dr. Elizabeth Epperly is installed as UPEI’s first female president.

1996 • First class of nursing students graduates.

1997 • Cass Hall renovation is completed.

• K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre opens.

• First students are enrolled in new business internship program.

2000 • First Founders Day takes place.

2001 • Number of seats at the School of Nursing expand to 59.

2002 • Panthers win fifth AUS men’s soccer championship.

• New W.A. Murphy Student Centre opens.

2003 • Panthers win fourth AUS men’s basketball championship.

• Building a Legacy campaign launches.

2004 • “University of Prince Edward Island, 1804-2004” stamp is issued by Canada Post as part of the Canadian universities series.

• Panthers win AUS women’s soccer championship.

2005 • CIS men’s soccer championship is hosted by UPEI. • Construction begins for bioscience and health research centre.

• Building a Legacy campaign goal is adjusted from $25 million to $50 million.

2006 • Norman Webster is named chancellor emeritus.

• UPEI courtyard at student centre is named McMillan Hall.

• Renovated Duffy Science Centre opens.

Atlantic Veterinary College

Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre

Quad bench

2007 • Sports field is named in honour of A.J. MacAdam.

• NRC Institute for Nutrisciences and Health opens on campus.

Bill and Denise Andrew Hall

• Senate approves honours program in psychology.

• Panthers win third AUAA men’s basketball championship.

1990 • Chi-Wan Young Memorial Canada Games Sports Centre opens.

• First class graduates from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

1991 • Wanda Wyatt Dining Hall officially opens.

• Canada Winter Games athletes are hosted in Athletes’ Village on campus.

• Ceremonial entrances are officially dedicated.

• Panthers win fourth AUAA men’s hockey championship.

• Heather Morrison is named UPEI’s first Rhodes Scholar.

MacLauchlan Plaza

Alumni Canada Games Place

1998 • First website at upei.ca launches.

• Panthers win fifth AUAA women’s basketball championship.

• Memorandum of understanding is signed to form Seniors College.

1999 • First students are enrolled in master of education program.

• Inaugural AVC Vet Camp is held.

2008 • Wireless internet access expands to all academic buildings.

• School of Business and Centre for Life-Long Learning move to new Don and Marion McDougall Hall.

• Bioscience and health research centre is named Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre.

• Executive MBA program launches.

• Bachelor of integrated studies is first offered.

13

Timeline

2009 • UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place track and field facility opens.

• PhD in educational studies is introduced.

• AVC re-opens expanded and renovated Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

• UPEI flag is raised for the first time.

• Special UPEI convocation is held in Iqaluit for Inuit MEd graduates.

• Athletes’ Village and several sports are hosted by UPEI during the Canada Summer Games.

• New residence is named Bill and Denise Andrew Hall.

• Mawi’omi Aboriginal Student Centre opens.

2010 • CIS women’s soccer championship is hosted by UPEI. • Portraits of past presidents unveiled at Robertson Library.

Don and Marion McDougall Hall

2014 • School of Sustainable Design Engineering is announced.

• CIS men’s soccer championship is hosted by UPEI. • C elebrating Student Achievement, a major undergraduate and entrance scholarship initiative, is announced.

• UPEI men’s soccer team medals for first time (bronze) at CIS men’s soccer championship.

• Main Building is dedicated as SDU Main Building.

2015 • INSPIRE! Campaign launches.

• UPEI women’s curling team competes at CISCurling Canada university curling championship.

• Ten-year agreement is signed by Atlantic provinces for AVC. Main Building post quad

2017 • Prestigious youth summer program, SHAD, is announced for UPEI in 2018.

• Dr. Kate Scarth is named inaugural chair in L.M. Montgomery Studies and Applied Communication, Leadership and Culture (ACLC).

• Schools of Business and Nursing become faculties.

2018 • UPEI partners with Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid on master of global affairs program.

• Mi’kmaq national flag is raised permanently on UPEI campus.

• Doctor of psychology program is approved.

• School of Sustainable Design Engineering becomes faculty.

2019 • UPEI nursing student Bailey Smith wins silver medal in the 60-metre dash at U Sports Track and Field championships.

• 2019 U SPORTS Women’s Hockey championship is hosted by UPEI. • Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation is announced for St. Peter’s Bay. • First students admitted in doctor of psychology program.

• New residence is announced.

Campus circa 2014

Campus circa 2003

• UPEI coat of arms is officially approved by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. • Inaugural Palmer Conference on Public Sector Leadership takes place.

W.A. Murphy Student Centre

2011 • UPEI’s first Canada Excellence Research Chair (in aquatic epidemiology) is awarded to Dr. Ian Gardner.

• MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing are established by family of former president, H. Wade MacLauchlan.

2012 • Panthers win first ever AUS women’s hockey championship.

• UPEI Climate Lab is established.

• Canada-Wide Science Fair is hosted by UPEI. • Health Sciences Building officially opens.

2013 • UPEI Strategic Plan 2013–2018 is endorsed by board of governors and senate.

14

School of Sustainable Design Engineering

2016 • School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences launches.

• School of Sustainable Design Engineering building officially opens.

• Creation of the School of Graduate Studies approved by senate.

• UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability announced.

K.C. Irving Chemistry Centre

Milestone event

History in the making UPEI unveils new terrace, announces endowment fund in honour of Alex B. Campbell Former premier Alex B. Campbell shows his enthusiasm at an event on the UPEI campus honouring his vision to create a provincial university.

On a sunny day at the end of July 2019, a cheerful group gathered in the UPEI Quadrangle. It was an exciting time as the crowd, which included past and current university presidents and chancellors, as well as past and present provincial premiers, came to celebrate 50 years of UPEI. The group also came together to honour the contribution of the man who could be called the father of UPEI, former premier Alex B. Campbell.

By the 1960s, the Prince Edward Island government began to acknowledge a serious shortage of educated and skilled workers and embarked on a critical study of its post-secondary education institutions, Prince of Wales College (PWC) and Saint Dunstan’s University (SDU).

The government, under the leadership of Campbell, concluded that forming a provincial university was the desired funding and service model for future students. The Prince Edward Island legislature passed the University Act in 1969, incorporating the University of Prince Edward Island. The last classes graduated from PWC and SDU that May and UPEI opened in the following September.

“Advocating for a single university in the legislature in 1968, I expressed the hope it would become ‘Our university. One that can grow as we grow. A university that all Islanders can support, utilize and cherish,’” said Campbell to the group. “Proudly, on this 50th anniversary, it can truly be said that the University of Prince Edward Island is successful in fulfilling its noble calling in the pursuit of faith, knowledge and service, whilst becoming one of the great small universities attracting and serving students the world over.”

That day, the university unveiled the new Alex B. Campbell Terrace in the UPEI Quadrangle near the W.A. Murphy Student Centre and announced the creation of an endowment fund in Campbell’s name for entrance scholarships.

“I’m deeply honoured that you have taken this initiative in my name,” said Campbell.

“I hasten to express my gratitude to President Alaa (Abd-El-Aziz) and to Chancellor (Catherine) Callbeck and John Bragg and the members of their scholarship committee, who have worked so diligently to launch this campaign.”

Before Campbell even began to speak, nearly $2 million of the new $5 million endowment had already been raised for the Alex B. Campbell University of Prince Edward Island Scholarships. The scholarships will be $2,000 each and awarded annually to first-time UPEI students who have graduated from a Prince Edward Island high school.

“This is great cause for celebration,” said Campbell. “Despite the challenging circumstances around its inauguration, the University of Prince Edward Island has flourished beyond my expectations. This success has been achieved not by chance or good luck, but rather by the wise governance of its successive chancellors, presidents, boards of governors, senates, student bodies and founders. And it has been bolstered by the generous financial support of its benefactors, its alumni groups, successive governments and the Island community at large.”

The working group behind the scholarship is led by UPEI Chancellor Catherine Callbeck and John Bragg and includes Judy Bragg, Don McDougall, Anne Smith, Jo-Anne Schurman, Fred Hyndman and Joseph Spriet.

The endowment and terrace were announced at a special ceremony as part of the Reunion Weekend celebrating 50 years of UPEI. Many key figures from UPEI’s history were in attendance, including founding president Dr. Ron Baker, president emeritus Wade MacLauchlan, past president Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” Epperly and current President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz. Premier Dennis King brought greetings from the province. Philip Brown, mayor of Charlottetown, and Sen. Brian Francis were also in attendance.

“During the past 50 years, the University of Prince Edward Island, our university, has sailed in weather fair and foul,” said Campbell.

“Six presidents, in turn, have taken command at the helm with exceptional leadership. And now, on this 50th anniversary of our university, we gather and celebrate its past with pride and embrace its future with unbridled confidence.”

“Sail on, University of Prince Edward Island!

Sail on!”

On behalf of Charlottetown City Council, I would like to congratulate UPEI on their 50th Anniversary!

Mayor Philip Brown BA ’81 BEd ’88 UPEISU President ’80 –’81 15

In loving memory

Enduring legacy

Remembering Father Charlie and his contributions to UPEI Over UPEI’s past five decades, there have been many great faculty and staff who have dedicated their lives to the Island’s university.

But there are likely none who affected the lives of, and crossed paths with, so many Islanders as the beloved Rev. Joseph Charles Cheverie, affectionately known by all as Father Charlie.

Rev. Joseph Charles Cheverie

The word spread quickly this past Labour Day weekend of the sad news that Father Charlie had passed away. “Our university lost a great friend in Father Charlie,” said Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UPEI’s president and vice-chancellor, shortly after hearing the news. “He had such an immense impact on students, faculty and staff, as well as the broader community.”

Father Charlie, a priest of the Diocese of Charlottetown, was in his 87th year and had only slowed down in recent months. Born in Charlottetown on Sept. 19, 1932, he was the eldest of nine children, the son of Charles and Clara (Austin) Cheverie. In his youth, he attended Queens Square School and then earned his bachelor of arts degree at Saint Dunstan’s University (SDU), where he was an accomplished athlete, playing both varsity hockey and rugby. He served in the Canadian Forces through the Canadian Officers’ Training Corps while at SDU and later as a summer military chaplain.

After earning his licentiate of theology from Holy Heart Seminary, Father Charlie was ordained in 1957, the same year he began graduate studies in biology at The Catholic University of America. Armed with a master’s of science and PhD, he began his career as a professor, teaching biology to generations of

Congrats on

atrasff,!

Ye 5t0 he UPEI S

To

mni Teams & Alu from

downtowncharlottetown.com 16

I could not have written a better scenario for my life.

— Rev. Joseph Charles Cheverie

students — first at Saint Dunstan’s University from 1962 to 1969 and then at UPEI from 1969 to 1997.

During his first 15 years as a faculty member, his duties as a priest consisted primarily of ministering to students and substituting in the various parishes of the diocese. Then, in 1975, in addition to teaching full time at UPEI, he was appointed pastor of St. Eugene’s parish in Covehead, which remained his “home away from campus” until retirement.

From 1998 to 2011, he also served as chaplain at UPEI. Sister Susan Kidd, UPEI’s current chaplain, remembers being invited to Prince Edward Island by Father Charlie nearly 10 years ago, when he was beginning to think about retirement. “But my guess would be that’s a word he didn’t know the meaning of; he wasn’t one to retire,” she said. “Although he left the campus ... in 2011 ... he was never farther away than a phone call.”

Father Charlie never did truly retire and was always on the go, officiating at weddings — for many of his former students — presiding over funerals and filling in for priests across

the province. Not only did he serve as a spiritual leader for many in the community, but he was also a leader in the cultural community.

Father Charlie had a lifelong love for music — in particular, old-time fiddle music. He became involved in the revival of traditional fiddling on Prince Edward Island and began directing the Queen’s County chapter of PEI Fiddlers during a time of low interest. After leading the group for 20 years, he was very pleased to have grown the membership and was content to pass the torch onto the next generation of fiddlers he had mentored.

Among his many contributions to student life at UPEI, Father Charlie took great pride in supporting students who pursued science with the goal of studying medicine, which was at one time a profession he had considered.

When interviewed on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his ordination, he said, “It was kind of ironic, too, because having thought about medicine, I ended up teaching those subjects which mostly those who were going for medicine would take. Anatomy, embryology, histology and so forth. I have a lot of people on P.E.I. who are taking care of me now [as doctors] who are my former students.”

Father Charlie received several awards over the years, including the Rotary Mentor Award and the Order of Prince Edward Island. He was a Paul Harris Fellow, professor emeritus at UPEI and was named a UPEI Founder in 2009. In 2015, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from UPEI in recognition of his many years of professorial, spiritual and cultural leadership.

Father Charlie’s funeral was celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, at a packed Saint Dunstan’s Basilica. Those in attendance could sense his presence, even imagining him delivering his signature homily line and one he lived by: “If you want to get a smile, give a smile.” The congregation left the church listening to the strains of the fiddle and to the special tune written especially in his memory, the Father Charlie Cheverie Reel.

As Father Charlie said back in 2017 when asked about the path he chose and whether he had any regrets, “No, I thanked the Lord.

I could not have written a better scenario for my life. It’s beautiful.” As will be his legacy.

Rest in peace, Father Charlie, with a fiddle and bow in your hand and a glint in your eye.

Time capsules

Flashback to the ’90s

Dr. Shannon Murray shares special times at UPEI as the university celebrated its 25th anniversary “When I think of UPEI in the ’90s, my mind instantly goes to The Barn,” said Dr. Shannon Murray. “It was the centre of life on campus and not just for students.”

The Barn was the beloved home of the UPEI Student Union, the campus radio station and the pub. Murray arrived as a new faculty member in the Department of English in 1989. She called the ’90s the “last age of The Barn.”

“I remember one year, (professor emeritus) Terry Pratt staged a huge, spectacular production of Dickens’ Mr. Pickwick in The Barn,” said Murray. “And it was filled with actors from across campus. Students, yes, but faculty, too. President Willie Eliot even had a role, if you can imagine!”

The Barn was by no means a theatre, but Pratt somehow made it work, using all the nooks and crannies and levels to his advantage in staging. He was successful in recruiting a certain young English professor to take on a role. “I played the role of Joe, the large, narcoleptic child,” said Murray with a laugh.

“I was eight months pregnant at the time, so neither of these demands on my character were much of a stretch.”

In 1996, Murray helped organize a 12-hour Bard-A-Thon in the faculty lounge in the SDU Main Building. For half a day, the words of William Shakespeare were recited non-stop as a fundraiser to help rebuild the Globe Theatre in London.

London from so many years ago. “I led a Maymester course to London and I was able to track down my main contact,” she said. “The entire class was invited to tour the Globe. We even saw the location of where the time capsules were placed. It was very exciting.”

Murray also remembers UPEI’s large, beloved personalities, including Dr. Frank Ledwell and Father Bolger. “They not only knew the names of all their students, but they knew their families as well,” she said. “They more than likely taught three generations of a family.”

Murray was able to quickly make UPEI her home, despite being from away. “I never felt that at all,” she said. “This campus welcomed me in a big way. And the ’90s were a special time for UPEI.” UPEI students participating in May-mester in 2019 approach the Globe Theatre in London.

UPEI Bard-A-Thon participants buried three time capsules in the foundation of the Globe Theatre in London, England.

“For a donation of $20 or more, the donor could do a reading,” said Murray. “I was delighted to see people come from all over campus — from the Faculty of Arts, Science, even the AVC.” If the group raised $500, they earned the opportunity to place a time capsule under the stage of the completed theatre.

“We tripled it,” recalled Murray. “So, we placed three time capsules. One commemorated the experience of our Bard-A-Thon, with photos and newspaper clippings. One told the story of UPEI. We included a copy of the university calendar, photos and other documents. The final was dedicated to Prince Edward Island. I remember placing one of the last receipts from the Abegweit ferry, which was being retired shortly after. And a $2 bill, which was about to be replaced by the toonie coin.”

Last May, Murray was able to reconnect with her main contact at the Globe Theatre in

Dr. Shannon Murray returned to the Globe Theatre this past May and revisited the location where the time capsules had been buried in the 1990s.

17

Sports

Top five Panther sport moments When UPEI was created in 1969, the new university built on the love of sports shared by its predecessors, Saint Dunstan’s University and Prince of Wales College. The birth of the Panthers was the beginning of a legacy of triumphs, sorrows, near misses and miracle moments. We gathered three familiar names and legends in their own right from the last 50 years of Panther sport to come up with a list of the top five moments in our first half-century.

The 2014–2015 UPEI men’s soccer team celebrated after capturing the CIS bronze medal on home turf.

The 2004–2005 UPEI women’s soccer team beat Dalhousie University to win the AUS championship.

2. Men’s soccer wins CIS bronze, 2014

4. Women’s soccer wins AUS gold, 2004–2005

“The place was electric,” said Norman Beck, a member of the 1984–1985 men’s hockey team and the UPEI Sports Hall of Fame.

The 1984–1985 UPEI men’s hockey squad was part of the glory years.

1. The glory years (1983–1989)

UPEI hosted the 2014 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championship tournament in men’s soccer and the Panthers rose to the occasion. “I mean, Lewis Page took those kids and moulded them over the course of time.

I don’t think there was a more celebrated bronze medal in Canadian history.”

The fall of 2004 was an outstanding season for an outstanding soccer program. “Looking at the stats for keeper Leslie Bradshaw, the team won the championship 2–0 over Dalhousie,” said Annear. “Leslie recorded the shutout. That was her 10th shutout in a row.

That’s over 11 hours of shutout play. That’s outstanding.”

There must have been something in the water. The men’s soccer team won three consecutive regional titles. Men’s hockey won the conference title in 1984–1985 in a dramatic overtime win. Both basketball programs won regional championships, with the women winning their third consecutive Atlantic title in 1989 and a silver medal at the nationals.

“There were so many memorable moments throughout that time,” said Ronnie Annear, varsity co-ordinator for UPEI Athletics and Recreation and a member of the men’s hockey team from 1986–1989. “I’ll use that as my number 1 because it’s hard to break that down.

It was the glory years for UPEI Panther sport, no question.”

The 2011–2012 UPEI women’s hockey Panthers represented the AUS conference at the nationals.

3. Women’s hockey wins AUS championship, 2012 The women’s hockey team went into the championship tournament ranked fourth, but they surprised everyone with a huge semifinal win against St. Francis Xavier University.

The Panthers would go on to win the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference title.

“Bruce Donaldson put countless hours into that program and to have him share that with his daughter Jamie Lynn? I mean, come on,” said Beck. “A father and daughter going on to win an AUS championship? That’s a great story.”

Bailey Smith is right on track.

5. Bailey Smith wins silver in U Sports 60-metre sprint, 2019 The group also nominated a current athlete, citing Bailey Smith’s incredible sprinting career. She took silver at the U SPORTS Track and Field championships this past spring in the 60-metre sprint.

“You have to see Bailey Smith,” said Alana Taylor, another UPEI Sports Hall of Famer, who played volleyball and soccer for the Panthers in the early ’90s. “She is fierce. She looks like she can run really fast. And the thing is, here she was, working toward a nursing degree at the time of the nationals. She did two 12-hour nightshifts before running her races.

She’s just really impressive.”

“She still has two years left in her eligibility,” added Annear. “She’ll be gunning for nothing less than gold next year. And we’ll still be talking about her in another 50 years.”

18

Did you know?

Remember when …

A funeral for Lou’s math textbook In 1954, Saint Dunstan’s University (SDU) student Lou McGinn finally passed math one. It only took him seven tries.

The Alumni Gym fire

UPEI’s Downtown Campus

Ever notice that the W.A. Murphy Student Centre looks like it’s a building inside of a building? It’s because it was designed to be exactly that. The new student centre was originally intended to be constructed around the Alumni Gym (built in 1950). The gym was lost in a fire in 2001 as construction crews began work on the expansion. The architect in charge changed the plans, but kept the “building inside of a building” idea, using the look of the old Alumni Gym as inspiration.

In the early days, UPEI had two campuses: the current campus on University Avenue was known as Malpeque Campus (the former site of Saint Dunstan’s University) and the old Prince of Wales College campus was known as Downtown Campus (now home to Holland College). The Downtown Campus was used for first and second-year classes, while upper classes were taught at the Malpeque Campus.

Crews were able to rescue some of the beautiful original stonework from the gym.

You can see it around the student centre, including in the Day Lounge.

Dr. Ron Baker, UPEI’s founding president, was known to shuttle students from one campus to another in his car.

His friend, the late Frank Zakem, remembered wanting to commemorate this occasion.

“We said, ‘This is too important just to let it go by.’ So, we had a funeral for his math book. We had a funeral procession. My dad had a van that looked like a hearse. We went all around the campus with everyone behind it, everybody with long faces because of this book. We took it behind the science building, we dug a hole and we buried it.”

The story pre-dates the founding of UPEI, but it’s become an important part of the lore of the campus. The typed funeral notice even notes the names of the pallbearers.

MARCH 12–15 MARS

to the University of Prince Edward Island on your

50th Anniversary from all of us at

Ticket information: gopanthersgo.ca/tickets

1-800-77-NOVUS

UPEI is proud host of the 2020 U SPORTS WOMEN’S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP and the 2021 U SPORTS MEN’S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP 19

Atlantic Veterinary College

UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College is the only faculty of veterinary medicine east of Quebec.

Going above and beyond Atlantic Veterinary College serving Atlantic Canada since the 1980s In September 1986, 52 students walked through the doors of the new Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) on the UPEI campus to begin their studies in veterinary medicine.

Four years later, they were the first to graduate from a veterinary college located in Atlantic Canada.

With the graduation of that first class in 1990 came full accreditation granted by the AVMA’s Council on Education. Since then, AVC has maintained full accreditation — a testament to the high quality of its educational program — and has graduated more than 1,600 veterinarians. With 68 students admitted per year — two-thirds being Atlantic Canadian students and the remainder international — AVC has one of the smallest class sizes among North American veterinary colleges.

AVC brought with it the first graduate studies program at UPEI: a master of science degree. Graduate students now come from around the world to work alongside world-leading researchers and earn master’s and doctoral degrees in areas ranging from aquatic and terrestrial animal health, to human health issues, such as neurodegenerative conditions and kidney disease.

aquatic animal health experts work directly with the aquaculture and wild fish industries to enhance the healthy development and management of aquatic food animals.

On the terrestrial animal side, AVC is an important resource for the agriculture industry in Atlantic Canada through its teaching and referral hospital, ambulatory service units for cattle and horses and integrated research and service in food animal health and production. Approximately 8,000 large and small animals are treated at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital on-site each year, while others are seen

AVC’s strengths in teaching, research and clinical veterinary service have made it a core economic driver for the province and the region.

— Dr. Tim Ogilvie

Since its establishment, AVC has built an impressive record in research regionally, nationally and internationally in areas that include veterinary epidemiology, biomedical sciences, pathology and microbiology and clinical medicine.

on farms, stables and racetracks throughout the region. Both the large and small animal sides of the teaching hospital are staffed by board-certified veterinary specialists, supported by a team of highly trained veterinary technicians and other staff.

Given the college’s location in Atlantic Canada, where the wild fishery and fish farming are important economic drivers, a strong focus on aquatic animal health was a natural fit. AVC is internationally known for its expertise in this area, particularly aquatic epidemiology and fish pathology. Its team of

Supporting AVC’s work in animal health is its diagnostic services unit, which conducts more than 400,000 mammalian and aquatic tests each year for clients in Atlantic Canada and beyond. The unit also provides a quality assurance program for more than 350 veterinary labs around the world.

20

Dr. Tim Ogilvie, a founding faculty member and a former dean, has watched the college grow in reputation and strength from its early days. “AVC’s strengths in teaching, research and clinical veterinary service have made it a core economic driver for the province and the region,” he said. “Well over 50 per cent of the veterinarians in Atlantic Canada are AVC graduates. The advent of AVC at UPEI brought specialty veterinary clinical services, such as cardiology and dermatology, to the region — services that had not been available to animal owners before the school opened. The college was also the genesis of research and graduate studies at UPEI and it is a major player in the development of the province’s bioscience cluster. We have a large footprint in the region and beyond and that is something to be proud of.”

Dr. Greg Keefe, the current dean and the sixth to lead the college, concurs with Ogilvie.

On faculty since 1996, he has been part of most of the major changes at AVC. Looking ahead, he strongly believes the college will continue to grow and adapt to the future needs of the veterinary medical profession — and the region where it is located.

“The current demand for veterinarians is very high in this region and nationally,” he said, “and, accordingly, so is the demand for our graduates. They provide animals in the region with expert medical care; they conduct research into problems facing animals and people; they teach and train future veterinarians; and they work with government and industry to ensure the health and sustainability of important economic sectors, like agriculture and aquaculture. With veterinary medicine encompassing animal health, human health, environmental health and public health, AVC is an important player in the sustainability of Atlantic Canada now and in the future.”

Reunions

Reflections of an alumnus Why UPEI has enjoyed more than 50 years of successful reunions

By John Dunphy, SDU Class of 1964 Last spring, two old friends asked me why I was heading to Prince Edward Island in mid-summer 2019. Besides the beaches and visiting with relatives, I added that my wife and I would be taking in a mini-reunion of sorts with university classmates at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI).

My friends, who are also university graduates but from other institutions, were taken aback. Both said they had only kept in touch for a few years with one or two classmates from their university days. When they quizzed me further, I replied that every five and 10 years, I was connecting with about two dozen classmates and, of those, I typically would see a half dozen each year on our Prince Edward Island trips.

Of all the people I know, it seems like very few are drawn back to their alma maters to reunite with old classmates. So, just what is it that draws me and my fellow Saint Dunstan’s University (SDU) graduates to our reunion celebrations?

We all have many of the same reasons for not keeping in touch: distance, preoccupation with career, marriage, family and a focus on new friends and colleagues in our current communities. I believe the difference is that graduates from SDU, Prince of Wales College (PWC) and UPEI have a combination of compelling reasons to stay connected.

Formative influences Until I started thinking about this issue of successful reunions at UPEI, I did not consider how my formative years played a part in going to university. When it comes down to it, what my parents and siblings said and did about education helped to shape me as a university candidate.

I was the youngest of four children in a hard-working household bent strongly toward having each child gain success in postsecondary studies. My father was a good man and my mother was a leader who exemplified traits that I subconsciously tried to bring to my life. I worked hard enough to succeed in my courses and balanced work and play.

I took on organizational commitments that enhanced my self-confidence. Setting goals, working co-operatively and participating in public speaking led to some remarkable campus and career successes.

Impact of a small campus

Critical role of the Alumni Office

Education at SDU took place in a cosy quadrangle of red brick buildings organized on a green campus of mature maples and elms on the outskirts of Charlottetown. Students could walk to classes, residences, dining and sports facilities. Though the campus footprint has grown in the 50 years of UPEI, now considered well within city boundaries, all of these attributes still apply and allow students to feel safe and at home.

The UPEI Alumni Office was smart to develop an alumni weekend at the end of July each year, when many graduates, now living all over the world, would be planning summer vacations. Milestone years are always recognized and, up until 2019, the 50th anniversary classes were from SDU and PWC.

Professors tended to be alumni who had returned from their PhD studies or from distant universities who were keen to join an attractive campus that was slowly growing with greater program offerings. Even with this growth in the ’60s, the intimacy between students and university professors remained, as it does today, allowing the possibility for close relationships between faculty, staff and students to flourish.

Active campus life encouraged Whether at SDU, PWC or UPEI, extracurricular activities of all kinds have always been encouraged and accessible. Everyone can participate somehow or somewhere on campus.

Friends from other large campuses envied our opportunities and the availability of good facilities back then and still do today.

Building strong academic foundations Back in the ’60s, the university had a reputation as a liberal arts school with strong educational standards and new preparatory offerings for students who sought further studies in engineering, medicine, dentistry, education, law and business studies.

The English programs at SDU certainly prepared me well. Although first-year English did not appeal to me much, I did take a secondyear course with a professor from Brooklyn teaching American literature. Dr. Brendan O’Grady won me over when he apologized that SDU did not offer courses in Canadian literature. (The truth is that only one or two universities in Canada did at that time.)

Instead, he ran a Canadian literature survey of fiction as our supplementary reading requirement. It may be no surprise that his initiative had such an impact on me that I specialized in Canadian literature for my thesis during graduate studies at Dalhousie University.

One way the Alumni Office has assured reunions work well is by maintaining traditions.

For example, the SDU tradition features a reception for the milestone class, an all-years celebration of mass, followed by a social and a Saturday dinner. PWC alumni also gather on the same weekend and have a luncheon, along with an afternoon celebration and guest speaker. Both groups are addressed by the current UPEI president, which certainly helps to connect alumni from all three institutions.

In many ways, my commentary — on formative influences, the strong spirit of engagement on a small campus, the interrelation of staff and students, a strong academic program and an office to support the enjoyment of returning graduates — goes a long way to answer the question posed to me as to why I was visiting Prince Edward Island on my summer vacation. And these factors remain relevant to the UPEI graduates of today.

I am grateful for the education and environment that encouraged my growth, gave me confidence and allowed me to gain friends for life, including the woman who would become my life partner. Participating in reunions offers me the opportunity to express my gratitude and enjoy visiting with friends who shared similar experiences. It also allows us to learn about current initiatives at UPEI that are contributing to the same quality education and supportive learning environment for students that we experienced more than 50 years ago.

The SDU class of 1969 enjoyed reconnecting with former classmates during the UPEI Reunion Weekend in 2019.

21

Afterwords

Dr. Edward MacDonald is a beloved teacher, editor and author and is widely known as the go-to person on Prince Edward Island for any and all historical comment.

Shaping the future Sharing a (sort of) history in five decades

By Dr. Edward MacDonald, Class of 1978 Chapter 1: In which the author makes an unpleasant discovery and engages in literary conceits I turned around yesterday and suddenly I was old. How did that happen? Why, just the other year, my brother-in-law dropped me off on campus so that I could register for frosh week. Just a month or so ago, I watched the Lady Panthers steamroll their way to an AUAA basketball championship. And isn’t that my favourite beanbag chair still plumped in the corner of the sunroom in the new library?

(Luckily not, since that would be gross. But I interrupt my literary conceit. Where was I? Ah, yes.)

But wait, the new library opened for business in January 1975, halfway through my first year at university. That was UPEI’s fifth year of existence (depending on how you count birthdays — one of our savvy presidents had us founded in 1804). So, if I’m old, that means UPEI must be old, too. OK, maybe not old by the standards of, say, Oxford or the Sorbonne. Still, 50 years is a long time. Long enough to be worth remembering.

Chapter 2: In which the author lays out their credentials, offers excuses and implies that somehow it’s all about them At an event a few weeks ago, I remarked that I had a long history with UPEI, mainly because I signally failed to leave it. I was an undergraduate here. I wrote large parts of a doctoral dissertation (and a book) in a little research room in the library. I’ve been on 22

various boards and committees and now, for 20 years, on faculty. Decades of doggedly hanging around hardly make me an expert, but since I’m an historian, you would think I could provide some sort of coherent narrative of UPEI’s first 50 years. I can’t. There are too many narratives, too many plots and subplots, too many characters and themes.

Besides, your narrator — to borrow from my other undergraduate major — falls well short of omniscience and is arguably unreliable. The best I can offer here is a handful of recollections and reflections, like change thrown down on the counter at the candy store by a hungry, hopeful child.

Chapter 3: In which I channel David Bowie (who was not a UPEI alumnus) and “turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes” Although I believe in progress, I’m not a big believer in Progress. Historians seldom are. But we do delight in tracing change over time. And UPEI has certainly changed. Consider for a moment the physical campus. The girdle of parking lots that once hung loosely around the university’s waist, ensuring a long, cold walk from car to class, is now cinched tight and crowded by new construction. The campus has put on weight and as it’s bulked up, we’ve even had to add a couple of notches to that parking belt. Soon we will leapfrog north across our wetlands to the upper end of our property.

And there are so many new buildings.

Each of them makes an architectural statement,

even if some of those are guttural and may involve expletives, and all of them in their own way respect the red brick heritage of the old Saint Dunstan’s campus. The Canada Winter Games bequeathed us a new field house. The Canada Summer Games left us some excellent playing fields and in between (thanks to some strategic, presidential positioning), we ended up with a swimming pool and a new rink — two, in fact.

Mind you, part of me (no doubt the extremities that were permanently frostbitten by its extreme cold) misses the old rink. Yet, my favourite physical feature of today’s campus has to be the intricate network of stone walkways that crisscross what is now dubbed the “Old Quad,” intersecting in a series of handsome plazas that honour with flowers and shrubs our several presidents.

Each of those presidents has left their stamp on UPEI. Today, a university president is a globe-trotting, glad-handing ambassador, courting collaborations, opportunities and funding. Our first president, Dr. Ron Baker, was a skilled diplomat, too, although his efforts focused mainly on the administrative alchemy of creating one university, one faculty and one community from what had always been two.

His successor, Dr. Peter Meincke, was easily our most energy-conscious president. And it was on his watch that the single most significant event in our history to date, the founding of the Atlantic Veterinary College, finally came to fruition.

Afterwords

Informed by his innate sense of tradition, Dr. Willie Eliot built important bridges to our educational antecedents, Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University, even as he sought balance in the direction of our growth. It was only fitting that his successor, Dr. Betsy Epperly, should become UPEI’s first female president. After all, she had been its very first student back in 1969.

Another alumnus, Wade MacLauchlan, then became its first Island-born president.

Suddenly, UPEI had come of age. His official portrait doesn’t include a white hard hat, but it should; he was a great builder. President Alaa Abd-El-Aziz (who invites us to go with his first name), our first president of non-European descent, lives perpetually in the realm of possibility, where his ambitions for UPEI know no bounds.

Amid so much change, the continuity comes from faculty and staff. We are two sides of the same coin. There are more of us than ever. We are better trained — on paper, at least — and more professional than ever. We might even be more productive, depending on how you count those beans. But we could take a lesson from those who have gone before us.

I will never forget the limitless patience of Bob Suen — or the intense, leg-scalding heat of his space heater — as he helped me unsnarl the knots in my weekly calculus assignment in a bleak corner office in Main Building.

Or my mentor Frank Ledwell, then serving a stint as dean of arts, who always waved me into his office with a big “How are ya?” on my post-graduate visits to campus, ushering me past his ever-protective administrative assistant and pretending he had all the time in the world for a former student evidently suffering from separation anxiety. There are so many others I could also name. So many faces that crowd my memory. Who I am as a teacher is very much a function of how they were with me.

Chapter 4: In which students are observed and appreciated from a professorial distance Don’t get me wrong. UPEI hasn’t been all sweetness and light, all teachable moments and soft-focus nostalgia. Like any family, we are afflicted with conflict and pettiness, frustrations and cross-purposes, crises in resources, crises of confidence and crises of conscience.

We’ve even gone on strike. Through all of that, it is the students who keep us grounded as an institution — students who remind us of why we’re here.

After 50 years, teaching remains at the heart of our mission. Any old historian could glibly remind you that a university isn’t really about bricks and mortar or even programs.

(And believe me, we’ve been stacking new curricula in recent years like 45s on an old turntable.) A university is about people. About relationships. And of those relationships, none are more important than the ones involving students. We’ve doubled our enrolment since my days as a UPEI undergraduate. And this year, 30 per cent of our enrolment is international students.

These few examples suggest that it is our student body, not just our intellectual pursuits, that puts the “universe” in “university.” It is our students who will most likely determine who we are as a university and what we bring to the wider world. UPEI has always reflected the composition and values of the society it serves, but when we do our job properly, we also can shape that society. If that’s applied knowledge, then it cuts across all faculties and programs.

Chapter 5: In which the author invokes the supernatural, makes a series of nostalgic allusions and steals a slogan I keep getting asked about ghosts these days. Our campus is older than our school and it seems the supernatural is an expected part of the historical patina of a place. Well, I do know a couple of ghost stories. And I do see ghosts, but not the sort that leave ectoplasmic residue.

As I wander around campus, I have a sort of double vision. I see both what we’ve been and what we are becoming. When I came to UPEI, its shadow was, as in the Led Zeppelin song that capped all of our dances back then, taller than our soul. After all, we were a selfconsciously new school that felt it had to turn

the page on a contentious past. We cast our own shadow now and our soul is larger than it was.

We began in 1969 as the Island’s university.

We still are, I think, but we’ve also become something more than that. Just what isn’t clear yet, but as another singer from UPEI’s youth observed, “Life’s for learning.” That’s not such a bad motto for a school as it enters its second half-century.

Dr. Edward MacDonald graduated from UPEI with a bachelor of arts (history and English) in 1978. After earning his doctorate in history from Queen’s University in 1984, he worked for 15 years in the Island’s provincial museum system before becoming a faculty member at UPEI in 2000. The professor of history, affectionately known as Dr. Ed, is a beloved teacher, editor and author and is widely known as the go-to person on Prince Edward Island for any and all historical comment. He has devoted his career and much of his personal time to helping his community understand that heritage matters. Among many honours, in 2019 Dr. Ed received the UPEI Distinguished Alumni Award. He was a regular contributor to the UPEI Magazine with his Afterwords column from 1996 to 2011, which he has kindly resurrected for this special commemorative publication.

Congratulations on

50 years!

From all of us at Island Coastal Services Ltd.

155 Belvedere Ave., PO Box 151, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K4 (902) 892-1062 www.islandcoastal.ca 23

The new home of the stories shaping our community and Canada’s East Coast.

Join us at

com 24

THE CHRONICLE HERALD CAPE BRETON POST THE GUARDIAN THE TELEGRAM JOURNAL PIONEER YOUR WEEKLY PUBLICATIONS