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The º£½ÇÉçÇø Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre is inviting the Island community to an open house on Saturday, May 4, 9:00 am-2:00 pm. The day will be jam-packed with something for everyone. Bring the family and see what the Sports Centre has to offer.

The event will kick off at 9:00 am with a motivational presentation entitled 'Finding your Butkus' by Emmy award-winner Bob Mueller. The presentation is Mueller's life story and has won him the 2008 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Feature from NFL Films. Mueller's NFL and NHL art has been featured in a number of shows including the Superbowl 42 Gala and for a combined 2011 NFL Hall of Fame Art Show in Ohio with then president of NFL Films, the late Steve Sabol.

Mueller, a former national and international martial arts teacher, has developed his story and art into a presentation designed to speak to high schools and to businesses. His motivational talks focus on what it's like to take your dreams and inner passions and bring them to life. He states that through desire and personal discipline, everyone has a talent to go from 'average to awesome.'

After Mueller's presentation, º£½ÇÉçÇø Athletics and Recreation will officially unveil Panther Academy-'a high performance experience' which introduces programming and camps available for youth of all ages.

'The goal of the department is to offer high performance experiences in sport, fitness, and education,' said º£½ÇÉçÇø Director of Athletics and Recreation Bill Schurman. 'And we want to showcase and introduce the programs that deliver these experiences at our open house.'

There will be information and demonstrations from º£½ÇÉçÇø fitness instructors, camp leaders, varsity coaches, and many more. There will be half-hour fitness classes from 10:00-11:00 am, Panther Academy demos from 11:00 am-2:30 pm, and fitness classes again from 12:30-1:30 pm, as well as TRX, spin, squash, and fencing demonstrations available throughout the open house.

Two º£½ÇÉçÇø student nurses will be on hand to check your blood pressure and provide information on the benefits of fitness in your daily routine. For the kids, information on all the great camps that º£½ÇÉçÇø has to offer will be available, and Pride will be helping with face painting and giving out tattoos. There will be door prizes and draws throughout the day.

For more information on the open house and Panther Academy, visit ar.upei.ca or call Panther Central at (902) 566-0368.

Sports Centre new operating hours: Monday-Friday, 6:00 am-9:00 pm, and Saturday- Sunday, 8:00 am-9:00 pm.

º£½ÇÉçÇø women's hockey Head Coach Bruce Donaldson is pleased to welcome Trenton, Ontario native Amy Mountenay to the Panther program for the 2013-14 season.

'Amy's leadership will be a great addition to the program,' said Donaldson. 'And while she will be joining our program as a forward, her previous experience as a defenceman provides versatility and really adds to the depth of the overall program.'

Currently attending Trenton High School, Mountenay played this past year for the Kingston Ice Wolves of Ontario's Provincial Women's Hockey League. She was the team captain and played as a defenceman earning 12 points-four goals and eight assists in league play.

'We are pleased to welcome Amy to the º£½ÇÉçÇø,' said º£½ÇÉçÇø Athletics and Recreation Director Bill Schurman. 'Amy is a great addition to our Panther family and we will do everything possible to ensure she enjoys her time with us and has a wonderful student-athlete experience.'

'Having the opportunity to go to school outside of Ontario and be a part of a new hockey team is truly amazing and exciting,' said Mountenay. 'Not many individuals have the opportunity to go to school and play hockey, and for that I am thankful-and lucky. I can hardly wait to go to º£½ÇÉçÇø. I know it will be a great experience for me. As a future student and athlete, I look forward to being a part of something great.'

Mountenay is enrolled in the bachelor of business administration program at º£½ÇÉçÇø.

The º£½ÇÉçÇø Panther Academy soccer program is opening its training sessions to all PEI soccer club coaches looking for additional training and coaching techniques.

'This is a great way for coaches to absorb more information to bring back to their own teams,' said Panther Academy soccer leader Lewis Page. 'Coaching is about acquiring more and more knowledge to incorporate into technical training and tactical strategies, and new ways to present concepts and deliver practices.'

Clubs coaches can observe Panther Soccer Head Coach Lewis Page and members of both the men's and women's soccer teams put the players through seven weeks of spring training. Sessions will include 1vs1 attacking and defending, passing and receiving, crossing and finishing, as well as tactical principles of play taught in small-sided games. Club coaches can attend, take notes, and ask questions.

Sessions begin May 13

º£½ÇÉçÇø's faculty of education would like to congratulate Carolyn Francis on receiving the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award. This award recognizes the contributions of volunteers from across the country. Francis, coordinator of practice teaching in the faculty of education, has been committed to connecting her province with people in developing countries.

As an educator, Francis has been closely involved in teacher development and training through the Canadian Teachers' Federation and Uganda Teachers' Union project; Teachers' Action for Girls (TAG), to enable Ugandan girls to remain in school; as well as a twinning program that links schools in Kenya with those in Prince Edward Island in conjunction with Farmers Helping Farmers. She has also served on the board of Camp Abegweit.

'It is an honour and a privilege to work and learn from Carolyn,' said Miles Turnbull, º£½ÇÉçÇø's Dean of Education. 'Observing and benefiting from her caring approach to students, her colleagues, and all of her tasks, I am not surprised that this very fine educator has been recognized with a Caring Canadian Award. Félicitations, Carolyn!'

During a ceremony at Rideau Hall on April 25, the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada presented the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award to 26 volunteers from various sectors. The ceremony highlighted National Volunteer Week which took place April 21-27.

Since National Volunteer Week in April 2012, contributions of more than 250 volunteers from across the country have been recognized with the Caring Canadian Award. Discover these recipients and some of their stories at .

Congratulations, Carolyn!

About the Caring Canadian Award

º£½ÇÉçÇø Athletics and Recreation Director Bill Schurman is proud to launch the º£½ÇÉçÇø Panther Academy. 'We have some of the best athletic facilities and talented staff in the country,' he said. 'We are positioning the Panther Academy to attract people of all ages, from everywhere, to enjoy a high performance experience and excellent customer service in all of our offerings.'

The Panther Academy will become the umbrella organization for all º£½ÇÉçÇø Athletics and Recreation programs including day/week camps; fitness classes; training; leagues; developmental, high performance, and travel clinics that are offered externally to individuals, groups, and teams. Participation in these activities will be targeted to all ages including the local Island community, Atlantic Canada, across Canada, and around the world.

Panther Academy participants will build self-confidence, learn from excellent role models including current and former student-athletes, and have the opportunity to increase their knowledge. All of the Panther Academy leaders provide a focused experience, while teaching skills, in a fun and safe atmosphere. The goal of the Academy is to ensure participants enjoy themselves, make lifelong friends, and try new experiences while growing as individuals.

The public is invited to hear more about the Panther Academy at tomorrow's Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre Open House from 9:00 am-2:00 pm. The day will be jam-packed with something for everyone- bring the family and see what the Sports Centre has to offer.

For more information on the Panther Academy, email pantheracademy@upei.ca or call Panther Central (902) 566-0368.

The following was distributed by Canadian Parents for French PEI:

Canadian Parents for French PEI, a branch of a National network of volunteers which promotes and creates opportunities for Canadian youth to learn and use French as a second language, has announced the winner of its Educator of the Year Award for the past year. The award is presented annually to a person who has shown exceptional support and dedication to the quality and availability of French language programs in PEI schools. This year's recipient is º£½ÇÉçÇø Dean of Education Miles Turnbull.

The º£½ÇÉçÇø Wind Symphony has released its latest CD, 'Four Horsemen,' a compilation of selected works from performances during the 2012-13 academic year. Recorded live in º£½ÇÉçÇø's Dr. Steel Recital Hall, this CD features many contemporary wind band pieces including works by two emerging Canadian composers.

The CD begins with Dmitri Shostakovich's 'Festive Overture,' a masterpiece by this Russian composer, consisting of an opening fanfare followed by driving, energetic, and lyrical themes. º£½ÇÉçÇø's composition professor Dr. Richard Covey was commissioned to write a piece for the Wind Symphony with funding from the PEI Council of the Arts, which was premiered during the fall semester. This piece expands upon the general style of a fanfare, exploring different perspectives of the 'majestic' through contrasting musical gestures and stylistic features.

The title track 'Four Horsemen' was written by MUN composition professor Andrew Staniland. It's derived from the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which is described in The Bible's Book of Revelation. Staniland drew inspiration from the four corners of the earth, four horsemen and four angels, interpreting them beyond their caricature roles, echoing an ancient knowledge about astronomy and celestial movement that set his creativity alight. The resulting piece is a fierce yet inquisitive modern work that is more about the joy and inspiration of scientific knowledge than about an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world.

º£½ÇÉçÇø saxophone instructor Kevin MacLean is the featured soloist with his rendition of Claude T. Smith's 'Fantasia,' which exploits the technical and lyrical elements of the saxophone. Other significant contemporary pieces include David Maslanka's 'Traveler' and David Sampson's 'Moving Parts.'

This is the fifteenth CD recorded by the º£½ÇÉçÇø Wind Symphony, all under the direction of Dr. Karem J. Simon. Copies are now available for purchase at the º£½ÇÉçÇø Bookstore.

º£½ÇÉçÇø was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Mary (Nicholson) Ross, honorary degree recipient and former head resident of Marian Hall. Ross passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at the Dr. John Gillis Memorial Lodge, on Saturday, May 4. She was 94 years old.

Raised in Flat River on her family farm, she graduated from Prince of Wales College and began her teaching career at the age of 16. After 32 years of teaching, Ross accepted a position with º£½ÇÉçÇø where for 13 years, she became the head resident of Marian Hall, a men's dormitory. In 1995, the University paid tribute to Ross and her work by awarding her with an honorary degree.

'On behalf of the entire University community, I'd like to extend sincere condolences to Mary's family and friends,' said º£½ÇÉçÇø President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz. 'º£½ÇÉçÇø was fortunate enough to work and learn from this remarkable woman, and during this time, we, too, feel a tremendous loss.'

The following is a passage from her honorary degree citation which references her time as head resident and describes her selflessness, compassion, and character. 'Many of those young men-sometimes lonesome, often afraid and uncertain of direction or goal in life-owe a degree of their later success to her wise counsel and to her sympathetic ear when no one else seemed to be listening or to care. Indeed, some of these students will tell you that, without her influence in their lives, they would never have completed university at all.'

Online condolences may be expressed at .

The º£½ÇÉçÇø Board of Governors approved a balanced budget for the 2013-14 operating year at its regular monthly meeting Thursday night on the º£½ÇÉçÇø campus.

It was reported earlier this year that º£½ÇÉçÇø faced a shortfall of $9 million between projected revenues and expenditures for the time frame May 1, 2013-April 30, 2014. According to the University Act, º£½ÇÉçÇø must table a balanced budget; therefore, the proposal to the Board needed to strike a balance between tuition revenue increases and expenditure reductions to preserve services, maintain quality, and keep education affordable at the Island's only university.

President and Vice-Chancellor Abd-El-Aziz said, 'The University administration addressed its budget with a thoughtful approach and kept students and staff at the forefront of our deliberations. As of tonight, we have an approved, balanced budget, but it is based on a number of assumptions. We need to continue to work diligently to achieve projected revenue targets and keep costs under control to avoid any further adjustments.'

While º£½ÇÉçÇø tuition fees will remain among the lowest in the Atlantic Provinces for both Canadian and international undergraduate students, an increase of four per cent was approved. This translates into an increase of $21 per course. Since 2003, the average annual tuition increase has been 3.1 per cent.

º£½ÇÉçÇø Student Union President Anastasia Smallwood added, 'As representatives of the students of º£½ÇÉçÇø we, the º£½ÇÉçÇø Student Union, dislike any increase to tuition. However, we understand the difficulties faced by the University in the creation of the 2013-14 budget. We appreciate the fact that student interests have been put first and that the tuition increase has been kept to a minimum.'

There were no core programs affected by this budget despite the University experiencing many pressures. The status quo provincial operating grant combined with normal inflationary effects, as well as salary increments, pension commitments, benefit costs, heat, electricity, deferred maintenance, and HST, were cost drivers.

Throughout the budget process, administrators across campus worked to minimize the impact on º£½ÇÉçÇø's most valuable resource-people-by reducing non-salary expenditures as much as possible and employing a number of cost cutting measures. However, with 73 per cent of expenses allocated to salaries and benefits, some job reductions will be unavoidable in order to balance the budget.

The approved will be available online May 10, 2013.