Alumni Award recipients announced

The 2007 Distinguished Alumni (DAA) and Young Alumni Award (YAA) winners have been selected and will be awarded on Oct. 25, 2007. This year's winner of the DAA is Gorman Brothers' Chief Forester Nick Arkle. Nick attended Okanagan College from 1980-81 and pursued general studies. He has worked for the Gorman Brothers Sawmill for nearly three decades. Nick has been commended for his community work, taking leadership roles in the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, Okanagan Partnership and with the UN where he serves as a liaison for the organization Hope for the Nations.

Penticton's own Corinne Inman will receive the YAA for her accomplishments as an entrepreneur, graphic designer and valued community partner. Corinne attended Okanagan University College and received a diploma in Business Administration in 2002. After receiving training in digital graphic design, Corinne opened her own graphic design company, Morpheus in June of 2005 in Penticton. She has served as marketing director for Peachfest and has been nominated for two Penticton Wine Country Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence awards for Best New Business and Young Entrepreneur.

Winner of George Ryga award for Social Awareness in B.C. Writing and Publishing announced

Penticton-born B.C. author Harold Rheinisch has won the George Ryga award for social awareness in B.C. writing and publishing. Rheinish's book, The Wolves at Evelyn - Journeys through a Dark Century chronicles the author's family history as they migrated from Germany to B.C.'s interior. Rheinisch will be honoured at a gala celebration on July 27 at the Vernon Powerhouse Theatre. For more information read the Public Affairs press release.

Early birds get the worms - Next Steps winners announced

Congratulations to Linda Bastien and Stephanie Paul who both won Next Steps early bird registration draw prizes. Linda won a Hotel Eldorado romance package that includes a one-night stay at the Kelowna waterfront hotel complete with a rose petal turn down service, chocolate dipped strawberries and breakfast for two. Stephanie won a one-night stay in a deluxe guest room at the Manteo Resort in Kelowna. Stay tuned for additional announcements as more prizes are drawn in the weeks to come before Next Steps. If you haven't signed up for Next Steps, go online to register for the second annual employee learning conference.

College receives environmental award from Philips

Okanagan College's Steve Robinson was presented with a Philips Environmental Awareness and Knowledge (PEAK) award. Okanagan College is the first organization in the Okanagan to receive this award for reducing the amount of toxic mercury in the local environment through the use of Alto low mercury light bulbs in facilities throughout the College. Philips executives applauded the College for demonstrating environmental stewardship and sustainability. Okanagan University College began using the light bulbs in 1995. In the 12 years since then, the College has prevented 231 grams or 0.51 lbs of mercury from impacting the local environment. Considering just one teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a small lake, reducing the amount of mercury by more than half a pound is certainly something to be proud of.

IT Services web site re-vamped

On Monday, July 30, the IT Services home page will sport a new look and introduce a few new features. Over the past couple of years, IT Services has been focused on streamlining support functions in order to minimize response and issue resolution times. These efforts are reflected in the redesigned web site, which brings together the most requested services on the home page. Features of the site include:

This message will be updated regularly by IT Services support staff to report the current status of all College systems including email, the web site, myOkanagan, Banner and file / print servers.



Click anywhere on this section to chat online with an IT Services technician. Whenever a technician is logged in, you will see the ONLINE message.





If you are not already logged in to myOkanagan, this allows you to log in and bypass the regular myOkanagan login page.







This section enables single-click access to check for open labs at each of the four main campuses.



Clicking this link on the “who we are” page will display an org chart for IT Services that allows you to zoom in or out, search the chart and Ctrl-click on any box for additional details.

Camp OC

Okanagan College's Continuing Studies fourth annual Camp OC for children in Grades 3-9 is receiving great reviews as it enters its fourth week of operation. On July 13, students in the weeklong program, Exploring College and Culture for Aboriginal Youth, performed in a play for parents and friends to showcase what they had learned throughout the week. Next week exciting camps such as Teen Cuisine, Wizard's Academy and Computer Animation will be offered on campus. For more information about Camp OC contact Lorrie Bauer.





A member of the first graduating class of the Trades Technology Teacher education diploma program was featured in an article in Kelowna's Daily Courier on July 13. Read about Gregory Stickney in, Dream coming true for soon-to-be teacher or check out the Public Affairs press release.

A press release issued by Public Affairs resulted in some well-deserved media coverage of English professor and winner of the bpNichol award for poetry, Jake Kennedy. Read more about Jake in the Vernon Morning Star, Professor honoured for poetry, the Capital News, Okanagan College prof wins national poetry award or the Okanagan Saturday, Teacher wins bpNichol award for poetry. For more about Jake, visit the People section of this page and listen to some of his original poetry.

An alumnus of the Okanagan School of Business was recently chosen as the executive director of the Downtown Kelowna Association. John Perrott graduated from the Business Administration program and has quickly made his mark on Kelowna's business community. Read more about John in the Daily Courier, New executive leads association in time of change for downtown.

The Vernon Morning Star ran a feature article about the success of the Student Connections program. Read more about how Business Administration student Sarah Duthie and her colleagues are helping small and medium-sized businesses such as Community Futures in Tech-savvy students help businesses.

Subsequent media coverage on the Jamaican initiative was received in the July edition of the Business Thompson Okanagan in, Jamaicans to help with labor shortages. For those who might have missed it, this week Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Caribbean leaders in Barbados in an effort to establish new partnerships and enhance relationships between Canada and Caribbean nations.

The Associate Dean of Arts provided insight into marriage in an era of what he calls luxo-monoculture consumerism in his Daily Courier column. Read more about Stan Chung's perspective on marriage in, Waiting for D Day.

The Kelowna Capital News reported on the College's expansion of the Heavy Duty and Commercial Transport Mechanic program in a July 13 article, College ramps up mechanic training.




Do you have comments, questions or a submission for INSIDE OKANAGAN COLLEGE? Please email Public Affairs c/o Christine Ulmer.

The next edition of INSIDE OKANAGAN COLLEGE will be issued on August 3, 2007.

July 20, 2007, Vol. 1 Issue 8

College adopts Fascieux creek

A team of hardy individuals from the KLO Campus braved 35 degree plus temperatures on July 12 to officially adopt Fascieux creek. For the past five years the College has adopted a section of the creek that is adjacent to the campus. The first day was a success with the team pulling out all kinds of trash from the creek and ridding the banks of thistle and mustard plants. Further clean up expeditions are being planned for the late summer and fall but for now the turtles, fish and birds spotted living in and by the creek have a cleaner environment to enjoy.

Landscape design plan

On July 6 a special summer Pit Stop was held at the Kelowna campus for staff and students to view a new landscape design plan for Kelowna. More than 100 people took part in the plan review, including 15 students. According to Regional Dean Heather Schneider, more than 90 per cent of the feedback was positive and students and staff were happy to see changes are being made to the campus. All staff are invited to view a pdf of the plan and contact Heather with any additional feedback.

Phone Books

In the interest of saving paper and subsequent recycling Okanagan College will not be distributing a Yellow Pages book to every desk. There are a number of on-line services now available that staff are encouraged to use:  Canpages  InfoTel  Telus  Yellow Pages    

If you require a print copy of the phone book for your office, a limited number are available. To request a copy, submit an IT service request.

50/50 winner announced

Congratulations to Chris Castanier from the English department in Salmon Arm who won today's payday draw for $412.50. The Okanagan College Foundation 50/50 Staff Lottery is open to all employees of Okanagan College. If you wish to sign up for the lottery, registration forms are available from: Advancement & Alumni/Okanagan College Foundation office (P103, KLO Campus) or Human Resources (Landmark V, Kelowna) or online.

Wireless Network

On August 9 the name of the Okanagan College wireless network will be changing to “OC” from “OUC.”  You can find information about how to update the configuration of your laptop at webapps-1.okanagan.bc.ca/ok/support/software/wireless.

Spam Filtering

On August 9 Okanagan College will be changing to a new spam filtering system. All faculty and staff e-mail accounts will be automatically enrolled in the new system as will all My Okanagan e-mail accounts. You will notice that the spam report you receive every day looks a little different. If you do not want your e-mail filtered, please submit an IT service request.

Informal Learning Space project

The success of the informal learning space created in the student services building at the Kelowna campus has resulted in an expanded project to create more informal learning spaces on the campus for students, staff and the community to access.  Spaces have been identified in the Health, Laboratory and Business buildings to create more social, meeting and casual spaces. In these spaces seating areas will be created, access to technology made available along with the addition of white boards and other learning supports included for the fall 2007. If you would like to provide feedback or have ideas for these spaces, please contact Heather Schneider, Regional Dean Central Okanagan.




July 26 - Slo-pitch at the Kelowna campus will take place next Thursday at 4:30 p.m. As always, everyone is encouraged to attend and anyone with questions can contact Nathan Bartlett.

Aug. 24 - The 2007 graduating class of Practical Nursing will celebrate their achievements at a convocation ceremony at the Kelowna campus lecture theatre at 1:30 p.m. Contact Stephanie Paul for more details.

Aug. 23-24 - Don't miss Next Steps 2007! The two-day employee learning conference is shaping up to be bigger and better than last year and all College staff are invited to attend one of the two days to receive professional development, network with colleagues and provide feedback on issues affecting Okanagan College, its staff and students. For more information about Next Steps or to register, go online or contact Marian Gruber or Michelle Lowry.

CBC launches a Verse to Summer with Okanagan College

A new summer radio feature on CBC was launched last week with guest poet and Okanagan College English professor Jake Kennedy. A Verse to Summer is hosted by the CBC's Marion Barschel and airs every Friday morning throughout the summer. Listeners act as poet muses when they submit their ideas for original poetry based on the theme of a summer first. On July 13 Jake Kennedy revealed an original poem he wrote after a listener requested he write about a first experience at a summer drive-in. This week Jake's colleague in the English department, Alix Hawley, was invited to write a poem about the first second of a dip in cold water.

Listen to Jake's poem, The Light is Real or Alix's take on a dip in cold water, Consider the Chillies.

A pioneer remembered - Alan Graham Scutt

One of Okanagan College's early professors, long-time Kelowna resident and well-known teacher Alan Scutt, passed away peacefully at age 83, with his family at his side, on July 1, 2007. Alan moved to Kelowna in 1955 where he taught Social Studies and History at Kelowna Senior Secondary (KSS). He obtained a master's degree in US History and in 1968, was the first History professor at the newly formed Okanagan College, where he taught until he retired at age 60. In his gentle and quiet way he provided a lifetime of enjoyment to his family taking time to enjoy camping, fishing, boating, waterskiing, snow skiing and travel. He was a long standing member of the Kelowna Ski Club and one of the original 10 Skiers owners at Big White. Alan is survived by his wife Paula, daughter Ursula (Len) Bates, son Bill (Pamela) Scutt, grandchildren Tony (Heather) Bates, Brad (Jody) Bates and great grandchildren Owen and William Bates.

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