$28 million announcement bodes huge growth in Penticton

Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation

Representatives from the Federal and Provincial government were on-site at the Penticton campus on Wednesday to announce plans and $28 million in funding for the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation.

The 8,500 square-metre (91,000 square-foot), two-storey building will provide space for classrooms, trades shops, social space, research space, cafeteria space, a women’s resource centre, a gymnasium, fitness room and rooftop running track. The building will nearly double the current size of the Penticton campus and will be built to LEED Gold standards, utilizing sustainable building technologies and processes and will use alternative and renewable energy sources. For more details about the Centre of Excellence, read a press release from the Provincial government or watch video of the announcement from CHBC TV.

College passes $82.8 million budget - tuition unchanged

Okanagan College’s Board of Governors passed an $82.8 million annual budget on Mar. 31, which will include funding for 200 new full-time student spaces at Okanagan College, expansion of trades, health and academic programming, and will not result in an increase in tuition for students. Read the Public Affairs press release for more details or visit the media section to read full coverage. 

Fine, Marchand and Armstrong to become Honorary Fellows

Robert Fine	Barbara Marchand	Charles Armstrong

Okanagan College will recognize the contributions of three distinguished Okanagan residents with Honorary Fellow status at a series of Convocation ceremonies this June. Robert Fine, Manager of Economic Development for the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission; Barbara Marchand, First Nations artist and educator and Charles Armstrong, retired corporate officer, will join a select group of Okanagan College Honorary Fellows based on their respective contributions to the economy, culture and social strength of the region. For more information, read the Public Affairs press release.

Connections 2009

Sustainability - students, employees, campuses, communities

Please join your colleagues for Connections 2009! Mark your calendars to attend one day: Wednesday, August 19 or Thursday, August 20. Connections offers the opportunity to reflect on the past years' successes and get inspired for a new year. Do you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions about what you would like to see at this year's event? The organizing committee is looking for your input! Contact Kaya Forest.

Civil Engineering Technology students win catapult challenge

A team of five Civil Engineering Technology students from Okanagan College performed a near record-breaking demonstration of analytical and technical command when they captured first-place at the Western Canadian Wood Catapult Competition in Vancouver in late March.

The team of Chris Miller, Craig Stickland, Dave Sonmor, Kelly Frame, and Thao Kenny scored 1,809 points in 30 minutes after accurately hitting targets set at 20, 30 and 45 meters. Their simple trebuchet design and hours of dedicated practice resulted in the team solidly beating the second-place team from UBC Engineering (565.3 points) and the third-place finishers from BCIT (537 points). To read more about the team's success, link to the Public Affairs press release or watch a clip on youtube.

Campus-to-Campus breaks record

A record-breaking number of runners took part in the seventh annual Campus-to-Campus Half Marathon and Bookworm Relay Race. More than 470 runners took part in the 21.2 km race, which, despite having a chilly start, took participants on a beautiful run through Kelowna. The winner of the men’s race was Hans Aabye with a time of 1:14:13 and in the women’s race, Christy Lovig defended her 2008 title with a winning time of 1:25:40. In the relay, the first place team was The Hybrids, who completed the course in 1:36:42.

The annual race is a highly anticipated community event that is extremely well organized, thanks to a dedicated race crew led by Jane Muskens, Mike Craig, Jenn Naiman and Randy Werger. Campus-to-Campus organizers received a touching email after the race from half-marathon runner Denyse Turcot.

“Just a short note here to thank you – all of you – again for a great race! I came in last – again! But that is OK, I am glad I did it and I want to tell all of you that you do a great job in every way! The spirit is great. It was just a wee bit cold waiting - in the cold  - for 30 minutes before the race started but other than that…you did a great job!”

A significant number of College staff took part in both the relay and half marathon including runners from trades, CS, the Board of Governors, the President’s Office and IT, to name a few. Check out the photo gallery or watch the start on youtube.

Habitat for Humanity breaks ground with residential construction students

Partners in the Habitat for Humanity Home for Learning broke ground at the site of the 2009 Home for Learning, which will see Okanagan College’s residential construction students complete the framing of a home for the charitable organization. Marking the moment are, from left to right: Dave Peters, Habitat for Humanity; David Kalaski, SD 67; Brian Hughes, Okanagan College Board of Governors; Donna Lomas, Okanagan College Regional Dean and Randy Werger, Associate Dean of Trades Okanagan College.

At the KLO cafeteria, change is in the air - or should we say, in the food!

The cafeteria has taken several steps to make our food service more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible:

Currently, all of the vegetable waste resulting from cafeteria food production is composted at Bylands Garden Centre. (Watch out for composting available throughout the KLO campus within the next year.)

Goodbye styrofoam take-out! For a meal on-the-go, they now offer molded fiber containers that are biodegradable, made from sugarcane and bamboo, and meet the ASTM D 6868 standards specifications for compostability. 

The cafeteria’s coffee provider, Seattle’s Best, offers several Fair Trade Certified™ and organic coffee choices. Showing real leadership, the cafeteria has committed to offer exclusively Fair Trade Certified™ and organic coffee within a year.

To do your part to eat responsibly:
- Bring your own travel mug to the cafeteria for coffee. The maximum they charge is for a 16-ounce cup, even if you have a larger travel mug.
- Don’t use take-out! unless you are actually going somewhere.  Choose ceramic plates and metal cutlery and save yourself the take-out fee. The cafeteria even offers “to stay” small coffee mugs.
- Choose organic and Fair Trade Certified™ coffees… and tell the staff that you appreciate those choices.
- Choose vegetarian meals more often; animal protein takes 10x the energy and makes 10x the CO2 emissions as plant protein.
- Watch your waste: take only what you plan on eating, even at the sumptuous buffet!
Learn more about Sustainability at Okanagan College.

Kelowna campus cleans up

Staff, including the President, at the Kelowna campus took part in the Central Okanagan Regional District’s 20-minute Community Makeover on April 1. Armed with trash bags, tongs and gloves, a contingent of staff scoured the campus for garbage in an effort to help beautify their workspace.

While staff such as Facilities manager Graham Kershaw (left) roamed the KLO campus on the lookout for garbage, Okanagan College’s Enviro Club completed the second phase of their trash audit.

Members of the club combed through a selection of Okanagan College’s garbage from various locations on campus, determining how much compostable and recyclable materials were included in the trash. The College was challenged to audit its trash and reduce waste late last year by UBC Okanagan. With the second and final phase of the audit complete, the Enviro Club will have results from the process in the coming week. Stay tuned to Inside Okanagan College for more details. 

Dental Assistant students partner with community to help those in need

Okanagan College’s Dental Assistant class at the Kelowna campus spent a full day volunteering their skills when they opened up their lab to offer services to people who otherwise would not be able to afford them. The College students worked under the supervision of local dentists and their instructors, who also volunteered their time and expertise. Read more about the students’ efforts to give back to their community in the media section.

Norm Coe to retire

After 31 years of service to Okanagan College, Norm is moving on to new things! Norm began his career at Okanagan College in 1978 as a Technical Assistant for Electronic Engineering Technology. He also served on negotiation committees for the BCGEU and became an instructor in 1996. Norm is looking forward to a lot more fishing, woodworking, and travel. Please colleagues and friends in celebrating his career April 17, 3 – 5 p.m. in the cafeteria. Appies will be served and a cash bar available.

Kaitlyn Virginia Whibley arrives

Congratulations to Information Technology’s Rick Whibley and his wife Christina, who recently welcomed a new addition to their family. Kaitlyn Virginia Whibley was born on April 2 and weighed in at eight pounds, seven ounces. 

Honours BBA students exhibit excellence in research

A select group of students from the Okanagan School of Business presented the findings of their research projects last week as a part of their involvement in the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration program. The demanding program requires students to work on a term project in partnership with a local business. The student researchers work closely with mentors from the community and the Okanagan School of Business.

Among the six projects completed this year was a Key Retention Study of employees at the City of Kelowna (conducted by Michele McCready), a study of time efficiency for opening clinical trials with the BC Cancer Agency (conducted by student and Board of Governor's member Zhen Zhou), an Alternative Energy Industry Study for the EDC (conducted by Lindsay Phillips), and an International Nurse Attraction and Integration Study with Interior Health (by Carrie Desjarlais), to name a few.

Awards were presented to Michele McCready for the best research report, Juan Du Toit for best research presentation and Michele McCready and Brett VanderHoek jointly accepted the award for academic achievements.




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 Friday, April 24, 2009.

April 9, 2009 Vol. 2 Issue 25

WebCT upgrade underway - Summer Session courses to run in Blackboard

Effective May 4, Okanagan College will be upgrading WebCT CE 4 to Blackboard CE 8 to support both in-class and distance education courses. Blackboard is not a new product, but the regular upgrade version for WebCT. It carries a new name because Blackboard Inc. bought WebCT in 2006. The interface looks quite different but it has the same basic functionality with several significant areas of improvement.
 
Course shells for Summer and Fall ‘09 sections are now available and content migration is underway. Effective May 4 the current WebCT links in MyOkanagan and QuickLinks will take you to the new Blackboard login page. Alternative links to the old WebCT site will be provided for current courses that extend past that date. For more information on login, course migration and a selection of Blackboard tutorials visit the EdTech eLearning page or contact Mike Minions, Educational Technology Coordinator.

Ceremonies season is nearly upon us!

Faculty who wish to participate in the Convocation procession can contact Karma Lacoff in Public Affairs to order regalia for the ceremonies. Please send Karma an email with your height, highest credential earned and the date of the ceremony you will be attending. The deadline for receiving regalia orders is April 13, if attending Commencement (June 5) or Spring Convocation (June 6). April 29 is the order deadline if attending Summer Convocation (June 25).

Please visit: www.okanagan.bc.ca/ceremonies for more information.

Go green on Earth Day

April 22, 2009 is Earth Day in Canada. Do your part to reduce emissions by carpooling. For more information visit: www.carpool.ca.

Results for Board of Governors and Education Council March Elections

Congratulations to the successful candidates in the March 2009 Election to the Board of Governors and Education Council. New members on the Board of Governors: Lianne Rozniak and Michael Conlin. New members on Education Council: Sheilagh Seaton,
Michelle Nicholson, Barbara Nudd and Terry Kosowick.

Textbook request deadline

Campus Stores is anxiously awaiting textbook requests for anyone teaching spring and summer courses. Please be aware that April 15 is the text request deadline for the fall semester so please place your requests with Gord Stefansson, and Gord can add any applicable requests to the April buyback list so the bookstore can put some cash into the students’ pockets as they head off to enjoy the summer. Campus Store buyback runs:

April 20 – 24 & 29 in Kelowna
April 27 in Penticton
April 28 in Vernon

18th Annual Charity Golf Tournament

The Okanagan College Foundation and partner Whillis Harding Agencies will host their 18th annual charity golf tournament on Thursday, May 21 at the Okanagan Golf Club. The event raises funds that contribute to financial aid and awards for Okanagan College students. Participation in the tournament costs $195 per golfer before Thursday April 9, after which the entry fee becomes $215 per golfer. To find out more about the tournament, or to register, go online.

Kelowna Ladies Golf Tournament

Once again the Michaelbrook Golf Club will be the place for the Okanagan College Kelowna Women’s Golf Tournament, which will be held on Wednesday, June 3, 2009. Interested golfers can put together a team of four and contact Angie March to register. This year's format is slightly different - you can sign up as a single, twosome or foursome. Friends and relatives are welcome to join. The registration fee of $35 includes golf and dinner and prizes. Registration forms are now available in the Regional Dean's office in Kelowna.

50/50 winner announced

Congratulations to Norah Bowman-Broz from the English Department in Vernon who won today's payday draw for $490. 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), Human Resources (Landmark V, Kelowna) or online.

Catch the Wave and use the online web requisition

 Tips and Tricks

A requisition that is in an “unfinished” status, and has not been submitted to Purchasing can be changed or deleted. A submitted requisition will have one of three statuses  -  Posted, Purchase Order or Cancelled.

To check the status of a web requisition click on requisitions and then Requisition Status. Complete the applicable field(s). To copy a requisition - Click on requisitions and then requisition status.  Enter the number of the requisition you wish to copy. Then click on the “paper icon” under the Copy heading. To add notes to your web requisition click on the “bubble” - icon found on the extreme top right. To add attachments click on the “paper clip” icon found on the extreme top right and then on the “green cross” icon.

Check out the Purchasing Website for more information or if you have any questions or require Web Requisition assistance. Call 862-5613 or email (purchasing@okanagan.bc.ca).

We would like your comments or concerns, and will gladly answer any questions you may have related to the areas for which the Purchasing Department is responsible.  Follow this link to a Feedback Form.




April 8 - Okanagan College English professor Dr. Alix Hawley will join Brian Bartlett and Cathy Mamo for The Lake: A reading Series from 7:30 - 9:30 at at the Okanagan Regional library's Downtown Kelowna branch (1380 Ellis Street). Please contact Nancy Holmes at 250.807.9369 for more information.

April 23 – Communications professor Marc Arellano will screen his documentary, kə nā dē ən, at the Paramount Theatre in Kelowna at 9 p.m. Marc’s short film has been nominated in the Okanagan Best Home Grown category by the Okanagan Film Festival. This is the second major success for Marc’s film, which was a finalist in CBC Radio’s contest Migrations. For more information about the awards visit: www.okanaganfilmfestival.com.




Wednesday’s announcement of budget approval and plans for a $28 million expansion on the Penticton campus was covered extensively in the media. Read about the Centre of Excellence in Green Building Technology in: College expanding, Greenbacks to green building, College plans expansion to Penticton campus, College to receive expansion funding and OK College in store for good news. Watch coverage from the announcement on CHBC TV.

Okanagan College’s budget announcement along with the decision to maintain current tuition costs resulted in a series of articles in the news. Read more in: Tuition freeze at Okanagan College, College budget creates more access, Fee freeze is welcome news, Good news for education, Students warmed by tuition freeze, Students get break during tough times and Okanagan College puts a cap on tuition fees for this year.

Dental Assistant students at Okanagan College were the focus of two articles about the College’s volunteer efforts in Kelowna. Read more in: Local dentists and Okanagan College team up to give back and Students and volunteers combining to Keep you smiling.

The Campus-to-Campus Half Marathon and Bookworm Relay Race got lots of media coverage due after a last minute change in the race’s start line that was a result of a dispute between UBC Okanagan and local residents. Read more about the race in: Aabye, Lovig win event titles, Campus to Campus, Aabye lets his running do the talking, Vedanta school principal Tees-off on student goals, Road dispute disrupts race, UBCO, neighbours making inroads, Alternate route years away.

Okanagan College announced its 2009 Honorary Fellows last week. Read more about Robert Fine, Charles Armstrong and Barbara Marchand in: OC announces June Fellows, or check out the Public Affairs press release.

Okanagan College received coverage on the environmental front after staff in Kelowna helped clean up the campus and the College’s Enviro Club conducted a trash audit. Read more in: Spring cleaning brings out collegial attitudes, Enviro Club helps clean up campus.

The Okanagan College Enviro Club also submitted a letter to the editor of the Kelowna Capital News urging City Council to consider using public transit for a month. Read more in: Council challenged to use transit for a month.

SIFE Okanagan’s Eco-Nomics Award program was profiled in the local media – read more about the awards and nominees in: Field of 13 nominees compete for Eco-Nomics Awards, Economics Awards April 29.

A team of Marketing students in the Okanagan School of Business received coverage in the Oliver Chronicle after winning the Intercollegiate Marketing Competition in March. Read more in: Okanagan students win prestigious competition.

Okanagan College received coverage of the OBSA Business Banquet – check it out in: OC students honoured.

Okanagan College Culinary Arts instructor Geoffrey Couper was quoted in the Kelowna Daily Courier talking about the Taste of Kelowna culinary event. Read more in: Taste of Kelowna sweetens the pot.

Students in Okanagan College’s residential construction program in Penticton were thanked for their efforts in working on the Habitat for Humanity Home for Learning in a letter to the editor from Habitat’s Florence Barton. Check it out: Habitat for Humanity extends thanks to many.

Residential Construction students in Vernon made the news for their partnership in the Under One Roof project, which will result in the building of a six-plex townhouse for clients of Habitat for Humanity and the Kindale Developmental Association. Read more in: Money ensures housing project proceeds.

A couple of new CS courses with a focus on golf were featured in the Vernon Morning Star. Read more about instructor and golf pro Dan Martin and find out more about the courses in: Making the pitch.

Four of the five Engineering Technology students who won the catapult competition in Vancouver were photographed by the Daily Courier. Missing from the photo is first-year student Thao Kenny. Bombs away.

The Oliver Chronicle published an article about Okanagan College’s contribution to the region after a presentation to city council by Jim Hamilton. Read more in: Okanagan College and its role in Oliver.

Liberal MLA candidate for Kelowna-Lake Country and Okanagan School of Business professor Norm Letnick appeared in a series of articles. Read more in: Local Liberal gets a headstart on election campaigning and Liberals ready to campaign.

Okanagan School of Business professor Ron Spence and alumna Erin Burge were featured in the Penticton Western News after they held a joint visual display/art show. Read more in: Visual displays at art show.

The Globe and Mail published English professor Dr. Matt Kavanagh’s  book review of Stephen Amidon’s novel Security. Check out: Safe and sound? 

Associate Dean of Arts and Foundational programs Stan Chung wrote his Global Citizen column about the necessity of striking balance in life between ego, spirit and body. Sound interesting….read more in: Let yourself go.

In her School’s In column, Public Affairs’ Jane Muskens wrote about the increase in women’s participation in trades programs and the importance of community colleges in the post-secondary system. Read more in: Women in trades programs no longer a novelty and Community colleges an important post-secondary asset.

Okanagan College alumnus and slam poet Shane Koyczan was featured in the Vancouver Sun and Penticton Herald. Read more in: Poetry’s back: Off the page, onto the stage and Poet finds strength in spoken word.

Okanagan College’s Baseball Team has been all over the news in a series of articles covering the beginning of their season – which has resulted in their rise to first place in their division. Read more in: New start for Sanguin, Okanagan College, Winning, a dirty, dusty job, OC pitchers carry team through weekend, OC to host twinbills, Okanagan College baseball team ready for home-debut, OC defence short-circuits against Calgary, College sports on the rebound in Central Okanagan, OC goes 15 innings for first win, Okanagan College climbs to first place. For the latest on Okanagan College Baseball results visit the website: www.okanagancollegebaseball.com.

The Okanagan College Foundation’s Elvia Picco recently had a freelance article published in Beyond 50. Elvia submitted her original article after taking two CS courses at Okanagan College: Publish and market your book and Basic editing. 

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