Education Council

Education Council (also known as EdCo) is an internal governance body of Okanagan College as required by the College and Institute Act. Education Council considers curriculum and educational policies relating to students, standards, planning and operations.

In carrying out the business of Education Council, members exercise their best individual judgment in accordance with the Okanagan College Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Directions. All eligible members vote freely on all issues considered by Education Council regardless of their association with a particular portfolio/area of the institution.

Council meets on a monthly basis except during July and August. During the summer, and other breaks, the Operations Standing Committee deals with matters requiring action. The Operations Standing Committee is subject to the authority of Education Council and its work is reviewed and ratified by Council.

Other Education Council Standing Committees provide in-depth curriculum (the CPR committees), academic policy (ARP), and calendar review (CCC). These standing committees make recommendations to Education Council and Council relies on its standing committees to ensure appropriate program area expertise as well as the independent perspective provided by additional members from outside the program area. All standing committees report directly to Education Council.

In December 2005, the Okanagan College Education Council officially took over from an Interim Education Council in place during the transition from Okanagan University College (OUC) to Okanagan College.

Okanagan College Education Council has its roots in the Okanagan University College Education Council. The OUC Education Council met for the first time in February of 1995 following substantial changes to the College and Institute Act of British Columbia (“the Act ”). These changes to the Act included the establishment of a bicameral system of institutional governance in which the Board of Governors and Education Council were assigned roles and responsibilities.

OUC Education Council met monthly on a regular basis from February 1995 until April 2005. On March 17, 2004, the BC government announced the  2005 dissolution of OUC and the institution was placed under the control of a government-appointed Public Trustee.

The South Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, and Salmon Arm campuses of OUC became the new Okanagan College and the Okanagan College Interim Education Council was formed with faculty, staff and students elected to the former OUC Education Council and moving to Okanagan College. To ensure representation from all regions and representative groups, a small number of volunteers were also named to the Interim Education Council. These members, as well as administrators named by the Okanagan College President, met from May to November of 2005.

Following elections, the formally-constituted Okanagan College Education Council began work on December 7, 2005. 

The bylaws under which Education Council operates are available.

While some members of Education Council are appointed, others are elected. Faculty (10 seats) and support staff (two seats) elections take place in the spring; student (four seats) elections take place in the fall. The election rules are available. Read the Election rules.

Education Council Bylaws

Education Council Forms

Meeting Schedule and Deadline

Members of the 2023-2024 Education Council

Under the province’s College and Institute Act, an Education Council consists of 20 voting members, representing the following areas:

     (a) 10 faculty members, elected by the faculty
     (b) Four students, elected by the students
     (c) Two support staff, elected by the support staff
     (d) Four educational administrators, appointed by the College’s President

Chair - Jillian Garrett

Vice-Chair - Amanda Krebs

Faculty Representation

   Arts – Jillian Garrett
   Business – Svan Lembke
   Foundational Programs - Amanda Krebs
   Health & Social Development – Brian Hall
   Science/Technology – Morgan Martin
   Trades – Kelly Brochu

   Shuswap Revelstoke – Tim Walters
   North Okanagan –  Leanne Mallory
   Central Okanagan – Bryan Penfound
   South Okanagan Similkameen – vacant

Student Representation
    Shuswap Revelstoke – Abbey Seidel
    North Okanagan – Amelia Leader
    Central Okanagan – Emmarith Balili
    South Okanagan Similkameen – vacant

Staff Representation 
    Support Staff - Doug Mehus
    Support Staff - Michelle Somerville  

Educational Administrators
    Provost and Vice President, Academic – Samantha Lenci 
    Associate Dean, Arts and Foundational – Chris Newitt
    Special Advisor to the President (in-community program design) – Joan Ragsdale
    Associate Dean, Trades & Apprenticeship – Danny Marques

Non-voting Members
    President – Neil Fassina 
    Registrar and Secretary to Education Council – Inga Wheeler 
    Board of Governors representative – Cindy Battersby
    Indigenous Advisor - Rhea Dupuis

Approved items, minutes and agendas

Please note that Education Council is in an advisory role to the Board of Governors and many of the items approved by Education Council also require Board of Governors approval before they can be implemented.

The current Board of Governors Board schedule can be viewed on the website https://www.okanagan.bc.ca/board-of-governors#schedule, with regular meetings quarterly in March, May, September. and December. Please consult with the Education Council Secretary should you have any questions around the process or lead time required for full approval of an item.

 

 

Forms

Effective October 2021, the PDF forms have been replaced by online curriculum proposals (Kuali).

Your login credentials for Kuali are the same as your myOkanagan credentials. 
Please contact Education Council for assistance.

Cross-listed courses have the same course title, calendar description, course content, level (first digit of the course number), and credit value, but subject codes and course numbers may differ. Cross-listed courses are identified as such in the Okanagan College Calendar.

  • Cross-listing proposals must have the approval of all relevant departments, portfolio curriculum review bodies, Education Council standing committees, and Education Council.
  • Course content, calendar description, format, contact hours, methods of evaluation, and selection and recommended assignment of faculty will reside with the originating department.
  • A full calendar description will be provided for the courses in all departments using the cross-listed course. The course description for XXX should conclude “This course is also offered as YYY. Students with credit for YYY cannot take XXX for further credit.”
  • Okanagan College will maintain a table of cross-listed courses to ensure:
    • Credit will be granted only once for the cross-listed courses.
    • Students will continue to meet program requirements for the number of courses taken outside the portfolio or outside the area of specialization.
    • A cross-listed course may only be used once to meet the requirements for a Major/Minor/Emphasis/Specialization/Option.
  • The costs involved in offering a cross-listed course will be negotiated between the departments.
  • Faculty members capable of teaching the cross-listed course need only exist in one department.
  • Okanagan College will maintain a record of the consultation and agreement between the cross-listing departments.

Past practice has been to limit the calendar description to 60 words or less. This is not so much a requirement now that the calendar is online. The new course and course revision forms both tell you how many words you have provided in your description but do not limit you if you need a longer description.

The calendar description should be placed on your course outline. A technique some are using to provide additional information about the course is to add a portion to the course outline, immediately following the calendar description and separated from it by a heading (Course content, or Additional description, or Additional information), which provides expanded or additional information about the course. For example, for a computing course, you may wish to provide information about the software being used. For an English course, you may wish to describe a specific approach or emphasis you will be using. For a Topics course, you should provide details of the specific topic(s) being considered.

If you are developing policies which need to be approved by the Academic Regulations and Policy (ARP) standing committee and then Education Council, you may submit a policy proposal through the Kuali Curriculum Management system.

News and notices

It is election time at Okanagan College, starting with a call for nominations for positions on the Board of Governors and the Education Council.…

Nominations are now being accepted for the upcoming Education Council Election.  

Please be advised that elections will be held…

Events

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