Lakeland Link: January 24, 2011

January 24, 2011

The

www.lakelandcollege.ca

A publication of Lakeland College

Vermilion • Lloydminster

Our MISSION To inspire our learners to realize their individual potential. Our VISION To achieve educational excellence in a people-centred environment. Our VALUES are Respect, Safety, Trust, Pride, Ethics, Quality and Accountability.

Upcoming Events Lloydminster campus Friday, January 28 • Rustlers Volleyball vs MacEwan.

Gymnasium. Women at 6 pm; men at 7:30 pm • Guitar lecture with Jacob John Karwandy.

Room 1115. 7 to 9 pm. $10 per person.

For more details call the Performing Arts department (ext. 5780). Bring your guitar!

Thursday, February 10 • New employee orientation. Room L11. 1 pm

Thursday, February 17 • Health Fair. Hosted by the Health Services department. 10 to 3 pm. Watch for more details coming soon

Vermilion campus Monday, January 31 • Capstone presentation by students completing the Bachelor of Applied Science: Environmental Management program. Opening remarks in the Alumni Hall Theatre; concurrent sessions in the Alumni Hall Theatre, MB 129 and MB 136.

9 am to 4 pm

Tuesday, February 8 • New employee orientation. Room AH 214.

1 pm

Program information sessions & tours Tuesday, Feb. 15 Lloydminster campus Monday, Feb. 28 Vermilion campus Everyone welcome. High school students, parents & people looking for career options.

7 to 9 pm. Call the Recruitment office at 780 853 8789 or 1 800 661 6490 for details.

is published biweekly from September to May by the department of Advancement for staff and members of the college community. Submissions regarding college news and initiatives are welcome and published at the editor's discretion. The deadline for submission is Thursday at noon prior to the publication date. The Lakeland Link is available in Outlook's Public Folders and online at www.lakelandcollege.ca/link.

Dinner is served Lakeland College associate registrar Jo-Ann Mones (left) was one of a number of college staff who helped serve tasty hot lunch plates to students at the Vermilion Elementary School last week.

The college regularly provides volunteer support to the school lunch program as part of their community service efforts.

BAppSc:EM presentations to feature student work on real world environmental sciences projects Stories about tailing ponds, ducks, oil spills and other environmental issues have received a lot of media attention recently but on Jan. 31, students in Lakeland College’s bachelor of applied science: environmental management (BScApp:EM) program will get to tell their own story about their work with industry, government and other agencies to sustain and protect the environment.

Twenty-one students from the BScApp:EM program will deliver capstone presentations during an open forum format at the Vermilion campus. A graduation requirement of the applied degree program, capstone presentations are detailed reports of work done by students during eight-month practicum placements with industry host agencies.

Students discuss their projects in technical detail while incorporating academic knowledge, research and information about practical skills and experience gained.

The day begins in the Alumni Hall Theatre at 9 am and concludes at 4 pm. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.

This year’s capstone presentations will cover several issues as students were involved in a range of projects relating to reclamation and remediation, as well as monitoring and environmental protection. Presentation topics include the reclamation and closure of Alberta’s first oilsands tailings pond, ambient air quality monitoring around confined feeding operations, the effects of twice-over rotational grazing systems on rangeland, and more. A complete schedule and list of presentation topics can be found at www. lakelandcollege.ca.

A number of industry organizations that hosted Lakeland students, including Husky Energy, Stantec Engineering, Syncrude Canada Ltd., Alberta Environment, Manitoba Hydro, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Alberta Sustainable Resources and Development, will be in the audience during the presentations. “It’s this ongoing continued on page 3

A word from Glenn's office On Jan. 13, I attended the “Being Global 2011: Strategies and Models for Internationalizing Canadian Higher Education” conference at the University of Toronto. Clearly this is a growth industry for Canada’s colleges and universities.

Lakeland continues to grow internationally with recent activities going on in Tanzania, Egypt, China, Australia and the United Kingdom. We are also exploring a significant opportunity in Kuwait for our Emergency Training Centre.

As the number of students graduating from domestic high schools shrinks by close to 20 per cent over the next 10 years, international activities will take on a larger role for the college. This brings excitement but also challenges. I look forward to Lakeland having a larger global footprint, and for our students to experience more of the world as we bring more international Glenn Charlesworth students to our campuses.

Lakeland College president For more information on all of our international activities, I encourage you to have a chat with Mark Butler, director of international and distance learning, who is our champion on these initiatives.

Budget season is upon us (not quite the same ring as holiday season) and your executive committee is working hard at putting together the 2011-2012 budget.

The capital budget deliberations are quickly coming to a conclusion. There is still about 10 per cent to trim to fit into our available funds. This is always a difficult task with so many good proposals and insufficient funds to pursue them all. This year, the deans and directors are all at the budget table and the quality of the discussion and outcomes are simply superb.

The operating budget is next in line. This will prove to be challenging (albeit simpler) as there are no dollars available for new operating initiatives. All indications as of right now point to no increase in our grants for next year. I’ll keep you posted as we progress.

The two weeks coming up will be pretty busy. I have a Campus Alberta administration board meeting in Edmonton this week to go along with budget meetings and the January board meeting on Wednesday. Next week’s meetings include more budget meetings, the Alberta Association of Colleges and Technical Institutes (AACTI) Council of Presidents meeting at Norquest, Academic Council and a trip to Olds College to meet with their president Tom Thompson.

Here is something interesting. Reading week is coming up quickly―only a few weeks away. I noticed in the media that University of Alberta students are pushing for a reading week in the fall in addition to a spring reading week. Hmm.

Business students host Vermilion Chamber members at a project presentation & mixer Second-year business students hosted members of the Vermilion and District Chamber of Commerce at a mixer and presentation held at the Vermilion campus Jan. 12. The presentation was the culminating project in the BA 572 business affairs course taught by instructor Rocky Wallbaum.

The presentation required students to research a current affairs issue and relate it to its impact on rural communities. The Lakeland students addressed the perceived image of the Alberta oilsands. Students Jessica Duvenage, Nikki Feist, Jaden King, Carly Kochan and Heather Schmitt presented information about their topic and outlined a comparison of issues surrounding the oilsands and other world events. They also looked at industry and government efforts to rehabilitate the oilsand’s image.

After the students’ presentation, chamber members were able to discuss the issue further with the students.

Hometown info sessions great for parents, students Coming to a hometown near you...

Parents whose children are beginning to think about career options, high school students and people looking for new careers should attend an upcoming information session being hosted by Lakeland College in several area communities. Locations and dates confirmed so far include: • Tuesday, Feb. 8, Fireside Room, Lakeland College’s Alumni Hall, Vermilion campus • Wednesday, Feb. 9, North Battleford Comprehensive High School, North Battleford, Sask.

• Thursday, March 24, John Paul II High School, Fort Saskatchewan • Tuesday, March 29, Commonwealth Lecture Theatre, Lakeland College’s Lloydminster campus.

Sessions will go from 7 to 9 pm.

Additional sessions at Bonnyville, Cold Lake, St. Paul, Vegreville and Wainwright will also be held.

Watch the college’s website at www. lakelandcollege.ca/events for details.

Nicole Richard, recruitment supervisor, explains that parents, for example, will find these sessions very helpful because, often, they have different perspectives on their children’s post-secondary educational pursuits. Because of this, the sessions will focus on providing audience members with information that is specific to their needs.

“Today’s parents, for example, are very involved in their children’s education and often parents want to know about career paths, opportunities for transfer and post-diploma options after graduation, salary potential as well as things like campus life, support services, residence and security,” says Richard. “Parents will have opportunity to ask their specific questions and get answers.”

In addition to parents, the information provided during the sessions will be helpful to prospective students, teachers, counsellors and community members For more information, go to www. lakelandcollege.ca or contact the recruitment office at 780 853 8789.

A Lakeland minute Available in Outlook’s Public Folders are minutes from Executive Committee meetings held Dec. 2, 2010 and Dec. 16, 2010.

Capstone presentations continued from front page

Lakeland's Kenton Lindenbach tests his knowledge of quilting quality during a judging competition hosted at the University of Manitoba.

Lakeland judging team starts New Year with a win In the early morning of Jan. 13, six members of the Lakeland College judging team went east to the University of Manitoba to take part in its annual judging competition.

After 14 hours of driving in our cozy minivan, the team arrived in Winnipeg. There, team members Kenton Lindenbach, Garth Dinwoodie, Lindsey Grover, Julie Mitchell, Raylene Moellenbeck, Jordyn Prior and coach Peter Walsh were joined by a seventh member, Aris Appel, who traveled to Winnipeg by plane from Calgary.

The next morning, the team was about to leave for the competition when one of Lakeland’s team members had to bow out with the flu. Down to six judges, the team was a bit shorthanded.

In a frosty arena on the outskirts of the city, eight classes of horses, beef cows, dairy cows, barley and canola seed samples, working dogs, forage nutrient test sheets and quilts were presented for the competitors’ evaluation. After a pizza lunch and short quiz, the team returned to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon and to check on their sickly teammate.

Later that evening, the team returned to the competition for the banquet and awards presentation. The team enjoyed a first class supper and anxiously awaited the awards part of the evening. Much to the team’s delight, all six Lakeland judges placed in at least one of the classes. The individual awards were capped off by a Lakeland College clean sweep of the top three places led by Moellenbeck as grand champion judge, Lindenbach as reserve champion, and Mitchell as third placed judge.

The biggest surprise of the evening was Lakeland winning the top two overall teams despite being shorthanded―a Lakeland first! The teams edged out a team from the University of Saskatchewan, and three home teams from the U of M.

support and cooperation from the environmental sciences sector that has helped Lakeland’s program and students be successful,” says Dr. Lee Arthur, BScApp:EM program head and practicum coordinator.

“The partnership between industry and the college that has worked to develop the BScApp:EM program has resulted in a great deal of progress,” says Dr. Arthur.

“Years ago, organizations would have perhaps one environmental technician on staff. Now there are multi-disciplinary teams that include scientists, technicians, agrologists, biologists and more. As a college we are pleased to be able to train and educate high-quality and competent graduates to be part of these teams and organizations.”

Dr. Arthur adds that a number of students have been offered continued employment with their industry hosts as a result of their practicum performance.

Some organizations have also recruited additional Lakeland students to join their teams.

For people looking to get into the environmental sciences field, the capstone presentations offer a chance to do some career investigation.

“The capstone presentations are a great opportunity to learn about the science, technology, regulations and research being done to protect, preserve and reclaim the environment now and in the future,” says Dr. Arthur. “There’ll be a lot of information that would be of interest to high school science teachers and counsellors, as well as high school and college students interested in careers in the environmental sciences field.”

Lakeland College’s BScApp:EM is one of only six programs in Canada accredited

by ECO Canada.

Still time to enter renewable energy video contest Don’t let this opportunity blow by! Entries for Lakeland College’s renewable energy video contest may still be submitted until the contest deadline Feb. 10. Videos should be up to 90 seconds in length and must present what renewable energy means to you.

The videos can feature students, family and friends. They may also include animations as long as they are created by contest participants.

Fabulous prizes are up for grabs. Categories are people’s choice (based on voting), and two judged categories, best Lakeland College student, and best overall. Contest participants must be at least 14 years of age. For full contest rules or to enter or vote, go to www. lakelandcollege.ca/energize_the_future

Lakeland College's energy cabin at the Vermilion campus.

What's up at ETC?

Lakeland staff attending ETC's "techie breakie" on Jan. 10 were (left to right, front row) Randy Segboer, Alice Wainwright-Stewart, Denis Cunninghame, Glenn Charlesworth, Danielle White, Kirk McInroy, Douglas Moeckl, (middle row) Cary Weimer, John Fedoriuk, Darla Brown, Julie Anderson, Natalie Clennett, Mariette Sargeant, Dez Shubert, Brian Marlowe, Todd Field, Bob Fisher, (back row) Pat White, Cam Stevenson, Jim King, Ed Gadbois, Greg Zielinski, Britt Feist, Clint McCullough, Trevor Gillis, Terry Samuelson, Carolyn Green-Olson, Jenna Kalczak and Maurice MacMillan.

The Emergency Training Centre (ETC) held meetings Jan. 10 to 13 with all ETC staff in attendance. The purpose of the meetings was to plan the upcoming season’s sessions and to facilitate dialog between staff and partners to ensure smooth delivery of our courses.

Hans Carr, emergency response chief from Suncor’s Edmonton Refinery, spoke to ETC employees at their annual meeting on Jan. 12. Carr gave a presentation and discussed Suncor’s history, departments, recent upgrades and changes.

The main discussion involved Suncor’s training goals and objectives and how ETC has had a positive impact on their training. He also put forward some suggestions to strengthen our service.

On Monday, Jan. 10, were were also pleased to have Alice WainwrightStewart, vice president, academic, innovation and research, and Glenn Charlesworth, college president, at our Monday morning kickoff and “techie breakie.”

An update from your friendly marketing department Redesign of the website and Lakeland Link, information sessions at our campuses in February, and new television commercials and bugs are among the projects staff in the marketing and enrolment management department are currently working on.

Planning for the website redesign goes back almost a year. The web world and its technology have changed considerably since the current design was launched in 2007.

While the site has undergone extensive change over that time, it had also expanded. lakelandcollege.ca needed more than a cosmetic fix–it needed to be remodeled. Think about a typical kitchen upgrade. A cosmetic change is new appliances, while a remodel can vary from new cupboards to knocking down a wall to expand the space.

So the redesign went from simply changing up templates (new appliances) to updating the site structure. This sort of project meant a longer time to both plan and build. In the spring, Lakeland employees were invited to provide input at campus sessions on what they’d like to see on a new site. As well, the web coordinator met with two schools at their invitation. By late fall a redesign had been presented. Right now, the redesign is being populated and the site is being tweaked. It’s anticipated that the redesign will be launched in early March.

With the website undergoing major changes, we decided it was a perfect time to update and reformat Lakeland Link. Portions of the website design will be incorporated into a new e-newsletter version of Lakeland Link. An e-newsletter features a paragraph or two of a story with an embedded link to more content on Lakeland’s website. We’ll continue to include coming events and photos but will also be able to use video and blogs. The newsletter is now being designed and will be launched with the new website.

As for other activities, information sessions will be held Feb. 15 at the Lloydminster campus and Feb. 28 at the Vermilion campus. Both events are from 7-9 pm. All program areas will be represented at the sessions which will include campus tours and presentations. Parent information sessions are being scheduled for February and March.

These evening events will be held in Vermilion, Lloydminster, Fort Saskatchewan, Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Wainwright, Vegreville, North Battleford, and St. Paul.

Three new television commercials featuring student testimonials are in use on local stations and information session bugs (10 second spots broadcast during a show) will run in February. Also scheduled for February and March is a Kijiji, Facebook, Google and email campaign targeting people in the communities around Edmonton.

New mezzanine offers a new place for trades students Electrical students Taylor Gartner of Macklin, Brolin Butz of Vermilion, and Justin Curtis of Vegreville have found a new place to hit the books thanks to the January opening of the Trades Centre mezzanine at Lakeland College’s Vermilion campus. New classrooms, offices and a study commons are among the features of the modernized space.

Not so trades secret This news is too good to keep to ourselves.

Did you know that in the last offering of preemployment trades programs, 81 per cent of students were hired for by their practicum hosts. www.lakelandcollege.ca/trades

Event plans taking shape to celebrate Lakeland College's centennial Who are our audiences, what is our budget and where should activities be held? These are a few of the questions the centennial events committee members considered as they started planning activities for 2013.

We decided to host a minimum of one event per month and alternate event locations between Lakeland’s campuses. To save money and manpower, we also thought it was best, when possible, to tie in with other established college events. While community members will be included in many of the activities, we also wanted to host some special activities that would include only students, staff or alumni.

Here’s a glimpse at the preliminary schedule of events.

November 2012 (likely on Nov. 17, the start of our 100th year ), Lloydminster • Centennial public kick-off featuring a cowboy or western themed meal and event with 1913 menu and prices.

December 2012, both campuses • Staff and student Christmas parties January 2013, Vermilion • The Great Toboggan Caper, part two. In 1987 Lakeland entered the Guinness Book of World Records, thanks to the efforts of 132 people sliding down a hill at the Vermilion Provincial Park on a 102 foot toboggan. We’ll try to beat the existing record.

February 2013, Lloydminster • Staff curling event and possibly host ACAC curling championship March 2013, both campuses • Little Royal activities (Vermilion) • Possibly host a national volleyball or basketball championship (Lloydminster) • President’s Gala (Lloydminster) April 2013, Lloydminster • Aboriginal Art Exhibition May 2013, both campuses • Convocation June 2013, Vermilion • Homecoming, additional activities to celebrate the Century Club, which is the top 100 events and people in Lakeland’s history.

July 2013, Vermilion and Lloydminster • Participation in fairs in both communities August 2013, Vermilion • Staff golf tournament September 2013, both campuses • Various student orientation activities including world-record attempt for mattress dominoes involving students from both campuses.

October 2013, Lloydminster • Guest speaker John Furlong, chair of 2010 Winter Olympics and current chair of Own the Podium program. Dessert and wine, ticket price $19.13.

November 2013, Vermilion • November 15: Evening wine and cheese social for staff and community • November 16: Centennial finale, a formal event with dignitaries To help promote the centennial beyond our communities, we will ask employees, students and alumni who are participating in events off campus to hand out centennial t-shirts to other participants. We hope to have involvement in 100 events, such as a Habitat for Humanity build, Agribition, field trips, and alumni functions throughout Canada and beyond.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact one of our events committee members. Members include Ralph Troschke (co-chair), Colleen Symes (co-chair), Judy Eyben, Sandra Crone, Laura Baker, Alan Rogan, Clara Thalheimer, Darla Stepanick, Dorothy Pidruchney, Isabelle Moses and Erika Dibden.

Help build Lakeland's Century Club

Do you know a lot about Lakeland College’s history and would like to be part of the excitement building up to the college’s centennial celebrations in 2013? Would you enjoy working with volunteers, history buffs and alumni?

If the answer to these questions is “yes,” you’d be a perfect fit to work with the college’s historical acknowledgement committee by serving as chair of the Lakeland College Century Club committee. The person in this position will be responsible for coordinating a committee of volunteers that will set out and direct selection of the top 100 places, people, events and dates in the college’s 100 year history. Volunteers may be staff, alumni or community members.

The Century Club will be promoted and featured on the college’s new centennial website.

If you’d like to chair the Century Club committee or be part of the group, please contact Wendy Plandowski, director of community relations and chair of the college’s centennial planning committee, at ext. 5403 at the Lloydminster campus.

Lakeland staff walk the talk to raise funds for students

As part of the college’s current fundraising drive, a total of $148,317 has been pledged as of Dec. 31, 2010, by members of the college’s administration, faculty and support staff. This amount, with the assistance from the remaining portion of the Alberta government’s matching grant program, jumps to an estimated amount of $380,000 that will directly impact future Lakeland students.

The new funds will create new student scholarships and bursaries–many of which will be handed out for the first time in Lakeland’s centennial year in 2013–and replenish funds for existing awards.

The benefits of a staff campaign to support student scholarships and awards are multifold. Not only do more student awards, scholarships and bursaries attract new students but they also help students to be able to remain at college by reducing financial hardship and stress.

The college’s fund development office can help you join the effort. Call Heather MacMillan, acting manager of staff and awards donor development, at ext. 8703.