Niagara College International Staff Connect | May 2019

(Vol. 4, Issue 9)

• On May 4 at 3 am, Ming Foong Wong and husband Jake welcomed their new baby girl, Zoe, weighing 6lb 15 oz
• Interested in participating in the 11th annual Big Move Cancer Ride on Sunday, September 8, 2019? NC is putting in a team and Joanne Maltby is this year’s captain! You have the choice of riding either 25, 50 or 100km. Early bird registration is open now until June 4 – reach out to Joanne for more details.
• Karan Salgotra recently went on vacation to the United Arab Emerates (UAE) and here is what he had to say about his trip: “UAE is an unique country. It has so much to offer for everyone and has amazing architecture with a great mix of modern design with core traditional touches. There is also so much to do there as a tourist. My favourite part of the trip was desert safari they took us to a beautiful activity camp in the middle of desert.”

This spring term we welcomed students from Japan, Chile and Brazil to study in our EAP program.

As part of their contracts, our students from Chile and Brazil will be starting Post-Secondary/Post Graduate Programs in September at the College.

The GAP Year Program is run in partnership with ILAC Language School. Once students complete their English language studies at ILAC, they can study for one term in a college exploration program at Niagara College in one of the following streams: General Arts and Science, Business or Tourism.

Hello All! 

Well, this is my last email as an employee of Niagara College.  I want to say that I can’t imagine having a better retirement send-off.  It all started with a retirement reception, which was followed by a staff party and then a wonderful toast and ‘Jazz Chant’ at the End-of-term ceremony.  On top of this, I have been treated to coffees, to lunch, received many cards, e-mails, thoughtful gifts and of course the amazing gift certificate to the Centre for Performing Arts in St. Catharines. 

For all of these things I’d like to say once more a most sincere thank-you from the bottom of my heart.  When I started this job, I had no idea that I would be taking so many friendships with me when I left.   And this has been the greatest gift of all. 

All the best to all of you, 

Susan 

I’m pleased to share with you that our Board of Governors has approved an annual business plan that includes a balanced budget for 2019-2020. 

Our 2019-2020 budget makes strategic investments in our people and campuses as we continue to provide high quality education and enhance our students’ experience as our college community grows in numbers and diversity. 

I am writing to say how pleased I was to see so many of you at this year’s Day of Reflection, and to extend my thanks to all who made this year’s event such a success. 

I am very grateful to our speaker, Norm Baillie-David of Talent Map, not only for providing such a clear and contextual overview of the results of our Employee Engagement Survey, but also for helping to start an important discussion within our college community. 

As Norm indicated, our participation rate for this survey was exceptional, and well above the average rate for similar postsecondary institutions in Canada. We’re all very busy, and I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to complete the survey, as such a strong participation rate ensures high quality data to support our continuous improvement efforts. 

As we conclude a very busy and successful term, I want to thank everyone for your hard work. It has been a challenging year, with significant change within the College student body, and shifting government priorities. The recent enrolment growth, increasing diversity and complexity of our students’ needs is being supported by significant investments in student services as well as the recently announced creation of new full-time faculty positions.  Reflecting on these changes, I have determined that a restructuring of the Executive Team is also required to better support the needs of our students and the NC community. 

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Carly Root as coordinator in the President’s Office. 

Carly will be providing support to Rob Walters, senior advisor to the President, in the administration of the President’s Office and Rob’s responsibilities for planning and institutional research, Board of Governors, government relations and special projects. 

Carly started on April 29th and is off to a busy start as she is worked this week at the Colleges & Institutes Canada (CICAN) conference while preparing for spring convocation, the Grand Opening of the Marotta Family Innovation Complex and the June College Management Team meeting. 

Carly can be reached at croot@niagaracollege or ext. 4330.

Please join me in welcoming Shianne Stephens to the Marketing department as our new part-time social media officer, back-filling for Katie Sinclair’s maternity leave and Rachel Dedinsky’s departure to Benefit Cosmetics in Toronto. Shianne is a recent NC graduate with a graduate certificate in Public Relations and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Wilfred Laurier University. Shianne was most recently the student marketing coordinator for NCSAC, and since 2016, has been an integral member of the City of Port Colborne marketing team.  

Shianne began her new adventure at Niagara College on May 6.

I’m happy to announce that after an extensive recruitment and selection process, Jay Burdon and Karen Csoli will take on new roles as associate directors with the Health, Wellness and Accessibility Services team. 

Please join me in welcoming Jay and Karen to their new roles. With the addition of an associate director and the addition of four new accessibility consultants, our Health, Wellness and Accessibility Services team has expanded to serve the growing needs of our students.