4

Dean of

Educational &
tudent Services

returns from leave

Dean of Educational & Student Services
Al Atkinson returned to the College in
September after spending a year at UBC
completing course work for a doctorate in
education administration.

His courses focused on the role of higher
education and policy making from three
main perspectives: sociology and public
policy; the political domain; and the eco-
nomic domain.

"From a College-wide perspective, it gives.
me a good theoretical framework to appre-
ciate the governance issues that colleges
face, and how that works through to a gov-
ernment level, which is valuable as dean of
this or any other division from an adminis-
trative perspective. The year away let me
integrate the work I’ve done here with
ideas and concepts, and that feels good.
It’s nicely tied together."

e* also finished comprehensive exams and

completed his dissertation proposal as the
first step toward writing and defending his
thesis.

"My dissertation thrust will be looking at
the internal politics of College governance
with a provincial perspective, internal gov-
ernance systems, and aspects such as
centralized and decentralized decision-
making.

Atkinson will also examine social routes
of how people go about accessing higher
education, and the role of political parties
and interest groups. The next step is to
have the proposal formally accepted, get
his dissertation advisory committee in
place, then begin data collection this
spring. It’s a long road, but Atkinson is
happy to be back at work at Douglas Col-
lege.

"Compartmentalizing myself in a strictly
academic atmosphere was difficult. I
missed the people contact here, and I’ ve
been going on little walkabouts to put new
faces to names. It’s been challenging to go
back over the year to appreciate what the
current environment is." A

Changes to Personnel mean better

service to College

Better service to the College should be the result of recent structural changes to the Person-
nel Department, says Director of Labour Relations and Personnel Peter Sanderson.

The Personnel Office’s move last spring to new offices on the second floor off the con-
course coincided with the restructuring of the Personnel Manager position (see story below)
and streamlining of that position to complement the duties of the Labour Relations Manager

position (held by Marian Exmann).

"We’re being asked to meet different demands all the time. Pay equity, human rights issues,
and all that goes with the increasing sophistication of employee benefits packages," says
Sanderson. "We were trying to do it all with existing resources, and there was confusion

over roles."

The new structure should make the roles of the Personnel Manager and the Labour Rela-

tions Manager more clear.

This new structure will permit us to continue to deal with day-to-day matters as well as
expand and improve the services we provide to the College."

Copies of the Personnel Department organizational chart are available in the Personnel

Office. Call 527-5440. &

New Personnel Manager focuses on

problem-solving

Florence Rickards became the Personnel Man-
ager in August, and says working at the College
fits well with her personal philosophy.

"My whole career has been targeted toward help-
ing people achieve their potential, and what
better place to do that than at an educational insti-
tution?"

Rickards comes to Douglas College from the
human resources area of the Ministry of the
Attorney General. Before that, she operated a
registered training institute that delivered man-
agement training programs. She is a graduate of
Douglas College, and is currently enroled in the
Executive MBA program at Simon Fraser
University.

 

 

 

 

Recently appointed Personnel
Manager Florence Rickards.

As Personnel Manager, Rickards is responsible for the administrative and operational
activities related to the human resources function. She sees her role as one of enabling and

problem-solving.

"I wanted to work in a setting where facilitation of peoples’ goals is the focus, and that’s
what I have found here. There are exciting things happening at Douglas College, and I’m

happy to be a part of it." A