INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MARCH 28, 1989

 

 

 

President For A Day

From her upholstered swivel
chair behind the spacious
president’s desk, Jacqueline
Gresko smiles. She never bar-
gained for this position - to be
president of Douglas College.
But she got it - at least for a day.

A friend had entered
Gresko’s name in the Douglas
College President For A Day raf-
fle. She won, and Monday
morning, March 13, Gresko
found herself behind the
president’s desk.

She left her usual post as
chairperson of the Arts and
Humanities Department in the
capable hands of Douglas Col-
lege president Bill Day.

Leaning back in the comfort-
able chair, Gresko looks around
the president’s office and
remarks: “Yes, this is a nice of-
fice - there is a sofa and an easy
chair for relaxing on, there’s a
telephone that times how long
you've been on a call, I think
this desk is bigger than mine,
and best of all- I have a
secretary all to myself.”

 

Gresko considers relaxing on
the sofa, but then glances over
the day’s list of activities - the
list doesn’t include trying out
the sofa.

First, and foremost on the
list, is the Monday morning
management meeting with the
college deans. Next, Gresko has
to write a speech Bill Day will
be giving during a visit to a
Japanese college next month.
Then she meets with college bur-
sar Peter Greenwood to discuss
the problem of cramped head-
quarters and the need to expand.

At lunch time, Gresko was
off for a meeting with Douglas
College Board chairperson
Pauline Hughes and NDP MLA
Barry Jones, the advanced
education critic.

Once again, as the three
toured the college, the topic of
cramped quarters came up, as
well as the critical need for
more student aid.

After meeting with repre-
sentatives with the Burnaby Arts
Centre regarding a community

 

Maynes Continued

 

ter chance of accomplishing this task than men, citing her own ex-
ample of being able to return to university while her husband

supported the household.

Maynes not only has the best of both worlds at Douglas College,
she’s kept a bit of her Alberta upbringing intact by living in Maple
Ridge. “I’m a farm girl, so it’s nice to go home from work every day
and essentially return to the country. My family, a house full of pets,
and the on-going challenge of helping a very good learning institu-
tion expand into the ’90’s: that makes for a happy life.”

RE PR SE SRSA C8 ARC ARON NP AN HUE SER EN RS

 

proposal, Gresko posed for
publicity pictures with college
students and then headed out to
the Maple Ridge Douglas Col-
lege campus for a faculty-staff
meeting there.

Between meetings, tours and
photo sessions, she fielded an
endless variety of telephone
calls.

“One lady called me as she
was quite upset because of the
crop failures, crime and prostitu-
tion in the United States. She
had heard that the United States
was sending its students abroad
to be educated in other
countries. She gave me her
phone number and wanted to
see if I could solve some of
these major problems.”

All her running around as
president, Gresko did while bat-
tling a vicious cold.

“T really just wanted to go
home and die. You’ ve seen that
hairspray commercial where at
the end of a wedding the bride’s
mother is all tired out and the ad
says ‘her hair held up even
though she collapsed.” Well,
that’s how I felt.”

Once, varying from her
prescribed list of activities, Gres-
ko took the liberty to contact the
college library for a portrait of
Margaret Thatcher.

“TI wanted to put her picture
up in the president’s office, to

continued on page 6

 

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