Look u p — way up ! Astronomy instructor Jennifer Kirkey and Astronomy lab technician Jim Scott prepare the Physics Department's new 8.5-inch telescope for some winter star-gazing. The 230- pound instrument was the star of the show as over 50 people turned out at the David Lam Campus in January to watch Saturn and Mars put on a heavenly performance. Perinatal program hosts 11th Breastfeeding Education Day Professional Development Day a huge hit It was worthwhile, perfectly paced and ended with laughter. The third Professional Development Day was a huge hit on February 8, with hundreds of the College’s 1,200 employees taking part in the events built around the theme of “Ethics and Education.” The feedback from over 100 college employees who evaluated the day was overwhelmingly positive. The overall rating of the event clocked in with 78 per cent of respondents finding it “Very worthwhile” while another 22 per cent rated it “Somewhat worthwhile.” Not a single employee checked the “Not worthwhile” box. “The quality of speakers was inspiring in and of itself,” said one faculty member. “When I'm in the presence of principled people, I feel lifted from my daily grind.” The survey also showed that the majority of the audience felt the sessions they attended were worthwhile, that the pace of the day was nearly perfect and people took the opportunity to talk with employees from outside their work areas and usual networks. A favourite part of the day was the closing act by Rock, Paper, Scissors, the madcap improvisational theatre troupe. The talent and good humour of the actors conscripted from the audience helped put the finishing touches on the day. Along with the praise were a number of specific suggestions for improvements and future topics - feedback which will help organizers maintain the tradition of excellence when the next College-wide Professional Development Day is held in 2008. The Professional Development Day planning committee wishes to thank those who took the time to give them feedback, to all who attended the day, to those who are already thinking about next time, and especially to the many people who volunteered their time and goodwill to make the day happen. The Perinatal program will hold its mth annual Breastfeeding Education Day on March 11 at the New Westminster Campus. This informative series of workshops and presentations runs from 8:30am- spm and features guest speakers Teresa Pitman and Barbara L. Behrmann, Ph.D. Behrman is a writer, researcher, sociologist and breastfeeding advocate and is the author of The Breastfeeding Cafe. She is a frequent speaker across the country and lives in upstate New York. Library adds online journal ScienceDirect: Health and Life Sciences Journal Collection is the latest addition to the Douglas College Library's amazing collection of online journals and databases. Connect to it at http://library.douglas. bc.ca/period_sciencedirect.html. ScienceDirect Health and Life Sciences contains the fulltext of 890 journals published by Elsevier, with holdings back to 200r. Elsevier journals have not previously been available online, making this database acquisition a substantial expansion of the research resources available to the college community. For more information contact Jean Cockburn, Electronic Resources Librarian at local 5184 or cockburnj@douglas.bc.ca . For additional information visit the website: www.douglas.bc.ca/ce/perinatal. Pitman is an Ontario-based author who has been a La Leche League Leader helping mothers with You can register by telephone by calling breastfeeding for more than 20 years and is currently 604-527-5472. For further information, please the Executive Director of La Leche League Canada. call 604-527-5046. Award-winning writers celebrate 25 years of Pearls A string of Pearls stretching back over 25 years is something to celebrate - especially when the strand contains work by a Governor General’s Award winner and other acclaimed authors. So the Creative Writing department at Douglas College gathered past and present contributors to the venerable student anthology together to mark 25 years of continuous publishing. The quarter century festivities featured the reunion of Pearls contributors on February 22 at the Amelia Douglas Gallery at the College’s New Westminster campus. Among those attending was Stephanie Bolster, who won the Governor General's Award for White Stone: The Alice Poems, one of her three collections of poetry. -4- Bolster, who currently teaches creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal, was also Douglas College’s Writer-in- Residence from February 20-24. Bolster and the other Pearls contributors read short pieces during the event. “Everyone was impressed, not to say touched,” says Mary Burns, Creative Writing Chair. Over 100 people attended the launch of Pearls 2006 on February 24. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Maurice Hodgson Memorial Award for Creative Writing. This year’s winner is Margret Bollerup, who has had many of her poems published in Pearls. She has also worked in fiction and children's literature. The Hodgson Award commemorates the late Maurice Hodgson, who played a vital role in building the Creative Writing Program over the course of his 20- year teaching career at the College. Members of Hodgson’s family attended the presentation. Bolster has had plenty of company at Pearls. Over the years the anthology has helped to launch over 500 writers, including Trevor Carolan, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Jeff Derksen and screenwriter Scott Fitzgerald Gray. “It’s really quite amazing to have this small but steady stream of successful writers over such a length of time,” says Burns. “For a student, that first publication is a step up -- it gives them a sense of confidence.”