QUOTE of the MONTH
The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching
your goals. The tragedy lies in having
no goals to reach. *
Benjamin Mays, Pres. Morehouse College

‘INside

February 2, 1993

 

 

 

 

The Douglas College Newsletter

 

 

 

Switchboard
Operator
Renate
Brown

is the voice
of Douglas
College

 

 

College knowledge vital
for D.C. operator

"Are you a live person, or an answering
machine?" asked a recent caller of Renate
Brown, switchboard operator here at
Douglas College. "In the morning I start
out as a person, but by the end of the
day, I sometimes feel like a machine," she
laughs.

Brown is often the first person you'll talk
to if you're new to Douglas College. That
means knowledge of the college is impor-
tant for Brown, who has been working at
the switchboard since August 1988.

"The longer you're at this job, the more
helpful you can be," she said. "Our biggest
problem is a lack of communication be-
tween us and the various departments.
You can feel pretty silly when an office is
closed and you're transferring calls to that

area and then a student calls you back
and fills you in on the right information."

Although it’s tough to stay on top of every-
thing happening in the College, Brown
enjoys her job because it brings her into
contact with every department on

campus.

"T’'ve spoken to probably just about
everybody who works at Douglas College
and now with the FAX machine in our
office, I've been able to put a face to the
various voices at the other end of the
line," says Brown.

New students and parents are often
Brown’s most challenging callers.

Operator continued on page 6

Douglas College
earns top marks
in Canada

Take that, McGill. Douglas College beat you.

More precisely, Douglas College topped
three Canadian post-secondary institutions
- including McGill University, the
venerable Montreal school - in a survey
of information packages in the January
issue of Marketing Higher Education
(MHE). Douglas College also earned
higher ratings than 11 of 12 U.S. schools.

MHE, a California-based newsletter,
evaluated institutions based on their
response to an identical admissions query
letter, of a sort that a potential student
might write. The publication considered
response time (a maximum of 40 days
was allowed) and the usefulness and ap-
pearance of information in the application
package.

Douglas College earned 8-plus out of a pos-
sible 10 in the survey, and recorded the

Top Marks continued on page 4

 

 

inside INside...

Premier's message ............. 2
President's report .............. 3
New learning centre ............ 5
College briefs +... .. vie +
Events calendar ...,.../-..... 5
Development workshops ........ 5
Inside Zone... ................. 6