President's Report - March highlights &

The Coquitlam Chamber of Commerce behavior for a working politician, and BCIT, and Douglas College, in exploring

sponsored an education forum over
CKNW Radio on March 2. Board member
Bob Buzza was in the audience. Myrna
Popove provided a number of well-turned
questions and comments. As President of
Douglas College, I was asked to partici-
pate for the full hour and a half of the
broadcast, on two different panels.

A meeting was held on March 8 involving
senior officials from the Coquitlam School
District, Jim Doerr, Peter Greenwood and
myself. At that meeting, we worked out
the elements of an agreement for joint de-
velopment of contiguous lands at the
Pinetree Site, including a general agree-
ment on development of joint facilities.
The agreement is subject to feasibility
analysis, but represents a landmark stage
in the evolution of our thinking, not only
of the Pinetree Site, but of our relation-
ships with our school districts in general.
The positive impact of the Thomas Haney
development is now being felt every-
where.

The Ministry staff led a meeting of CEO’s
of urban colleges on March 4, at which
time there was an extended and unhappy
discussion of current plans for budgets
and institutional expansion over the next
year. That same evening, an invitational
seminar was held at UBC on policy issues
in advanced education, with special atten-
tion to the HRD report. Our Minister was
in attendance, as he has been for the past
two meetings. His earnest and open in-
volvement in debate and discussion on
public policy issues is unprecedented

should be given clear credit.

There have been a number of events relat-
ing to technical, vocational and career
education including an excellent "sum-
mit" conference in Nanaimo last month.
There was a following meeting in Maple
Ridge to discuss the possibility of collabo-
ration with Maple Ridge School District,

the development of a "tech prep" pro-
gram that could be offered in the
secondary school, and at the college.

This program would be an alternative to

the traditional academically focused

programs that are normally used as prepa-
ration for education in occupational
fields. Bill Day a&

Bookstore helps out

Senior Bookstore Clerk Margo Lott has
been helping get the word out on a worth-
while literary project.

Back in February, Lott read a story by
Province columnist Jeani Read about a
locally published volume called Visions of
Flight, a book of prose, poetry and art by
women with disabilities. The book was
published in 1991 by Kelly Wheeler and
financed by her friend Gem Wirszilas,
both of whom have disabilities. Read’s
column explained that the two women
had no money left after publishing to
promote their volume.

Lott discussed the issue with bookstore
staff and the store ordered a number of
copies to sell. Lott also got the word out.

"I decided to fax the article to the B.C.
members of the Western Canadian
College Stores Association. When I sent
the message it was with the hope it
would assist in orders," says Lott.

 

INside INformation

INside Douglas College is published
the first Tuesday of every month by the
Public Information Office. The next is-
sue will appear Tuesday, May 4.

Deadline for submission for next issue
is noon Tuesday, April 20. Submis-
sions on floppy disk in WordPerfect or
ASCII format would be appreciated.
Material may be edited for brevity and
clarity.

 

Tips, scoops and suggestions are al-
ways welcome. Please contact the
Public Information Office, (604) 527-
5325, FAX: (604) 527-5095, Room
4840 at the New Westminster campus,
700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster,
B.C. V3L 5B2

- douglas college

 

 

Within days of the fax, the editor started
getting calls.

"We were contacted by bookstores at
UBC and SFU and they both ordered
some books. The SFU store is also hold-
ing a public reading," says Wheeler. "I
want to thank Margo for her help."

Visions of Flight is available at the ®
Douglas College Bookstore for $10.05. A

Did You Know...

In the Fall 1992 Registration Survey at
Douglas College, students were asked
which reasons were "highly important"
for their choosing to study here. Here’s
what they said:

49% - courses/programs offered

41% - quality of instruction

40% - location

34% - reputation

30% - personalized instruction

29% - open door’ admissions policy

26% - time when courses are offered
21% - cost

20% - helpful Douglas College employees
18% - advice from educators

16% - buildings and facilities

16% - size of campus

16% - advice from friends 9
13% - advice from family

12% - campus life, e.g. sports
8% - not admitted elsewhere. &