Events
Calendar

All events take place at
the New Westminster
Campus unless otherwise
noted.

May 7

Douglas Development
presents

Transforming Your
Relationship With Money:
Financial Intelligence,
Integrity & Independence
1 to 4pm, Boardroom
Register at 5440

May 8

Defining Our Educational
Space: Beginning the
Conversation

With Bill Day (past
president, Douglas
College), Devron Gabor
(C2T2), Susan Witter
(President), and faculty

Alight lunch will be
provided.
9am-3:30 pm, Boardroom

May 9
The Women's Centre
presents a Women's Day/

(Room 4920) Mother's Day Tea and
Register at 5440 Cookies
10am to 3pm

 

A banner

On March 31 at 10:30pm,
Douglas College Controller
Mike Proud flicked the
switch and the Finance
Department's new Banner
software system went live.
“We began planning for
this day in June 2002,”
says Proud. “Months of
blood, sweat and tears led
up to this event.”

Proud and Director of
Finance Chris Worsley
were instrumental in
implementing the new
system, along with the
Purchasing Department,
Systems and other staff in
Finance.

“Now Purchasing and
Finance are on the same
system,” says Worsley. “So
when someone in

Higher education comes to the

day for the finance department

Purchasing makes changes,
Finance is aware of it. It
streamlines communication
between our departments.”
The Registrar's Office also
uses the Banner system to
handle student registration,
and Payroll and Employee
Relations are expected to
switch over in June 2004.
“The College wants to go
integrated. It’s what the
Systems department
prefers, and what students
expect. They walk in here
and they figure
everything's connected,”
says Worsley.

The Banner system is a
popular choice for many
colleges in North America,
but switching software
systems is a labour-
intensive process that has

its pitfalls.

New Westminster Campus

“You have to test every last
piece of it,” says Worsley.
“You have to set it up and
learn how to use it. And
then you have to train

everyone.”

Purchasing Supervisor
Devona Davies says Banner
has some great capabilities:
“Tt has already helped us
catch some mistakes that
wouldn't have been found
if the systems werent
integrated.”

Eventually, Banner will
allow departments to do
on-line inquiries about the
status of their accounts.

“We're still learning what it
can do,” adds Worsley.
“But the possibilities are
tremendous.”

The New Westminster Campus is growing up. Construction of the fifth and sixth
floor addition to a portion of the north building started in May.

The most disruptive work is scheduled to take place over the Summer semester,
depending on how things play out once the work gets started. If all goes as planned,
the roof should be on and doors and windows should be in by September 2003.

“Douglas College serves one of the fastest growing regions in BC,” said College
President Susan Witter. “The demand for our courses is very high now and we will

soon need more space to accommodate the extra students.”

By moving computer labs to the new floors, space will be freed up for general

purpose classrooms as well as dedicated-learning areas such as the proposed Bachelor

of Nursing Degree Program.

 

Students win scholarships

LY ws \

   

 

NS
=
%

From left to right are
Board member June
O'Connor, DCFA Chair
Ron Brown, students
Maureen Mol, Paul
Skellet and Olivia
Alcazar and College
President Susan
Witter.

Four outstanding students received scholarships at the March meeting of the Douglas
College Board. Maureen Mol, Health Information Services Program student, and Paul
Skellet, Criminology student, both received the Douglas College Board Scholarship while
Olivia Alcazar, General Studies student, received the Douglas College Faculty Association
Award. Kimberley Van Unen (not shown in photo), Office Administration Legal
Secretary Program student, received the Schiller, Coutts, Weiler and Gibson Scholarship.

 

From left to right: Controller Mike Proud, Accounts Payable employee
Eileen Klassen, Director of Finance Chris Worsley, and Accounts Payable
employees Mavis Blanchard and Deanna Bright are thrilled with their
new software system.

Business instructor takes
students on the Royal Road

Business instructor Dennis
McKintuck is out to prove
Douglas College business
students can battle it out
with the best. He took a
team of four students and
one alternate to the
International
Undergraduate Business
Case competition held at
Royal Roads University in
March. For each case,
competing teams are given
time to analyze identical
business cases before
presenting their solution to
a panel of judges.

 

Even though they only
had a couple of weeks to
prepare, Douglas College

Team Douglas College pictured outside Royal
Roads University in Victoria, BC where they
participated in a business case competition.
Business instructor Dennis McKintuck (left) was
their coach.

students held their own. In
the last case on the third
day of competition, the
team finished in the top
five, besting students from
SFU and BCIT and others.
The overall competition was won by University of Saskatchewan, with Royal Roads
second and Queen's University third. The other nine teams, including Douglas College,
tied for fourth. Two Douglas College students were commended by the judges, one for
the exceptional ability to respond to quickly and informatively to questions and the other
for “lighting-up” the room.

McKintuck was particularly pleased with his students’ performance since the majority of
the other schools sent seniors or fourth-year students who have been practicing and
competing all year.

a