We all strive for an equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace. As Humber grows and expands its horizons, we are mindful of the asset that is our greatest strength: our people. The foundation of every great endeavour lies in the steady growth of a team that collaborates, shares values and shares the same vision.

Piyusha Lokre is a Project Assistant at Humber Applied Research & Innovation. She has recently acquired the Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification. Congratulations Piyusha!

Tableau is one of the fastest-growing interactive data-visualization softwares. It is used for data science and business intelligence, transforming the way data is used to solve problems and showcase insights.

Piyusha is an integral part of Humber Applied Research & Innovation’s aspiring future.

Read the entire article here.

"Black Heritage Month” reflects emerging terminology that aims to recognize the history of the Black community, along with its present achievements and future.  

In 1995, Canada officially recognized Black History Month following a motion introduced by the first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, the Honourable Jean Augustine. For many Canadians, recognizing Black History Month provided a doorway into the culture and experience of Black/African people. Many Black Canadians have also shared that Black History Month has a disproportionate focus on the past and narratives of slavery and colonialism. There have been calls for a shift that recognizes the past, but also celebrates the present and imagines a radical, bold and bright future for Black Canadians.  

In partnership with BASE and equity seeking groups across Humber College, the Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Diversity is advocating a shift, from “Black History Month” towards “Black Heritage 365 Days of the Year”. Black Heritage 365 Days of the Year recognizes the achievements and contributions of Black Canadians. At the same time, the Centre aims to provide programming throughout the year to build resiliency, practices and communities of care, and skill development for Black/African staff and students. Additionally, our all year programming of Black Heritage aims to build EDI capacity, anti-Black racism and awareness. 

Coming Up...

Wednesday, February 17, 2021 (9 a.m. – 12 p.m.) – Developing Resiliency Through Adversity with Jodie Glean 

• Identify and discuss the current challenges in professional environments experienced by Black professionals and the barriers that exists to addressing them
• Increase understanding of the concept of resiliency and its relevance for Black professionals in the work and learning environment
• Share tools and techniques that support the activation of resilience for Black community within the work and learning environment

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.) – Challenging Anti-Black Racism – Part II with Sacha Ally and Adam Benn 

• Explore the impact of anti-Black racial microaggressions in the Virtual Environment
• Discuss using “microinterventions” as a strategy for addressing anti-Black racism

Friday, February 26, 2021 (9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.) – Understanding the Determinants of Health for a Healthy and Inclusive Community with Dr. Roberta Timothy 

• To examine your positionality within equity work
• To understand the determinants of health and its importance to anti-oppression (EDI) practice
• To examine how equity can be centered in building healthy and inclusive communities (Access and Equity: Students & Employees, Curriculum and Programs, Campus Culture, and College-Wide Communication and Engagement)

To register, email zareena.khan@humber.ca.

February’s Playlist

Borrowing a page from President Barack Obama, the Centre is pleased to offer a playlist of some of our favourite artists: 

1. Measha Brueggergosman - Reve Infini (Infinite Dream)
2. Jully Black - Seven Day Fool
3. Youssou N'Dour - 7 Seconds ft. Neneh Cherry
4. Drake - God's Plan
5. K'NAAN - Take A Minute

The Humber College Council (HCC) held its fifth meeting of the 2020-2021 academic year on Thursday, January 21, 2021 online using Microsoft Teams. To ensure the Humber community is informed of upcoming events, new initiatives, and important issues, the College Council reports the highlights of its meetings. For more information or to provide feedback on these highlights, please contact risha.toney@humber.ca.

Roundtable

Karen Stefou [Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellness] shared that $2,065 was raised in support of Ernestine’s House. And she would like to thank anyone who was able to contribute to the success of this fundraising campaign.

Risha Toney [Office of the Registrar] promoted a new pathways portal for students and alumni that launched at Humber’s Virtual Pathways Fair. This portal provides an avenue for students to use interactive searches to find diploma to degree pathways and graduate certificate and master's degree options.

Rose Anthony [Student Success and Engagement] shared information about Counselling Services’ Healthy Minds for Stressful Times student support group. This nine-week drop-in group session takes place on-line Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., beginning February 11. The objective is to help students with feelings of overwhelm, stress, and anxiety. Students can email Rose at rose.anthony@humber.ca to register. A poster will be provided in the Communiqué if faculty would like to promote this initiative to their students.

Humber Recruitment update

Joy Borman [Manager, New Student Recruitment and Advising] and Yanni Thepanya [Recruitment Advisor] provided council with an update of the initiatives that Humber Student Recruitment have undertaken and how they’ve pivoted to the online environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pre-COVID, the recruitment team engaged in on and off-campus activities, which were predominantly in-person and included Fall and Spring Open Houses, March Break presentations and tours, year-round general campus tours, pathways events, the Ontario College Fair, and much more.

Shortly after the campus closed, they quickly switched to engaging students virtually starting with the first-ever Spring 2020 Virtual Open House. Since then, they’ve conducted over 130 virtual presentations with over 4,000 guests in attendance, 10+ Fall Ask Humber sessions with over 3,300 guests, created virtual campus tours of the North and Lakeshore campuses, and a long list of other events.

They have also been engaging in virtual pre-enrollment advising. Advising sessions are conducted using Cisco Jabber and Microsoft Teams Meetings. From April to December 2020 over 550 advising appointments were booked with 60% of visits booked by non-high school students.

Winter 2021: Academic Update

Gina Antonacci [Associate Vice president, Academic] outlined the legislative changes which have had an impact on the Winter 2021 academic delivery of programs. These legislative policies included in-person capacity limits and stay at home orders. As a result, some courses were reconfigured and rescheduled to address in-person capacity regulations and an additional 44 sections and 3,434 lab hours were added. Labs are now booked for 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days per week.

Overview of Programming in the winter semester

• 50 % of programs are entirely online
• 50 % of programs have both online and face-to-face components
• 84 % of all our courses are delivered online
• 16 % of all our courses are delivered on campus

Enrollment Update

Barb Riach [Associate Vice President, Enrollment Management & Registrar] provided the enrollment update. As of the first day of the winter semester, we had a total of 25, 971 students registered. This is higher than the revised target of 23,681 students but lower than our original target of 28,703.

The largest decline for the winter semester was seen in the international student enrollment numbers, however, to date, there were already 3,500 international applications for the Fall 2021 semester intake.

Our newest campus, the International Graduate School opened virtually this semester to 109 students. Four graduate certificates are being offered in Winter 2021, an additional five programs in spring/summer, and an additional two programs in Fall 2021.

Summer 2021 planning will be completed by March 1 while planning for Fall 2021 will be completed by June 1.

The next meeting of the College Council will be held on Thursday, February 18, 2021. For meeting highlights, supporting materials, and opportunities to provide feedback, please visit the College Council website.

The Faculty of Media & Creative Arts asks you to join us in congratulating Robert Richardson on his upcoming retirement. He has almost 20 years of service at Humber.

Bob, as he is affectionately known, is a true Humber success story. Starting at Humber as a student in the Film & TV Production advanced diploma, launching a second career, he balanced his studies with a workstudy position, graduating with honours and top of the class, followed by a part-time role, full-time support staff position, full-time professor, program coordinator, and finally, Associate Dean. Bob has excelled in all of his roles and has made many valuable contributions to the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts and the broader Humber community.

Bob is a kind, generous, and fair leader who always took the time to listen and check in with you. His love of history, literature, films, and even farming made conversations more interesting. As an early riser, we often joked that Bob “opened up” the Lakeshore Campus, when on many occasions, he would arrive before Public Safety had a chance to open up the doors to the building.

Bob’s last day at Humber will be March 1. Please join me in wishing Bob the very best of luck in this next chapter of life.  

Guillermo Acosta
Senior Dean, Faculty of Media & Creative Arts