Announcements

When:
February 1, 2018
Tel:
416.675.5009

During the first week of January, a group of intrepid 5-12 year olds spent four days exploring and enjoying the snowy grounds of the Humber Arboretum - now you can see some of the fun in the Arb's first camp round-up video of 2018.

Nature Day Camps at the Humber Arboretum are based out of the Centre for Urban Ecology and run during the first week of January, over March Break, and weekly throughout July and August. Most camps are for ages 5-12, but new for this summer is a Jr. Naturalist Camp for 12- and 13-year-olds.

March Break Nature Camp is already full, but registration for Summer Nature Camp is open - payment plans are available.

Learn more and register online: humber.ca/arboretum/learn/camps.html 

 

Video edited by Humber College student Jonathan Dennis
Music: Singing Oh by Blended Colors, licensed through Artlist.io

When:
January 31, 2018
Contact:
Erica Franklin
Tel:
x2893

Humber College's United Way Employee Giving Campaign kicks off this February 1st! Humber employees can expect to receive a few email messages with a link to donate from United Way in the coming weeks .

This is the last opportunity Humber employees will have to contribute to United Way this academic year. Help us reach (or exceed!) our goal of $40,000 via employee giving. Every contribution counts.

Humber College's United Way Committee thanks you for your support of this important initiative.

If you have any questions about the United Way Employee Giving Campaign, don't hesitate to contact erica.franklin@humber.ca or haley.bai@humber.ca.

When:
January 31, 2018

SUMMER VACATION PLANNING

Vacation time is an essential part of a healthy work-life balance. We encourage all staff to schedule and plan their yearly vacation allotment in consultation with their manager. 

In order to ensure that requests are considered fairly and effectively, please be advised of the following guidelines and related articles from the Collective Agreements:

Academic Staff (Article 15 – Vacations)

Academic Staff (Professors, Librarians and Counsellors) are entitled to a two month vacation period as scheduled by their manager. Managers, in consultation with the employee and HR, may arrange alternative dates for vacation periods depending upon academic and operational requirements. All requests should be submitted in writing. Please note: individuals may request to have vacation scheduled in other than a contiguous two-month block.

For the majority of academic staff, the two month 2018 summer vacation period is as follows:

Begins: Monday, June 25, 2018
Ends: Friday, August 24, 2018

Faculty return on Monday, August 27, 2018.  Classes begin on Tuesday, September 4, 2018.

Support Staff (Article 11 – Vacation)

Vacations are scheduled using the following guidelines:

a) Support Staff are entitled to three (3) consecutive weeks of vacation as scheduled by the College, unless otherwise agreed. There is no guarantee that these three weeks can be scheduled during the summer months, but the College will consider these requests consistent with staffing requirements;

b) The vacation period of July and August is to be shared fairly amongst all employees. Recognizing operational needs may preclude certain vacation requests, the College will endeavour to accommodate all staff vacation requests. Consideration shall be given for length of service if a conflict arises;

c) Support Staff are required to submit their written vacation preferences to their manager by March 1, 2018. Managers will communicate the approved vacation schedule in writing within two weeks following the March 1st submission; 

d) Support Staff may carry over up to 15 days of vacation as of June 30th of each year, subject to an agreement with their manager to schedule the carryover days in the following year;

e) The College maintains a practice of not replacing staff while they are on vacation.

SUMMER HOURS AND SATUTORY HOLIDAYS

Summer Hours

During the period from May to August, where operationally feasible, management has the authority and discretion to establish summer working hours for their employees.  These hours may vary from regular operating hours.

Summer hours usually mean that employees continue to work their full number of hours each week, but may start and finish earlier or later in the day.  When considering requests for summer hours, managers are encouraged to engage in conversation with their employees to discuss feasible options while ensuring regular customer service is maintained.

Should there be any questions regarding the scheduling and/or taking of vacation, or the observance of holidays, please contact your HR Business Partner/Manager:

Heather Black, ext 5599
Alison Coulter, ext 5724
Eloise Etcubanez, ext 4021
Grace Hardie, ext 4948
Samantha Marzec, ext 5636
Cynthia Ogbarmey-Tetteh, ext 4375
David Teixeira, ext 5428

College Holiday Schedule

The College will be closed on the following College Holidays during 2018:

Family Day Monday, February 19
Good Friday Friday, March 30
*Victoria Day Monday, May 21
*Canada Day  Monday, July 2
*Civic Holiday Monday, August 6
Labour Day Monday, September 3
Thanksgiving Monday, October 8

*Early Closings

Early closings for summer 2018 will continue as an avenue to recognize Humber’s dedicated faculty and staff. Further, this extra time is intended to support work-life balance initiatives.

Staff normally working on these days, are encouraged to leave one and a half hours (1.5) early from the end of their regular workday. 

Subject to the operational requirements of the division/department, early closures apply to the following:

  • Friday, May 18 (prior to Victoria Day)
  • Friday, June 29 (prior to Canada Day)
  • Friday, August 3  (prior to the Civic Holiday)

Staff who are required to work full hours on any of the early closing days shall be given one and a half hours (1.5) off on another day during the summer, to be scheduled by the manager of the area.

Overtime pay on the early closing days shall apply only in situations where employees are required to work beyond their regular number of work hours and have the approval of their manager.

Statutory Holiday Pay

Staff required to work on a statutory holiday shall be paid time and one-half for each hour worked, plus holiday pay.

Part-time staff may be eligible for holiday pay, plus time and one half pay, for hours worked on any statutory holiday. To qualify for statutory holiday pay, part-time employees must have worked on their scheduled day of work preceding and following the recognized holiday.

Payments made to all part-time staff shall be equal to the total amount of regular wages and vacation pay payable to the employee in the pay prior to the statutory holiday, divided by the number of days worked in the prior pay period.

Any questions, please contact Sherry Fast at extension 5089. 

When:
January 31, 2018

College Council Highlights: January 11, 2018

Humber College Council (HCC) held its fourth meeting of the 2017-18 academic year on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the North Campus. To ensure the Humber community is informed of upcoming events, new initiatives and important issues, College Council reports the highlights of its monthly meetings. For more information or to provide feedback on the highlights, please contact denise.rooney@humber.ca and bhupinder.singhmalhotra@humber.ca.

Chris Whitaker Remarks

Chris Whitaker, President of Humber College opened the formal proceedings with introductory comments. He mentioned several Humber newsworthy accomplishments including Lakeshore Campus receiving Fairtrade status, the retiree’s dinner and the upcoming career milestone awards.

Chris noted that the date has been set for the Faculty strike award and that the college is in strike recovery mode and working hard to support each other. The college is currently preparing the operating budget for the next fiscal year keeping in mind the new funding formula. As well, with the introduction of Bill 148 the college is still determining the impact and costs to the budget.

School of Media Studies & Information Technology

Guillermo Acosta, Dean, School of Media Studies and Information Technology, provided an informational update on the breadth of programming, facilities and initiatives the school offers.

Highlights included:

  • Thirty-six programs in the School of Media Studies (SMSIT) including: certificates, diplomas, advanced diplomas and degrees.
  • The school has developed multiple common platforms and semesters which allow students the flexibility and options to change programs. This past year 28 students successfully switched from one program within the school to another. The school believes this will help with retention rates as students have better options and flexibility.
  • The Usability Lab is a unique Humber designed State of the Art lab available for students, staff and industry to understand usability testing at a high level. The studies performed in the lab are collaborative and help users solve design problems and study user experience. It was noted that Humber’s usability lab was designed by Humber, in consultation with IBM and BlackBerry and is one of a kind in Canada. 
  • The school has developed a free open source program in accessible design and accessible media. The program can be found at humber.ca/makingaccessiblemedia. This course is module based and takes 15 hours to complete. To date over 400 students have received their certificate of completion. The accessible media study module is an opportunity for all staff and students at Humber, but it is a requirement for some staff and students in the SMSIT.

What’s next for the school?

  • Areas of interest and development include: virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive design, e-sports, usability, user experience and accessibility.

Humber Libraries

Cynthia Mckeich, Director, Humber Libraries and Alexandra Ross, Advisor - Library Special Projects provided an informational update to College Council on “Where we’ve been and where we’re going”.

Highlights included:

The Library Top 5

  1. Library Spaces – High demand spaces that suit a variety of studying styles, with five service desks across three campuses. There were over 690,000 student visits in 2016/2017. The group study rooms were booked 25,800 times.
  2. Services – Research help is available in person, by appointment or online through AskON (library.humber.ca). 450 Information Literacy classes were taught last year with both faculty and students reporting that 88% believed they did better on an assignment after having taken the library class. The copyright team investigates questions and provides guidance for faculty, staff and students.
  3. Resources – 70% of collection is electronic, with access to over 2.4 million ebooks, 72,000 journals, 34,000 streaming videos, 108 databases.
  4. Library team – the entire team focuses on supporting student success. The team includes faculty, support staff and administration.
  5. Student Engagement and Outreach – Therapy dog Percy visits weekly at the North Campus, 2 Little Free Libraries at Lakeshore, Recess stress buster event, Food for Fines program, monetary fines are donated to student bursaries.

New in the Library

  • Cynthia Mckeich officially joined the Library team as Director in August 2017.
  • Technology lending has increased with the addition of 30 laptops, phone chargers, portable plugs, and calculators.
  • Website was redesigned and launched in September 2017.
  • Employee Engagement Pulse Survey – 96% of staff feel valued for the work they do.

Future Plans

  • Departmental Operational Review tabled winter 2017 is shaping how the Library is moving forward.
  • Plans to develop a shared vision and mission for Humber Libraries.
  • Collaboration and partnership with Academic Schools, Information Technology and Facilities Management on different initiatives.

Academic Calendar

Gina Antonacci, Associate Vice-President, Academic and Barb Riach, Registrar, Office of the Registrar provided an update on the 2018/2019 Academic Calendar.

Highlights included:

  • The College will close for Winter break on Friday, December 21, 2018 at 6 p.m. The College will reopen Tuesday January 2, 2019.
  • There are various end dates for programs because Humber runs 13, 14 and 15 week semesters.
  • Ongoing discussions with IGNITE, faculty and staff to finalize Fall Reading Days dates.

Ernestine’s Shelter and Raffle

Amy Azzopardi from the School of Health Sciences coordinated with various schools to organize a fundraising raffle which raised $515.00 for Ernestine’s Shelter through ticket sales to council members. As well many departments and schools donated supplies and gift cards to support the shelter.

The next meeting of College Council will be held Thursday, February 8, 2018 at the North Campus. For meeting highlights, supporting materials, or opportunities to provide feedback please visit the College Council website at: humber.ca/wearehumber/staff/committees/college-council

When:
January 31, 2018
Contact:
Nathan Whitlock
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

On the latest episode of the NEXTcast podcast, available free on Soundcloud and iTunes, professor Paul Cross talks about the challenges of getting new students prepared for post-secondary learning, and offers some tips for overcoming those challenges.

“Blackboard is your best friend,” says Cross.

Listen to the episode here: soundcloud.com/humbernextcast

NEXTcast is a podcast about teaching and learning at Humber College, created by Humber Press and the Centre for Teaching & Learning. New episodes go up on Soundcloud and iTunes every second Monday. To suggest a future guest or topic, email Humber Press at humberpress@humber.ca.

When:
January 30, 2018
Contact:
Raina Faza
Tel:
x4348

Each year, we gather to celebrate student success by recognizing them with awards and scholarships. We are pleased to announce the event dates for the eight academic schools.

School of Health Sciences Thursday, February 1, 2018 
School of Liberal Arts & Sciences Wednesday, February 7, 2018
School of Social & Community Services Monday, February 12, 2018
The Business School Wednesday, February 21, 2018 
School of Media Studies & Information Technology Tuesday, March 6, 2018 
School of Creative & Performing Arts Tuesday, March 13, 2018 
School of Hospitality, Recreation & Tourism Thursday, March 22, 2018 
School of Applied Technology Monday, March 26, 2018

Students receiving awards and scholarships at these events, are all from donations received from donors, partners, alumni, staff and special event fundraising.

For more information on the events or how you can support our students, please visit humber.ca/giving or email giving@humber.ca.

 

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When:
January 26, 2018
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

Many of our users have been receiving email notifications from Chrome River. Chrome River sends out email notifications to remind users to take action or to confirm a certain action. Questions have emerged surrounding two email notifications in particular.

 

Unused Firm Paid Items

Condition: The expense owner has PCard transactions that are more than 30 days old.

Action Required: Login to Chrome River (myexpenses.humber.ca) and complete the unsubmitted transaction(s).

Unapproved Expense Items

Condition: The approver has an expense report pending their approval.

Required Action: Login in to Chrome River (myexpenses.humber.ca), review the pending expense report and approve or disapprove accordingly.

The click here link enclosed in the email notifications is in the process of being fixed. Users are being directed to a Chrome River login page (see below) which is not accessible to Humber College users. Please enter myexpenses.humber.ca into the address bar of your browser to navigate to the correct URL.

 

When:
January 26, 2018

Many Humber alumni return to campus to share their experiences with students and faculty as mentors and guest speakers. If you know of any graduates that will be on campus, please contact us for an alumni branded gift. We welcome the chance to meet them and thank them for staying connected.

Call 416.673.0152 or email alumni@humber.ca

When:
January 26, 2018

For any of those who were unable to attend the Weight Watchers information session this week, but would still like to join, come out to North Campus B308 at noon on Tuesday, January 30, 2018 to register for the 16 week at work program. This will be the first official meeting with our WW Ambassador, Corenne, as well as the first official weigh in!

Let's get our WW Freestyle on!

When:
January 25, 2018
Contact:
Karina Butzek-Morris
Tel:
416.702.6157

We know your investment in students goes beyond the classroom. Through your guidance and preparation, Humber alumni are trained to tackle the real world with the confidence and know-how to get the job done. Humber has become a part of the fabric that allows our graduates to succeed professionally and in life, and for that reason, we never want the connection to end.

The Humber Alumni Milestones program allows us to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates.

If you become aware of a former student who recently started a new job, purchased their first home, got married, or had a baby, please let us know, and we’ll be more than happy to send a congratulatory gift! Similarly, help spread the word of our Milestones program by sharing the following link:

humber.ca/advancementandalumni/alumni/our-alumni/share-your-story.html

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