HUMBER INTERFAITH CALENDAR
MULTIFAITH HOLY DAYS & FESTIVALS
JANUARY 2017: CALENDAR & DESCRIPTIONS    

In the spirit of diversity and inclusion, we provide the following Multifaith Holy Days & Festivals realizing that it is not exhaustive. Should you wish your faith’s days to be included, please contact the Chaplain at x4427 or chaplain@humber.ca for due consideration.

Note: Resources used include Multicultural Calendar of Creative Cultural Communications and various other public sources.

01 Sunday:

New Year’s Day (Canada/International)

January = Mndioo Giizis / K'aliyee (Aboriginal)

Spirit Moon (Ojibwe). K’aliyee is the time of the cold north wind (Other).

Temple Day (Buddhism)

North American Buddhists of all schools attend a special service in the local temple.

Shogatu/Gantan-sai (Shinto)

The Japanese welcome the New Year with prayers for renewal of hearts, good health and prosperity and wear their best clothes to visit shrines in large numbers, some at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Over the next 7 days, people visit one another's homes to offer good wishes for the coming year.

Ghambar Maidyarem Dec 31, 2016-Jan 04 (Zoroastrianism)

Celebrates the creation of animals and is a time for equitable sharing of food.

05 Thursday:

Birth of Guru Gobind Singh Ji (Sikhism)

The tenth and final Sikh master created the Khalsa, the Brotherhood of the Pure, and declared the Scriptures, the Adi Granth, to be the Sikh's Guru from that time on.

06 Friday:

Christmas / Epiphany / 3 Kings Day (Christianity)

Eastern: Some churches celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus; some celebrate Epiphany, the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Some Western & South American churches celebrate 3 Kings Day with gift-giving as when wise men from the East visited Bethlehem with gifts for the Christ child.

07 Saturday:

Christmas / Nativity (Christianity-Eastern)

Eastern Orthodox and Coptic (Egyptian) churches celebrate Christmas or Nativity according to the Julian calendar, 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar (Dec 25) used by Western churches.

09 Monday:

Seijin no hi or Coming-of-Age Day (Shinto)

A national holiday in Japan in which young women and men 20 years of age go to shrines wearing traditional clothing and their families proclaim their adult status to the kami or spirits and pray for their health and well being as they grow older.

13-14 Friday-Saturday:

Lohri (Hinduism_) / Maghi(Sikhism)

Bonfires are lit to mark the increase of the sun and the lengthening of days.

14 Saturday:

New Year (Christianity-Eastern)

Coptic (Egyptian) and Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate New Year by the Julian calendar, 13 days after the Gregorian calendar.

Makar-Sankranti (Hinduism)

Denotes the gradual lengthening of days in the northern hemisphere.

19 Thursday:

Theophany/Timkat (Christianity-Eastern)

Eastern churches celebrate this day as the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and the later miracle at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine.

Sultan (Baha'i)

Sultan, meaning Sovereignty, is the 17th month of the Baha'i year and involves an annual celebration of the teachings of unity found in all religions, Baha'is invite representatives of other traditions to address a common theme.

27 Friday:

New Moon The moon is at its least visibility.

28 Saturday:

Chinese New Year (The Year of the Monkey) to Feb 10 

“Kung Hei Fat Choi” is a 3-day festival to start the Year 4713 by the lunar calendar. The Chinese decorate their homes and buy new clothes and shoes to celebrate. Some may celebrate from February 19 to 21.

30 Monday: Sadeh (Zoroastrian) 

A mid-winter festival denoting the 100 days after summer with bonfires to show the power of fire and light in defeating darkness and cold, as persons gather around a fire to pray and, holding hands, dance around these fires in a circle.

Humber Applied Resarch & Innovation is now accepting applications for the Cultivate Fund.

The Cultivate Fund supports Humber faculty and staff engaged in original, externally-focused research and innovation by providing modest amounts of funding for strategic research or innovation initiatives involving an industry, community or academic partner.

Application Deadline: February 6, 2017 at noon
Available Funding: up to $20,000 per project 
Funding Period: up to 12 months (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018)

Apply online: humberresearch.fluidreview.com

For more information and to learn about available applied research and innovation support at Humber, please contact:

Magdalena Goledzinowska
Manager, Ethics and Internal Programs
416.675-6622 x5595
magdalena.goledzinowska@humber.ca

Humber College Council (HCC) held its fourth meeting of the 2016-17 academic year on Thursday, December 8 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 jean.o’donnell@humber.ca.

Roundtable

• Council members expressed concern about the timing of registration for the winter semester (November 22 at 2 p.m.) and the difficulties faced by students and faculty. This concern will be brought to the attention of the Registrar’s Office and ITS for comment/explanation. 

President’s Update

• C. Whitaker thanked HCC members for their work on the council outside of their regular roles, and welcomed everyone to attend the 2^nd annual Executive Team holiday open house on December 16 (LRC 6^th floor beginning at 2 p.m.). It was also noted that 2017 will be very busy with the following initiatives:
  • Two construction projects beginning in the new year: the Centre for Technology & Innovation and the North Campus parking deck.
  • Consultation and development of the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan. Cross-institutional consultations will begin in fall 2017, with many opportunities for participation.    
  • A new funding formula released by the Ministry.
  • The next Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA) with the ministry which demonstrates our strengths and areas of differentiation. 

2017 KPI Process

• C. Johnston, Director of Strategic Planning and Institutional Analysis (SPIA), provided an overview of our Key Performance Indicators (KPI), which are ministry mandated and must be completed annually. KPIs are important for performance assessment, accountability, and for measuring whether we are meeting our overall goals. The following details were included:
  • Deans and associate deans have been contacted to select courses; the next phase will be the recruitment and training of volunteers.
  • Humber surveys more students than any other college in Ontario. Last year we surveyed over 650 classes over a two week period. 
  • A KPI working group has been established to look at refreshing the student engagement process and promote the importance of KPIs.  Student focus groups indicate that more social media interaction, survey outcomes and appreciation events would be useful. 
• Suggestions were welcomed, and it was noted that an appreciation event at Carrier Drive would be beneficial.

50th Anniversary Celebrations

• O. Lalka, Director of Marketing, provided an overview of the activities and initiatives to take place in 2017 to celebrate Humber and the college system’s 50^th anniversary. Branding to celebrate this milestone will include a logo, a 50^th anniversary website (humber50.ca) as well as street and campus banners. Events will include 50 memorable moments (with each academic school featured for one month), a world of arts festival, official commemorative ceremony, speaker series, alumni day/reunion, and a ‘friends of Humber’ appreciation breakfast. All of these initiatives and events will be shared through the Communique, Humber TV, student newsletters and Humber Today. In addition to Humber events, Colleges Ontario will also be offering system-wide activities, including a $15,000 student award and a touring bus that will be at Humber on October 16, 2017.

Humber Gives Campaign

• A. Cassiani and A. Marchese presented on the Humber Gives Campaign. This important initiative grows in popularity every year, but still only 14% of administrative staff, 12% of faculty and 3% of support staff donate. There are many more students looking for support than there are scholarships to offer. Gifts can be designated to any of the eight schools, the Board of Governors scholarship, other existing awards/scholarships, or in honour of someone. In recognition for our donors’ generosity, Gratitude Hall has officially opened at North Campus. For more information, please visit humber.ca/giving

Accommodations

• G. Antonacci and J. McMillen presented on behalf of the Accommodations Task Force. It was noted that there is a tremendous amount of passion and concern around the issue of accommodations, which includes but is not limited to: processes that exist but need to be reinforced; a lack of understanding; and training needs. While the Accessible Learning Services department is tasked with providing actual support to students and faculty, the Accommodations Task Force looks at larger systemic issues related to accommodations. Analysis by the Task force will include:
  • How Humber can best support students in a holistic manner, with the aim to support the student’s human rights as well as the integrity of their learning outcomes together.
  • Providing accessible learning platforms in online learning courses.
  • Appropriate staff supports.
  • The development of a reasonable approach to course material design that is accessible and decreases the number of students requiring accommodations.

Revised Terms of Reference

• R. Handler provided an overview of the revisions made to HCC’s Terms of Reference (ToR). The ToR provides information on the purpose and structure of HCC, which is reviewed every two years. The majority of revisions were to Council representative titles and the HCC sub-committees list. The revised terms of reference were approved as presented and will be posted on the HCC website.   

The next meeting of College Council will be held on Thursday, January 12 at 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

New Service Delivery Model - Human Resources Compensation, Benefits & Pension Team

In keeping with the Human Resources Department value of continuous improvement and customer service, the Compensation, Benefits & Pension Team is introducing a new service delivery model for employees effective January 3, 2017.

What is changing?

We currently have one HR subject matter expert for each area (pension, compensation and benefits) and you meet with each expert separately to discuss your issue.

Effective January 3, 2017, the new service delivery model will provide you with a designated Compensation & Benefits Specialist who will be an expert on all your pension, compensation, and benefits issues.  (see chart below).

Our core services remain the same, but you will be able to discuss your pension and benefits with one HR Specialist at the same time. (Adding or removing dependants on your benefit plan; changing a beneficiary; retirement paperwork; maternity or parental leave; pension enrolment; vacation plan inquiries)

How does this affect you?

• You will now have a designated Compensation and Benefits Specialist for all your compensation, benefits and CAAT pension inquiries.
• Your Compensation and Benefits Specialist will be knowledgeable and able to assist you on all your compensation, benefits, and pension inquiries.
• When your designated Compensation and Benefits Specialist is on vacation another Specialist will be able to assist you; you will not have to wait for your Specialist to return from vacation.

If you need assistance with pension or benefits, simply contact your designated Compensation and Benefits Specialist.  

Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you have any questions or concerns.

Dawn Stinson
Manager, Compensation & Benefits
dawn.stinson@humber.ca