Canada’s new Ambassador to Indonesia, His Excellency Peter MacArthur, met with students and staff from Humber’s Sulawesi Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) project in Indonesia to see an example of international cooperation in action.

MacArthur saw first-hand how students from the SEDS project are thriving in their new businesses showcased at the Universitas Hasanuddin (UNHAS) Marketplace Expo. He visited the stalls of several entrepreneurs selling everything from vegetable-based ice cream, to an app for home security – to organic fertilizer. MacArthur recognized the significance of SEDS in building the capacity of youth in entrepreneurship and took the opportunity to tour the newly renovated business center.  

“Indonesia is a remarkable country and one of Canada’s most important partners in the Asia Pacific region,” said Ambassador MacArthur. “Our two countries value pluralism and democracy, and a commitment to sustainable economic growth through facilitation of small businesses, innovation and education to help build a stronger middle class.”

Humber works alongside seven universities in Indonesia to improve their curriculum and teaching methods in entrepreneurship. The five year program develops the creative and business skills of students in the classroom, while also provides on-campus hubs for students to explore entrepreneurship on their own.

Visit our site for more information.

All members of the Humber community are invited to attend the launch of Content Context, a contemporary art exhibition and pop-up artist library by the Visual Literacy students in Art Foundation. Working under the guidance of faculty member Vivian Ducas, student-artists have engaged a broad range of media that explores notions inherent to visual literacy, and communicates the unique concerns of emerging artists living in a rapidly changing world.

Humber College Council held its third meeting of the 2016-17 academic year on Thursday, November 10 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 interest in developing a policy for e-signatures in order to increase cross-institutional environmental sustainability and efficiency.
• Council members addressed constituent concerns about the flow of traffic in and out of campus, current parking capacity and development of the new parking structure at North campus.

Winter Carnival

• W. Buote, Lakeshore Principal, introduced students from the Public Relations graduate program who are responsible for organizing the Humber Staff and Children’s Holiday Party. Scheduled for Saturday, November 26 from 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., the ‘Winter Carnival’ themed event will include breakfast, crafts and activities. Tickets are $8/child and $10/adult, and can be purchased online or at campus bookstores. Attendees are asked to bring a non-perishable food item for donation.   

Ernestine’s Place

• The College Council meeting in December will include the annual donation to Ernestine’s Place, a local women’s shelter. Accepted donations include necessities like new clothing, food, toiletries, baby/toddler items and housewares. Raffle tickets will also be sold to raise money for the shelter.    

Humber Student Success Survey

• C. Johnston, Director of Strategic Planning and Institutional Analysis (SPIA), provided an overview of the newly developed Humber Student Success Survey (HSSS). Using best practice research, consultations, student focus groups and a working group of SEM to provide input, the new HSSS is built into 2 phases to identify students at risk:
  • Phase 1 asks about demographic information (race, gender, sexual identity, disabilities, financial considerations, etc.).
  • Phase 2 asks about academic skills, engagement, expectations, program fit and competing responsibilities/stressors.
• Survey results are confidential and will become longitudinal; roll-out will take 4 years as students from all semesters are eventually surveyed.
• SPIA will be developing aggregate reports to be shared with students to encourage future participation and allow students to take ownership of their own information. 

Academic Calendar

• B. Riach and G. Antonacci presented the 2017-2018 Academic Calendar and highlighted the following dates:
  • October study days align with the U. of Guelph/Guelph-Humber; Humber is currently conducting research with IGNITE to measure student feedback and the effectiveness of these days.
  • Reading week 2018 aligns with the University of Guelph.
  • Timelines for final grade submissions are tight, particularly in the fall, because of how the calendar falls that year.

Accommodations

• G. Antonacci provided an overview of the Accommodations Task Force that was developed in spring 2016 to meet the requirements of the most recent directive from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) addressing accommodation processes for postsecondary students. Currently at Humber, there are 3,000 students registered with the Accessible Learning Services office. However, not all students follow a natural path through registration which delays and complicates accommodations and assistance. G. Antonacci and J. McMillen will present to College Council at a later date, answering specific questions and concerns raised by members and constituents. Members are asked to submit their questions to N. Adamson by November 18. 

Integrated Advising

• C. Joy and M. Gallo presented an overview of the integrated advising model at Humber. Research has shown that many students get incorrect advice from friends and family.  Integrated advising uses a case-management approach that promotes shared ownership for educational progress among students, faculty and administration (using a hub and spoke model). To ease access, academic advising appointments can now be done online, and a formal referral tool is currently under development. To share this information with students, faculty are encouraged to invite the Academic & Career Success Centre to present to their students. 

Creative and Performing Arts

• A. Scott, Associate Dean in the School of Creative and Performing Arts, provided an overview of the school. Currently, it is working to develop an internationalization strategy that will include more study-abroad opportunities for students in many different countries. They are also working to develop a Centre of Innovation in Creative Enterprise. New programs in 2017 include graduate certificates in Comedy Writing (Print Humour), Music Business and Music Composition, with another 6 programs under development for future launch. A. Scott also promoted the newly available humbertunes.com.   

The next meeting of College Council will be held on Thursday, December 8 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

Last Friday, December 2, 2016, Humber and the United Way held their 7th Annual Spin-a-thon. A charity fundraising event that is organized and hosted by the third semester students of the Fitness and Health Promotion Students, School of HRT. The event saw 21 teams, some with solo riders, others with as many as 8 on a team, fundraise with the goal of donating all of their pledges to the Toronto York Region United Way in exchange for their sweat! The teams had to participate in the event for 4 hours. The energy was extremely high as was the volume of music, enthusiasm and laughter.

This single event raised over $13,000 and contributes to the overall Humber pledge from our Executive Office of $75,000. Some honorable mentions: Top Fundraising Team: RO Spinners from the Registrar's Office, led by Heather Bannister. Top Creative Team: Lakeshore Aces I, II and III - commandeered by the fearless Wanda Buote! The top single fundraiser was Adriana Mema representing the Tech Force Team and top single student fundraiser was FHP's very own student Sheyne Blanchford. It was fun to once again have our President, Chris Whitaker, and his team of executives participate as the Steering Wheels - nice play on words!  

On behalf of the Fitness and Health Promotion Program, thank you for supporting our event which in turn supports those in need.