College Council Highlights: February 9, 2017
Humber College Council (HCC) held its sixth meeting of the 2016-17 academic year on Thursday, February 9 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 or Bhupinder.Malhotra@humber.ca
Leave for Change
Presenters: N. Adamson, E. Lewis, R. Srinivasan and P. Gill
The guest speakers presented their experiences with the Leave for Change program. This initiative is sponsored by Humber College in partnership with Uniterra. The program gives Humber full-time employees who feel they have skills to offer and the passion for helping those in need the opportunity to volunteer for an international position during their vacation for a three-to-four-week period. Prior to leaving, the employee is required to participate in a two-day orientation training session.
The experience helps participants to grow professionally and personally, by building cross-cultural competency, gaining a global perspective and making a difference in the lives of others in developing nations.
Leave for Change operates in 14 countries, with a focus on stimulating economic growth and empowering people to acquire the necessary tools to prosper on their own. Fifty-one Humber employees have participated over the past nine years. Each year, Humber sponsors six employees and covers all costs.
Apply by March 1 humber.ca/careers
Human Resources Management System (HRMS)
L. Diduch, Vice-President, Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness, presented an update on the status of the selection of a new Human Resources Management System (HRMS). Discussions with vendors is currently underway, with implementation of the new system planned for March 2018. To ensure a smooth rollout of the HRMS, the project team is simultaneously implementing and testing a new change management framework.
Humber is hoping to move from manual, paper-based systems to a modernized best-practice approach in HR management. The new system will have built-in efficiencies that will enhance the user experience and functionality of current processes and procedures, from the recruitment process to compensation and payroll. The new system will allow each user group greater autonomy and direct access to information.
The project team is working on a range of readiness activities and will be reaching out to the broader Humber community to assist with the establishment of advisory groups to help with the design, build and testing of the solution. The project is governed by a steering committee with cross institutional representation.
School of Health Science Overview
J. Powell, Dean, School of Health Sciences, updated College Council on the breadth of programming, facilities and initiatives the school offers while educating the next generation of health care providers. Highlights include:
- 3,500 full-time students; 2,591 part-time students
- Offer all options from certificates to degrees
- Facilities: 19 experiential labs/hives
- Five clusters under which their programs are offered:
- To promote academic integrity, all first-year students take a pledge
- Campaign to educate students on the ethics of social media in the workplace and how certain actions violate privacy and are against the professional code of ethics
- Health Sciences students in partnership with the Department of Public Safety have formed the Humber College emergency response team
- An inter-professional experience is offered in Guatemala where Health Sciences students help abandoned children with health issues by providing health assessments in underserviced rural areas
A new Bachelor of Health Sciences program will be launched fall 2017. Several other future programs are in various stages of development, including: system navigation, chronic disease management, osteopathy, hearing instrument specialist and optician.
The next meeting of College Council will be held Thursday, March 9 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
