Algonquin College community celebrates "mission accomplished"
June 7, 2018
More than a 1,000 faculty, employees, and College leaders filled the Marketplace Food Court to sing out Algonquin’s mission statement – “to transform hopes and dreams into lifelong success” — as President Cheryl Jensen detailed many of Algonquin’s accomplishments over the last year.
“The mission statement has truly become front and centre for our College, and that’s the way it should be,” she said.
That sense of mission, along with much good humour, was absolutely on display during an event given over to speeches, entertainment, and food.
Employees decorated themselves with all things green – from pennants and pom-poms to face paint and sunglasses. The dining tables were dotted with green drinking mugs and the stage was bedecked with green-and-white bouquets of snapdragons, carnations, alstroemeria, and button-like kermit flowers. Cheryl and Claude Brulé, Senior Vice President, Academic, were garbed in green.
The band Divided Highway, composed of current and retired College employees – David Bray, David Tempeny, Wayne Lewry, and Mike Fortin – entertained the crowd with covers of Blue Rodeo, Neil Diamond, and Jackson Brown.
A 17-minute video of Algonquin’s collective successes and employee achievements, drawing on the theme of Mission: Impossible, kept the crowd applauding, while scenes of an unidentified black-jacketed burglar in dark glasses and a toque fleeing College security staff had them laughing.
The applause – and the laughter – was loudest at the end of the video when Cheryl pulled off the toque and glasses to turn and give the audience a thumbs-up and declare “mission accomplished.”
The president had good reason for such a declaration. In her speech, Cheryl reminded the audience of many of the achievements of 2017-2018 – from the three College competitors who this week won medals at the national Skills Canada competition and the Broadcasting-Television students who won a prestigious Canadian Comedy Award to Algonquin itself picking up three Prix d’Excellence awards from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education and College alumni beating out nine other colleges to win the William G. Davis Innovation Fund contest.
These awards are “proof that our learners are getting the best possible education in their fields at Algonquin,” Cheryl said, noting that last fall the College enjoyed its highest level of full-time and graduate certificate enrolments in its history.
Cheryl did not forget the new DARE District. “This is more than just a new building. It is the heart of our College because it is not only going to help us on the path of discovery, applied research, and entrepreneurship, but it is also going to help us on our journey toward Truth and Reconciliation."
She also listed the numerous partnerships, collaborations, research connections, and philanthropic endeavours that demonstrate Algonquin’s educational influence and reputation for innovation and entrepreneurship.
That list includes, among other items, health research with the Ottawa Hospital, establishing a Personal Support Worker program at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre, hosting a global conference on Indigenous entrepreneurship, and hairstyling students and their instructors raising $100,000 for cancer research.
“We are outstanding because we are truly on a mission to serve our learners,” Cheryl concluded. “It is a mission that pushes us to involve them in big projects, to push them to excellence, and to create the kind of environment that always allows them to thrive and lets their hopes and dreams take flight.”
That excellence was acknowledged as the College community wrapped up the barbecue by recognizing the contributions of employees to Algonquin’s accomplishments.
In a surprise announcement, Cheryl presented a President’s Star Award to Jennifer Thurston, Algonquin’s Banquet, Catering and Conference Manager.
Other award winners this year were:
Part-time Support Staff Award: Marcel Mousseau – Resource Centre Assistant, Community Employment Services, Pembroke
Support Staff Award: Tom Friesen – Senior Database Administrator, Information Technology Services
Administrative Staff Award: Sarah Crawford – Sexual Violence Prevention and Harm Reduction Coordinator, Student Support Services
Deborah Rowan-Legg Service Excellence Award: Bruce Dwyer – Professor and Program Coordinator, Aviation Studies
Dianne Bloor Part-time Faculty Award: Chris Martin – Police Foundations Programs
Laurent Isabelle Faculty Award: Andrew Greenhalgh – Professor, Mechanical Engineering Technology
Team Award: Student Award Net Tuition Automation (SANTA) Project
Gerry A. Barker Leadership Award: Dushan Horvat – Coordinator, Game Development Program
Lifetime Achievement Award: David Bray – Professor, Information and Communications Technology
The Philanthropic Leadership Award went to Bruce Dwyer, and Serge Côté, Professor, Mechanical and Transportation Technology
The following employees were named as National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) award winners: Tamra Alexander, David Bray, Matthew Broughton, Cheryl Giff, Greg Kenny, Melissa Langlais, Angela Nuelle, Michel Philion, Antonios Vitaliotis, and Shelly Waplington.
Oh yes, the Communications, Marketing and External Relations department won the Team Spirit competition (and the prize of a pizza) for their ACSpirit display of white T-shirts emblazoned with oversize mugshots – green-tinted, of course.