Archive for Kwantlen
Kwantlen’s Compensation Controversy
There have been four presidents of Kwantlen Polytechnic University since I was hired eleven years ago. Our current one, Dr. Alan Davis, seems to me to have been the best. Why? He understands how our university’s future will never be a break from its past: a community-focused, rigorous institution devoted to providing students with real-world expertise – from fashion and interior design to horticulture to business to criminology and, now, even to beer-brewing and to Chinese medicine.
He has been a superb hire. In his previous post – president of the State University of New York’s prestigious “university without walls” – he demonstrated his commitment to cool and interesting innovations, humanism, and technology.
How Dr. Davis got hired is not controversial, but how he got paid *before* he started his job as President has. Today he released this statement:
Colleagues,I am very troubled by aspects of administrative compensation at KPU that have recently come to light. It is clear that, prior to my arrival at KPU, there was an established pattern of issuing pre-employment consulting contracts to people being hired to senior positions. The recipients of those contracts, including myself, were unaware that these contracts might be non-compliant in some way with BC public sector regulations.Assistant Deputy Minister Rob Mingay found in his recently released Compensation Review of Kwantlen Polytechnic University that the mis-reporting of two of those contracts (including my own) was not in keeping with the spirit and intent of government standards.Similar conclusions could be drawn about other such contracts that were issued before my arrival.I am therefore conducting a review of these issues, using independent external resources as required.
Kwantlen to Open Campus #5
My fine university made a big announcement today. Here is the school’s news release:
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) will expand its commitment to the region south of the Fraser with a 30,000 square foot (almost 2,800 square metre), three-storey site dedicated to professional development, business and innovation at 3 Civic Plaza in Surrey City Centre.
President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Alan Davis announced today that KPU plans to reinvigorate the educational experience in Surrey with a roster of new programs that meet the needs of industry, business and professionals in Metro Vancouver’s latest downtown core.
“Kwantlen was born from the need to provide relevant post-secondary education to the South Fraser Region. For the past 32 years, we have grown to serve more than a quarter of a million students. But KPU’s vision is to be bigger, bolder and better. KPU Civic Plaza is just that,” said Davis.
Expected to open early 2016, KPU Civic Plaza plans to deliver professional studies, upper-level business courses and post-graduate credentials in downtown Surrey, from a location with excellent transit and SkyTrain access, on a hotel and residential site that can accommodate professionals from throughout the region.
The centre is also envisioned to become a hub for community engagement, collaboration and connection between researchers and Surrey’s health and technology sectors on Innovation Boulevard. From City Centre, KPU will lead the landscape of urban education, championing the entrepreneurial spirit that has led Surrey to become the largest city in Metro Vancouver, and the second largest in the province.
“With one-third of Surrey’s population under the age of 19, the new KPU Civic Plaza is an excellent example in how the City of Surrey is reaching out to meet the needs of our future leaders,” said Mayor Dianne Watts. “Once complete, the KPU Civic Plaza will begin by bringing more than 1,600 students each year into our downtown core, which falls in line with the City’s vision for the area. I like to welcome the students and staff of Kwantlen Polytechnic University to the heart Surrey City Centre.”
KPU Civic Plaza will expand on the traditional academic day and year, with community-oriented, short-term and direct professional development programming to be offered throughout the entire calendar year – on weekdays, evenings and weekends. Initially, Surrey’s largest and longest-serving university will accommodate over 1,600 students in a district filled with companies charging the city’s business, economic and social sectors.
“KPU is a perfect fit with 3 Civic Plaza. I can already imagine the students adding to the sense of community. KPU will be at centre ice of the new City Centre,” said Sean Hodgins, President of Century Group, the developer behind Surrey City Centre’s iconic plaza.
Proposed programs include graduate diplomas and certificates in: strategic planning, media and communications, public relations, emerging markets analysis, product development, management sciences, accounting, human resource management, financial analysis, specific business applications, and professional standards.
A long commute
This summer I’m back at The Martin Building in Olympia, WA. It’s a long commute up to Surrey, BC, for my Tuesday afternoon and evening classes at Kwantlen, but I couldn’t be happier to be here.
*Groan*
From the Vancouver Province: “A former employee is accusing the top brass at Kwantlen Polytechnic University of handing out wage increases over and above a provincially mandated salary cap by hiding them as other expenses.”
When being a teacher is even more wonderful than usual …
A former Kwantlen student of mine, Sean Bindra, organized a very successful social marketing event on Anti-Bullying Day this week. It received national coverage. From the university news release:
Surrey, B.C. – Bullies didn’t stand a chance against the 640 elementary and high school students who took to the field at Princess Margaret Secondary on Anti-Bullying Day Feb. 26.
The singing and dancing students were part of the feel-good flash mob organized by Kwantlen Polytechnic University marketing student Sean Bindra, who simply wanted to do his part to secure a future free of bullies.
“Bullying is prevalent everywhere, in every aspect of our lives, and it needs to be eradicated,” says Bindra.
Bindra contacted the administration at Dr. F.D. Sinclair, Strawberry Hill and Westerman elementaries, along with nearby Princess Margaret Secondary, in January to propose the massive flash mob in support of Anti-Bullying Day.
Once Bindra had the schools’ support, he approached the internationally recognized Shiamak Dance School to choreograph the performance. Instructors from the school taught students a dance routine to a Michael Jackson song, as well as to a popular Bollywood song, and volunteers from Shiamak have been rehearsing with the students once or twice a week for the past several weeks.
Bindra then secured support and sponsorship from Surrey’s Thornley Creative to provide pink fabric for the performers’ headbands, videographer SoWedding to record the event at no cost, and Long & McQuade to donate use of a sound system.
He also received letters of support from Premier Christy Clark and Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts.
On Wednesday, Bindra saw the hard work of students pay off with the massive flash mob on the grounds at PM Secondary.
“Music and dance transcend our differences and bring us together,” says Bindra. “We are definitely stronger together than we are apart.”
Bindra says he ultimately wants to be able to send his own children to school knowing they will be accepted regardless of what they look like, who they are and what they do.
Nishan Perera, who was Bindra’s instructor in a contemporary issues and marketing course last year, said Bindra is a “passionate and proactive student who showed interest in social issues related to marketing.”
Bindra’s marketing instructor, Bob Basil, added, “This is a great initiative – full of wit and community feeling, and seriousness too.”
[Here is a video of the Pink Shirt Day event. – March 3, ’14]
Publisher joins Kwantlen’s Development team
Chrissie Bowker
Kwantlen Polytechnic University has announced the appointment of Chrissie Bowker, former publisher of the South Delta Leader, as its new director of development. I have had the great joy of working with Kwantlen’s development office for a number of years – I fund two student awards – and know that she is joining a fantastic team. From the university’s news release:
“Given Chrissie’s passion for building community partnerships and her deep roots in the region we serve, I am very excited to have her join our team,” says Jeff Norris, KPU’s chief advancement officer, and executive director of the university’s foundation and alumni association. “We have a very exciting future ahead of us. It’s crucial KPU has wonderful people like Chrissie to help us respond to the needs of our students.”
In her new role as director of development, Bowker will be accountable for the management of KPU’s major giving programs, including overseeing program goals, implementing university-wide priorities and developing both short- and long-term fundraising strategies. She will also tackle special fundraising projects that will expand KPU’s community outreach, an area Bowker brings much experience to.
While at the South Delta Leader, Bowker launched Project Bloom, an event in support of International Women’s Day. The fundraising component to the project, added in 2012, has raised over $20,000 for local causes. It is now solely dedicated to the Delta Hospital Foundation, where funds will be put towards purchasing lifesaving equipment for women in Delta and its surrounding communities. The event serves as a platform to connect women in business across the lower mainland.
In addition to Project Bloom, Bowker has helped numerous local non-profit organizations with fundraising and awareness campaigns, including the Delta Hospital Foundation, the Heart & Stroke Foundation and Reach Child Development.
Bowker joins KPU under in the institution’s office of advancement, which oversees the university’s foundation, alumni association, communications and external affairs.
Salut!
The vaunted School of Science and Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has launched a new diploma program in Brewing and Brewery Operations. From BeerMeBC.com:
“We are so excited to be offering the first brewing diploma program in B.C.,” says Elizabeth Worobec, dean of the faculty of science and horticulture at KPU. “Along with practical hands-on training, we’ll be giving students a solid background in the science behind brewing craft beer, including the chemistry and microbiology involved in the process. It’s this much-needed expertise that graduates will bring to the province’s brewing industry.”
With only two comparable programs in the country, the university’s brewing and brewery operations diploma will set out to meet the craft beer industry’s demand for qualified and technically experienced employees. Starting in September, 35 students will begin learning to brew from scratch at KPU Langley’s specially designed brew laboratory.
The program’s interdisciplinary course load will also train students in the psychology of sensory evaluation, finishing and packaging, business ethics and communication strategies. Students will get additional practical experience at local breweries during a summer work experience placement, and learn from experts with the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild and the Master Brewers Association of Canada in guest lectures. Options to bridge the diploma in brewing into a degree in business, science or trades and technology are also on the table.
Lisa Monchalin
My Kwantlen Polytechnic Institute colleague Lisa Monchalin was the first aboriginal woman in Canada to earn a criminology PhD and came to Kwantlen to improve the aboriginal experience at our school and to develop an indigenous studies program. In an excellent, recent profile in The Tyee, Monchalin says, “I want to make sure I develop a program which the (aboriginal) community wants, is going to be helpful, and will reach those goals of being innovative and providing students with jobs,” she said.
“We need to have a program that legitimizes that we should be here, that we are welcome here, and this is aboriginal, unceded Coast Salish territory”
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Semester’s End
This has been my busiest semester ever – with many wonderful students who have taught me and one another so much. End-of-term marking is a bear. More posts soon!
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Residential School Truth and Reconciliation at KPU
This is a good initiative. From the news release:
In support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) will host Weaving Together: Healing, Education and Reconciliation, a series of public events designed to continue the national dialogue on residential schools locally, as the TRC visits British Columbia next week.
From September 16-20 across all four KPU campuses, the university will host guest speakers, panel discussions, film screenings and a Pow Wow, all to complement the TRC’s British Columbia Reconciliation Week: An honest discussion about the legacy of Canada’s residential schools. The Commission, led by the Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair, Dr. Marie Wilson and Chief Wilton Littlechild, will document the experiences of those personally affected by residential schools at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver September 18-21.
Building on the spirit of the initiative, Weaving Together is designed to foster greater understanding of Canada’s residential school history. The events also aim to increase awareness and acknowledgement of the injustices experienced by Aboriginal people, as well as the need for continued healing.
“KPU is honoured to support the very important work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We need to learn, we need to hear the ‘Truth’ about the legacy and impact of the residential schools. It is only by knowing the ‘Truth’ that authentic reconciliation can begin,” says KPU President Dr. Alan Davis.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University …
[Here’s an August 16 update from the Vancouver Province.]
[Here’s a September 7 update.]
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