Durham College (DC) is pleased to announce that it will receive $1 million from the City of Oshawa in support of its new Centre for Collaborative Education (CFCE).

 The funding is being allocated from the city’s newly established Infrastructure Fund, and is the result of a request made by the college to the City of Oshawa. The request was approved through a nearly unanimous vote by Council on January 25, 2017 at the City of Oshawa council meeting. 

 The investment will support the construction of the CFCE, a multi-level, 75,000-square-foot facility and legacy project tied to the college’s 50th anniversary in 2017.

“This generous donation is a strong reflection of Durham College’s longstanding relationship with the City of Oshawa,” said Don Lovisa, president, Durham College. “It not only represents an investment in education but in the broader Oshawa community, which we have proudly been a part of for the past 50 years. On behalf of DC, I extend my sincere thanks to the City of Oshawa for making its first capital commitment to Durham College a significant one that will help us build our new Centre for Collaborative Education.”

The CFCE, scheduled to open in 2018, will act as an educational access point for students while bringing together local, Indigenous and global community groups and members of key business sectors.

“The City of Oshawa and its residents have and will continue to benefit from Durham College’s years of dedicated service to the education and social structure of the region,” said Oshawa Mayor John Henry. “This investment recognizes the college’s ongoing commitment to excellence, and the benefits the CFCE and its exceptional programming will afford students and the broader community alike.”

The centre will not only become a landmark at DC’s Oshawa campus, where it will replace the aging Simcoe building, but also within the city of Oshawa. It will be home to departments such as the School-College-Work Initiative and affiliated Centre for Success program, the Centre for Indigenous Peoples, the Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions, the Spark Centre, health and science facilities and foundations programs, as well as offer  global, open and collaborative learning and social spaces.

Durham College (DC) remains stunned and deeply saddened by the hateful attack committed at a mosque in Quebec City this weekend. As the college grieves for everyone directly affected by this tragedy and the larger Muslim community across Canada, DC also wants to offer a direct message of love and support to our Muslim students, employees and community partners.

To share this message and honour the victims of Sunday night’s attack, we will lower our campus flags on Tuesday, January 31.

At DC, we take immense pride in being a welcoming place where we are all respected for the unique identities that each of us brings to campus. As an organization, we strive to provide a safe environment where diversity is embraced and everyone is treated with dignity. Our commitment to these values will not waver, particularly in the face of attacks that are designed to target and frighten members of our community.

The college wishes to extend our profound sympathies to the families and friends of the victims, and to everyone who has been affected by the events in Quebec City. Our team at the Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions is available for anyone who needs support during this difficult time. Confidential counselling and support services are also available for DC students and employees.

The Centre for Food (CFF) at Durham College (DC) has announced the winners of its second-annual Gingerbread Competition at the Ho Ho Ho Holiday Hullaballoo, in support of the campus Holiday Food Drive.

The Gingerbread Competition and Ho Ho Ho Holiday Hullabaloo were part of the Gingerbread Festival hosted by the CFF. The Gingerbread Competition was lead by CFF professor and Chef Tanya Heck and the Ho Ho Ho Holiday Hullabaloo was lead by Kolleen Brunton, also a CFF professor, with the support of Event Management students.

“The Ho Ho Ho Holiday Hullabaloo (on Nov. 26) hosted over 150 people, of whom 100 were children who were very excited and happy to be able to kick off the holiday season. The event raised over $400 for the campus Holiday Food Drive, as well as many pounds of non-perishable food items,” said Brunton. “It was a morning filled with pictures with Santa, character visits from Elsa, Olaf, Batman and Superman, crafts, cookie decorating, and much more fun!”

Chef Heck said, “The Gingerbread Competition was a great success with 28 competitors. The houses entered this year were absolutely amazing and only a few points separated the top 10. A big thank you to our judges: pastry Chef Georg Krohn, Culinary Management program Advisory Committee member; Marco Cassano, owner of Anninas Bakeshop, in Goodwood; and Chef David Hawey, CFF professor. They did not have an easy job this year.”

She added, “I would like to personally congratulate all of the gingerbread house entrants on a job well done. So many creative and elaborate houses really made this event shine.”

Gingerbread Competition winners

High school division:

• First Place – Connor Grimes and Riley Hennessy, of East Northumberland Secondary School, in Brighton.
• Second Place – Sarah Cooke and Emily Doris, of Saint Peter’s Catholic Secondary School, in Peterborough.
• Third Place and People’s Choice Award (as voted on by Hullabaloo attendees) – Kacey Payne, of Henry Street High School, in Whitby.

DC student winners were:

• First place – Tori Richards, School of Business, IT & Management.
• Second Place – Christina Coughlan, Centre for Food.
• Third Place – Ryan Cullen and Ryan Koyangi, Horticulture – Food and Farming; Amanda Fuller and Amy Tripp, 911 Emergency and Call Centre Communications; and Kenzie Pasco, Contemporary Web Design.

DC staff winners:

• First Place – Kelly O’Brien, CFF
• Second Place – Kolleen Brunton, CFF

All gingerbread houses were donated by the entrants to the Silent Auction with proceeds from it going to the campus Holiday Food Drive.

Expanded international opportunities for student exchange and research collaboration in Ireland are on the horizon following the signing of a new agreement by Durham College (DC), the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and the Technological University for Dublin Alliance.

The signing was conducted as part of the Higher Education in Transformation Symposium (HEIT), held in November that saw DC and UOIT jointly host their counterparts from Ireland to explore new ways of improving all aspects of higher education – from curriculum and pedagogy to student experience supports. HEIT spawned robust discussion between academic leaders, as well as Canadian and Irish government officials, including Jim Kelly, Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada, who was included among the many speakers at HEIT.

Key topics of discussion at the symposium included:

• Creating new higher education programs to meet 21st-century demands.
• Keeping up with rapid technological changes to ensure students receive a cutting-edge education.
• Building on unique, hybrid post-secondary relationships, such as the DC-UOIT example as well as Ireland’s new trilateral Technological University for Dublin Alliance.

As part of HEIT, the college and university signed an international Memorandum of Understanding with their Irish counterparts to create the Canada-Ireland Centre for Higher Education Policy and Practice. The centre will promote inter-institutional research collaborations, joint publications, joint conferences and international exchange opportunities for faculty, staff and students. Its activities will also focus on exploring new initiatives in higher education policy and practice in both countries, and more broadly.