Durham College (DC) is a long-time supporter of local community events, helping in many different ways year after year. The college recently donated DC-branded umbrellas to 67 students at Port Perry High School to help prepare them for a music trip to London, England.

The students, made up of seven school bands and choirs, toured England and Wales, with each group performing at least twice, including in a coal mine and at Old Trafford Stadium. The brollies came in handy, keeping them dry from the British drizzle, and the students were proud to show some local love overseas. 

The strategic mandate agreement (SMA) between Durham College (DC) and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (the Ministry), is a testament to DC’s response to the rapid growth taking place within Durham Region, as well as its dedication to meeting the needs of all learners; its broad-based academic strengths; and its commitment to applied research. 

“The student experience comes first at Durham College,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “All of our programs, campus supports and community partnerships are created and executed with this mission in mind. The Ministry’s recognition of our ongoing successes within this SMA further solidify Durham College as a premier post-secondary destination for students who succeed in a dynamic and supportive learning environment.”

Highlights include:

• A leader in designing programs with and for high-growth industries, DC is at the forefront of the business, accounting, financial and materials management; media arts, agriculture, culinary and hospitality; and health and technology sectors. The college works closely with industry and employers to meet the needs of the labour market while providing opportunities for graduate success through such initiatives as the job portal for employers and job fairs held jointly with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and showcasing employers offering jobs on the spot.

• DC students learn from the best of the best; the college employs expert faculty who lead students on the path to success. In addition, opportunities for experiential learning bring another dimension to students’ post-secondary education, with more than 75 per cent of programs incorporating practicums; field placements; internship placements; complex high-fidelity simulation scenarios; capstone projects; and applied research projects with a particular focus on health and biomedical sciences research. The development and use of a wide variety of e-learning courses and programs also provides a number of flexible delivery options for full-time and part-time students.

• With DC’s primary focus on student success, a full range of learning skills; supports; and services have been developed and implemented for all students, including students direct from high school; mature or indirect; first generation; Aboriginal; and international students; as well as students with learning challenges. Examples include online learning modules, an e-mentorship program, learning facilitators, modified curriculum, work-study programs, resources, referrals and more.

The current SMA is in effect until March 31, 2017.

Durham College (DC) would like to offer special thanks to the Alumni Association Board of Directors, which recently approved a donation of $10,000 to help with landscaping at the Whitby campus’ Centre for Food (CFF). This donation contributed to the completion of the landscaping for the north side; in particular, the plants located at the front entrance.

A special bench for the front entrance of the CFF, beautifully handcrafted by Whitby campus faculty member, Don Fishley, was unveiled during the Alumni Association Annual General Meeting on September 17 to mark this contribution.

“On behalf of the Alumni Association, I want to personally thank Durham College for honouring us today with a commemorative bench recognizing our commitment and support of Durham College students through our substantial contribution to both the Whitby campus Building for our Future campaign and Landscaping initiative at the Centre for Food,” said Lesley Wagner, president, Alumni Association.

The Alumni Association is governed by a board of alumni who dedicate countless hours to serving the DC community through the funding of scholarships and bursaries to students; attending and promoting functions for the college; and contributing to the development of new programs and facilities.

In addition, DC recently launched Field to Fork: Sowing the Seeds of Community, an online crowd-funding campaign to garner support from the community for the completion of the landscaping and planting needed at the CFF.

Field to Fork: Sowing the Seeds of our Community offers a unique opportunity to support many aspects of the CFF’s landscaping, all of which will be used by our students, engaging them in the growing, harvesting, storing, processing, packaging and selling of delicious food. This includes:

• The planting of fruits, vegetables, herbs, trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers and arboretum.
• Garden tools.
• A walking path.
• New soil.

The CFF is supported by ambassador and celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy and houses Bistro ’67, a teaching-inspired restaurant, and Pantry, a unique retail store that brings student-created goods straight from the culinary classroom to the community.

Don Lovisa, president, Durham College (DC) and Ryan LePage, president, Student Association (SA) are pleased to announce that the SA and DC have come to a new agreement that benefits both parties. The agreement will see student fees released and allow the SA to provide DC students with great opportunities and support. The SA also looks forward to bringing positive initiatives and change to DC and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

With the election of the 2014-2015 SA Executive, conversations began that focused on establishing a new relationship between the SA and DC. As we begin the new academic year, DC is pleased to share how encouraged the college’s leadership team is with the work the SA executive has done to re-build its relationship with the college and its commitment to putting a new agreement in place that provides a strong foundation for our partnership going forward.  

DC is eager to continue building this new relationship with the SA and working together to provide our students with the best experience possible. As always we encourage students to engage with the SA leadership and organization, as they provide an impressive list of services for students. 

In addition to sharing a campus in North Oshawa, including many campus spaces and facilities, Durham College (DC) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) share a commitment to providing students with innovative and rewarding post-secondary education.

As part of that commitment, the college and university also share a need to provide new classrooms, laboratories and infrastructure required to support the learning of future students, teachers and researchers.

To support this important and necessary growth, DC and UOIT are working together on a Campus Master Plan designed to address the future expansion and needs of both institutions including decisions on:

• The best location on our properties for building new facilities.
• How to effectively use our existing space.
• The planning of transportation routes to align with neighbouring communities.
• The type of campus infrastructure required including funding opportunities.

Phase 1 of the Campus Master Plan included input from DC and UOIT students and staff on a Vision and Directions Report and Framework Plan. Both documents can be found on the project website.

We are pleased to announce that the project has now moved into Phase 2.

Phase 2 includes more opportunities for input from students and staff:

• Visit the project website for updates on the project.
• A workshop will be held on Monday, October 20, 2014:
  • Workshop details to be posted on the website in early October.
  • A reminder email will be circulated two days prior to the workshop.
• Submit comments via the comment board.
• Online surveys relating to specific Master Plan topics will be posted on the website over the next few months.
• Provide comments via Twitter and Facebook.

Should you have any questions about the project or the Campus Master Plan process, please contact Karen Young, Campus Master Plan co-ordinator, at 905.721.8668 ext. 2797 or  campusmasterplan@dc-uoit.ca.

For full-time post-secondary students, your Campus ID card also serves as your U-Pass, allowing unlimited use of any Durham Region Transit (DRT) and limited GO Transit bus routes operating within Durham Region. Additional fares are required on most routes outside of Durham Region.

Unfortunately Durham College (DC) is experiencing a delay in the receipt of the full shipment of U-Pass stickers and the Campus ID office will not be able to immediately renew these stickers for those who haven’t yet renewed them.

In the meantime, DRT and has extended the grace period for renewal of stickers to Tuesday, September 30. Please continue to show your current, validated Campus ID to use DRT and GO routes normally available to you until you’re otherwise notified. For more information please visit the Durham Region Transit website.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will let you know once stickers are available.

After three exciting weeks introducing the 14 amazing students who will share their Durham College (DC) experience over the coming year, DC is excited to officially launch Experience DC.

A progressive new marketing campaign Experience DC will bring the college experience to prospective and current students; parents; teachers; and the community via an amazing and unique group of students representing a wide cross-section of programs, personal interests and personalities. They will each offer a unique perspective of what a year in the life of a DC college student is really like through a specially designed website, personal interaction and other social media platforms including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

The campaign, which previewed in late July, has seen a daily reveal of each student via the Experience DC website since Monday, August 11, offering viewers a chance to connect with Christian, Kayley, Josephine, Mattise, Kerri-Ann, Kristen, James, Connor, Sean, Gregory, Heather, Rebecca, Adriana and Jake.

The experience starts now, so be sure to visit the website today for a look at what Experience DC is all about! 

Durham College (DC) announced today that its Centre for Food (CFF) has been chosen as a finalist for the prestigious CoreNet Global Canadian Chapter REmmy Award in the Corporate Citizen category. The category recognizes a Canadian organization or individual whose culture and development product/project represents commitment to sustainable design and social responsibility.

“Durham College is extremely proud to be named a finalist, which reflects our commitment to building a centre focused on providing high-quality educational opportunities while also demonstrating sustainable practices,” said Don Lovisa, president, Durham College. “From its inception, the CFF has been an innovative and ambitious project that represents our dedication to sustainable design and social responsibility and recognized for our efforts as a community leader in sustainability and social responsibility.”

Inspired by the work of celebrity Chef Jamie Kennedy and the college’s commitment to bring field to fork to Durham Region, the 36,000-square-foot CFF officially opened in October 2013. It can accommodate approximately 900 students studying in culinary, hospitality, event management, food science and agriculture and horticulture programs and in addition to housing Bistro ’67 is also home to Pantry, a unique retail food store that brings student-created goods straight from the culinary classroom to the community.

The REmmy Awards are presented annually by CoreNet Global in recognition of excellence, innovation and best practices in corporate real estate and workplace management. The winners will be announced at an awards gala on Wednesday, October 1 at the Toronto Board of Trade.

The college prepared the CFF’s submission for the award in collaboration with the Town of Whitby’s Economic Development Division and on behalf of the overall team that brought the CFF from concept to construction including DC; Gow Hasting Architects Inc.; Garritano Brothers; MCW Consultants Ltd.; Stephenson Engineering; Green Initiatives Inc.; Hendrix Hotel and Restaurant Equipment and Supplies; and Nedlaw Living Walls Inc.

In addition to the REmmy Award  nomination, in February the CFF, including Bistro ’67, the college’s full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant, was certified as a 2 Star Certified Green Restaurant® by the Green Restaurant Association , a non-profit organization which helps restaurants become more environmentally sustainable.

Highlights of the CFF’s sustainability accomplishments include its dedication to reducing its environmental footprint by recycling; using a fully automated building controls management system and occupancy sensors in a variety of areas; offering touchless sensor faucets; recycling and composting kitchen waste; and using safer hand soaps. In addition careful attention is paid to the inputs and outputs of the facility and the restaurant in an effort to be good stewards of the environment.

The building itself was constructed using industry-leading sustainability principles, including looking at things such as site development, water and energy efficiency, material selection and innovation in design. It features a Nedlaw living wall and biofilter integrated into its ventilation system that sees air from the occupied space actively drawn through the building’s HVAC system or on-board fans then returned to the occupied space. As air comes in contact with the living wall, contaminants move into the water phase where they are broken down by microbes, removing up to 75 per cent of harmful chemicals. The biofilter also improves the indoor environment by generating clean air for up to 90 per cent less energy than conventional ventilation systems in the heat of summer or cold of winter. The area surrounding the CFF also includes a greenhouse, vegetable gardens and fruit-bearing trees – bringing the field to fork vision to life.

In addition, the college recently launched Field to Fork: Sowing the Seeds of our Community, a crowdfunding campaign to support the landscaping required at the CFF including the planting of trees, shrubs, fruits, vegetables and arboretum; the purchase of garden tools; a walking path; new soil; and more. To find out more, please visit http://fieldtofork.durhamcollege.ca.

Durham College (DC) President Don Lovisa, with Susan Todd, dean of the School of Science & Engineering Technology, joined horticulture students at Windreach Farm on Tuesday, August 26 to help yield the first harvest of beets for the Centre for Food (CFF).

As part of the college’s commitment to bring field to fork, the vision of bringing locally sourced, quality produce from field to table, to Durham Region, students have been growing produce at WindReach since May.

Dan Tomarchio and Matt Marrone, students entering their second year of the college’s Horticulture – Food and Farming program, enthusiastically provided Lovisa and Todd with a tour of the field they have been passionately cultivating where, in addition to beets, they have been growing tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, sunflowers, Swiss chard, fennel and more.

Bringing the field to the fork, the group then delivered 50 pounds of freshly picked beets to Benjamin Lewis, manager and chef de cuisine at Bistro ’67, a full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant housed at the CFF, and David Hawey, chef, professor and co-ordinator of the college’s culinary programs. The beets will be used in farm-fresh dishes at Bistro ’67 and by second-year students of the Culinary Management program for a beet salad challenge, in one of their first lab classes.

“Interest in the farm-fresh movement is higher than ever before,” said Todd. “Durham College is helping to answer Durham Region’s increased demand for locally sourced ingredients through our horticulture programs, the Centre for Food and Bistro ’67. We are excited to be offering our students the opportunity to gain hands-on training in everything from plant propagation; soil and plant nutrition; and fruit and vegetable production under a varied range of conditions, to food processing and regulations; entrepreneurship; branding and marketing; and more.”

In addition, the college recently launched Field to Fork: Sowing the Seeds of our Community, a crowdfunding campaign to support the landscaping required at the CFF including the planting of trees, shrubs, fruits, vegetables and arboretum; the purchase of garden tools; a walking path; new soil; and more.

Construction on the college’s first-ever greenhouse is now underway for use by students in the horticulture programs. Designed to accommodate multi-laboratory classes and provide students with a better understanding of the full potential of growing plants and produce all year long, the greenhouse will provide students with a unique opportunity to gain a hands-on understanding of greenhouse design, required control measures, energy consumption and how to work in a controlled environment in both operational and plant production modes.

Durham College (DC) welcomed Thomas Mulcair, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and Official Opposition, on Wednesday, August 20. Mulcair visited the college’s Oshawa campus to host a discussion on a series of issues affecting Canadian families in need of childcare with local politicians and members of the community.

Susan Sproul, dean of the college’s School of Health & Community Services, was part of the group invited by Mulcair to be a part of the round table. President Don Lovisa also had the opportunity to meet with Mulcair as DC always welcomes opportunities to advance issues of importance to the college’s students.