Durham College (DC) is pleased to congratulate its Communications and Marketing department on winning six Education Digital Marketing Awards (EDMA), presented by the Higher Education Marketing Report, the most widely read publication for educational marketers.

Competing in the two-year institution group with a student enrolment of 7,500 to 15,000, DC won three Gold Awards, one Silver Award, one Bronze Award and one Merit Award. Winners were selected by a national panel of industry specialists who reviewed each piece to judge creativity, marketing execution, message impact, technology application and innovation content.

“With the EDMAs recognizing some of the best educational websites, digital content, electronic communications, mobile media and social media, I am so happy for Durham College and the amazing team that worked to execute these projects,” said Carol Beam, executive director, Communications and Marketing, DC. “Their creativity, dedication and genuine enthusiasm are truly evident in the quality of work they produce. Every marketing piece is created with the student experience in mind.”

Awards and categories

The Go to DC low enrolment microsite took gold in the Admission Website category. Using a cluster-focused approach, the microsite allowed visitors to explore open programs based on their interests and suited to their future career goals. All elements of the corresponding advertising campaign were directed to www.durhamcollege.ca/2014gotodc, resulting in 44,572 page views and 25,189 unique page views, helping the college achieve a 2.5-per cent increase in enrolment. DC was one of only three of Ontario’s 24 colleges to see an increase in enrolment for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Another gold came via DC’s 2013-2014 Annual Report in the Annual Report category. Designed to be user-friendly, the digital publication placed a strong emphasis on using images and infographics to communicate key information about the college, while linking to DC’s website to provide additional details. In addition, the Annual Report features stories about three DC graduates who have experienced great success since completing their studies at the college; offers an overview on research projects including funding secured; maps out where DC’s international students hail from; highlights the more than 450 academic pathways the college offers to universities in Ontario, Canada and around the world; provides links to audited financial statements; and more.

DC’s 2015-2016 College Guide also brought home gold in the Online Publications category. Combining top-line elements of the previously used DC Viewbook and Full-time Calendar, the College Guide provides prospective students with program information, application guidelines, information on pathway programs, fee information, important dates, student services and more. In particular, it is designed to direct prospective students to www.durhamcollege.ca/programs for comprehensive program information including course listings, admission requirements, career options, etc. Programs are housed by cluster, and graphics and icons are used to convey important information.

The Experience DC social media marketing campaign took silver in the Total Digital Marketing category. Running until August 2015, Experience DC is bringing 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 are each offering a unique perspective of what a year in the life of a DC college student is really like through a custom website, personal interaction and social media including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Experience DC was also recognized for its video series which won bronze in the Digital Video category. As part of the pre-launch initiatives for Experience DC, videos introducing members of Team Experience were revealed daily at experience.durhamcollege.ca in August 2014. Each video gave viewers a sneak peek at the students involved in the campaign. Video shorts for this submission include the Experience DC trailer, as well as introductions to Rebecca, a second-year Special Events Planning student and Christian, a third-year Business Administration – Marketing student.

Finally, the Alumni digital magazine was recognized with a Merit Award in the Online Publications category. Published six times per year, the Alumni magazine is available in an interactive digital magazine format and is downloadable as a PDF. It serves to keep the college’s 67,000 alumni up to date on current college news and events, with a message from the president, a spotlight on sports, and an alumni profile celebrating the successes of DC’s many talented graduates.

As a member of the Eastern Lakeshore Regional Planning Team (ELRPT), Durham College (DC) is proud to announce a 92 per cent success rate for dual credit students in the Eastern Lakeshore region for the 2013-14 academic year. This success rate ranks higher than provincial counterparts when connecting with at risk youth as the provincial average currently sits at 87 per cent.

During the 2013-14 academic year DC and the ELRPT engaged 3,246 students considered at risk, disengaged, or underachieving with the potential for success through the dual credit program. Provincially the dual credit program reaches over 19,000 students a year, offering them a chance to earn a high school and college credit through the completion of a single course. The dual credit program at DC, also known as the Centre for Success, has successfully  assisted at risk youth since its inception in 2006.

The ELRPT consists of:

Post-secondary partners:

• Durham College
• Fleming College
• Loyalist College

Secondary partners:

• Durham District School Board
• Durham Catholic District School Board
• Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board
• Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic District School Board
• Trillium Lakelands District School Board

Durham College (DC) is being recognized as a great place to work having been named one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers for 2015 for the fifth year running.

The college is proud to be recognized in several areas of full-time employee support including providing continued skills development through a variety of in-house and online training programs and tuition subsidies for courses taken at external institutions; investing in the education of our people and their children with substantial tuition reimbursements; helping employees save for retirement with generous contributions to a defined benefit pension plan; and supporting young families through offering exceptional maternity and parental leave top-up payments.

This recognition also acknowledges our Sustainability Committee for promoting awareness and understanding, and practicing environmental, social and economic responsibility.

“Durham College is proud to be named one of Greater Toronto’s top employers for the fifth year in a row,” said Scott Blakey, vice-president, Administration. “This honour reflects our commitment to retaining exceptional, talented people who contribute towards creating a family-like culture at DC. Our faculty and staff are the best and brightest, and fully support our mission that the student experience comes first. Being recognized by Mediacorp Canada/Canada’s Top 100 Employers for providing employees with the opportunities, resources and benefits they need to be successful demonstrates our strong commitment and dedication to our faculty and staff.”

Greater Toronto’s Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. This special designation recognizes the greater Toronto area employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Organizations are judged on several categories including physical workplace; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement. Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

For more information, please visit www.canadastop100.com/toronto/.

Durham College (DC) was recently named one of the top social Canadian colleges by MediaMiser, a leading provider of media monitoring and analysis. By tracking social media metrics such as Twitter and Facebook mentions, page activity, likes, followers, and retweets, MediaMiser was able to compile a list of which Canadian colleges rank as the best in the country for using social networks as a strong means of communication.

After the metrics were tabulated for all colleges in Canada, DC finished in the top ten in  several categories including social media mentions. As well, DC ranked high in a number of influencer categories including influence based on total twitter followers (approximately 8,400), total retweets (approximately 1,109), and retweet reach which DC ranked third in the country for with an approximate reach of 924,443.

Click here to see the full listing of MediaMiser’s rankings and make sure to follow Durham College on Twitter and like DC on Facebook to stay up-to-date with one of Canada’s top social colleges.

Durham College’s (DC) Centre for Food (CFF) and Bistro ’67 hosted CFF ambassador and celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy on December 1. He was at DC’s Whitby campus to join community members for lunch at Bistro ’67 and visit with students studying in the college’s field-to-fork-based culinary and hospitality programs. Kennedy is an avid proponent of the field-to-fork movement, a vision at the heart of the CFF as Durham Region’s first-ever post-secondary presence focused on the concept.

“I draw my inspiration from flavours that have imprinted on my palate and memory,” said Kennedy. “Whether it was my first taste of summer strawberries or Ontario corn, the connection I feel with local produce and the land informs everything I do. Students at the Centre for Food are learning to draw on those same inspirations by following the field-to-fork philosophy. With programs like the ones being taught at Durham College, both students and the Ontario food industry have a bright future ahead of them.”

Community members who purchased tickets to this event were treated to an intimate three-course lunch with Kennedy, prepared by students under the guidance of Benjamin Lewis, manager and chef de cuisine at Bistro ’67, a 70-seat, full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant open to the public. Based on recipes from his new cookbook, J.K. The Jamie Kennedy Cookbook, dishes included cucumber and sheep milk feta with bulgur wheat and cherry tomato; hors d’oeuvres including curried sweet potato and Swiss chard, chicken liver pâté and marinated pickerel; roast and confit of duck with roasted potato and sour cherries; and bread and butter pudding with homespun ice cream. Following lunch, Kennedy shared insight about the field-to-fork movement, answered questions, and signed cookbooks for 140 students studying in culinary and hospitality programs.

“Our Centre for Food offers students a best-in-class education across culinary, hospitality, event management, food science, agricultural and horticultural programs, from completing the full cycle of farming to the preparation, serving and celebration of food,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “Our field-to-fork focus teaches students a valuable philosophy, one that is shaping the future of our local food and farming industries and helping maintain Ontario’s strong agricultural tradition.”

With the capacity to accommodate 900 students, the CFF is a green-restaurant certified building. In addition to Bistro ’67, it houses Pantry, a retail store featuring food prepared by the college’s culinary students. The CFF grounds also feature an apple orchard, farm fields and greenhouses that support academic applied-learning and research while growing fruits, vegetables and other produce for use in its kitchens, laboratories and Bistro ‘67.

Community-based and committed to providing an outdoor extension to the indoor classroom for students, the CFF is currently involved in two fundraising campaigns: Field to Fork: Sowing the Seeds of our Community, a crowdfunding campaign, and the Plant a Tree and Watch a Student Grow Program, both in support of the landscaping needed to complete the CFF’s grounds.   

For more information on programs offered at the CFF please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/cff.

It’s simple. All you need is your 15-second Instagram video to get the most votes and win one of three $1,000-cash prizes. Share any experience, whether it’s funny, kind, inventive or creative – just about anything for your chance to win.

The contest is part of Durham College’s (DC) Experience DC campaign that was launched in September and is seeing 14 students sharing their experiences to offer a unique perspective of what a year in the life of a DC college student is really like. You can meet members of Team Experience via their custom website at www.durhamcollege.ca/experience, where they interact via blogs, videos and social media.

“Experience DC is all about making connections and showing the world the heart of Durham College – our people – in a very authentic way,” said Carol Beam, executive director, Communications and Marketing, DC. “Our new Experience video contest will further bring that message to life as people submit their own experiences, sharing them on social media to gain votes and make new connections in the spirit of friendly competition.”

Team Experience is encouraging residents from across Ontario who are over the age of 15 to enter the contest by visiting www.durhamcollege.ca/win. There, visitors can vote on their favourite videos, while contestants can view example videos posted by entrants and members of Team Experience and find inspiration for their own entries, which will be accepted until Thursday, January 15.

“We’ve been sharing our experiences with people since Experience DC launched in September and it has been so much fun giving people a glimpse into our lives as students of Durham College,” said Matisse Hamel-Nelis, a second-year Public Relations student and member of Team Experience. “I can’t wait to see how people interpret the contest and I’m excited for others, whether here on campus, within the local community, or across the province, to start sharing their experiences with us.”

Durham College (DC) Culinary Management student, Glenda Neatt, recently won the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) Culinary Competition  for her Gazpacho Martini Sorbet recipe, which consists of gazpacho with a splash of vodka churned into sorbet and garnished with roasted red pepper tuile (a thin, crisp wafer), sweet tomato chip and a greenhouse ‘olive’ cut from a cucumber and stuffed with red pepper.

The event, which took place at Cirillo’s Culinary Academy in Toronto on November 5, featured Neatt’s entry which impressed the judges as it uses all varieties of Ontario greenhouse vegetables, showcasing their diversity in a dish that could be served as an appetizer or dessert.

“It is clear that Glenda is a dedicated student with a natural talent for culinary creations who refined her recipe until she got it just right,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “Her wonderful achievement is a testament to the quality of teaching provided by the faculty at our Centre for Food (CFF) and we are very proud of her accomplishment.”

The first stage of the competition saw entries from culinary students across the province narrowed down to four finalists. After competing against students from Centennial and Humber colleges, Neatt won a KitchenAid food processor and hand mixer as well as a $500-cash prize. In addition, she showcased her winning entry on CHCH TV’s Morning Live show on November 7.

“It was great to be able to take part in the OGVG culinary competition,” said Neatt. “I am thrilled to have been able to work with wonderful Ontario greenhouse vegetables and explore creative ways to use them in culinary arts. The competition was a lot of fun and I am grateful for the help and support that I received from Chef David Hawey, professor and co-ordinator of the college’s culinary programs.”

In addition to Neatt’s recipe taking centre stage at the OGVG competition, it will be featured as a special menu item for a limited time at DC’s Bistro ’67, a 70-seat, full-service, green-certified, teaching-inspired restaurant housed at the CFF.

“Glenda is the third medal winner from the CFF in our first year of operation and we are thrilled with her success,” said Hawey. “Our students are some of the best and brightest in our community and we are confident the CFF will continue to produce award-winning culinary talent. Congratulations to Glenda on this wonderful achievement.”

With this win, Neatt joins the likes of DC graduate Sarah Lavergne, who won gold in both the culinary arts and cooking categories at the Ontario Technological Skills Competition and Skills Canada National Competition, respectively, last spring while she was a student of the college’s Culinary Skills program. In addition, Culinary Management students Marisa Latin and Michael Stowell-Smith also took home gold at the Winterloo Student Ice Carving Competition in Waterloo last winter.

Supported by celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy, the CFF accommodates approximately 900 students studying in the college’s culinary, hospitality, event management, tourism, food science, agricultural and horticultural programs. In addition to being home to Bistro’67 it houses Pantry, a unique retail store that sells student-created fresh-baked items, meals-to-go, preserved foods and ready-to-cook meals prepared in house.

Durham College (DC) Graphic Design student Ashley Hoang recently competed in the Packaging Consortium Student Design Competition. Durham College was one of only six post-secondary institutions from across the country invited to participate. Students were given a fictitious design brief requiring them to launch a new all natural fruit smoothie and tasked with naming, branding and packaging the product.

Hoang presented her design to an audience of more than 250 industry professionals and answered questions from a panel that included two graphic designers and a marketing executive.

Hoang was chosen as a runner-up and received a monetary award of $500 to be split between herself and DC’s graphic design program.

Dalton Burger, a Paralegal professor in the School of Justice & Emergency Services, has been appointed to the Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). The CNO is a quasi-judicial administrative law body which regulates the profession of nursing in the public interest.

In addition to teaching administrative law, Professor Burger will serve as an adjudicator of discipline or complaints at the CNO with respect to the suspension and revocations of nursing certificates of registration to practice in Ontario. Professor Burger will also serve as a member of the CNO’s board of directors, which is responsible for ensuring that individuals have access to services provided by competent health professionals and that individuals are treated with sensitivity and respect in their dealings with health professionals. In addition, this board oversees nursing standards of practice; entry to practice requirements standards of professional ethics; and promotes and develops standards for continuing competence among the members.

Prof Burger is a former director, Complaints and Discipline with the College of Early Childhood Educators and a former president and chief executive officer of Electronics Product Stewardship Canada.

His community involvement includes serving as a board member of the Durham Community Legal Clinic, Waste Diversion Ontario and Ontario Electronic Stewardship. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall, a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from the University of Ottawa.

Tyler Boyco, a 2014 graduate of the Digital Video Production program in Durham College’s School of Media, Art & Design, recently drew attention from celebrities and media alike with a specially designed graphic tribute to Robin Williams. In an unexpected turn of events the image has gone viral, with Rosie O’Donnell retweeting it from her Twitter account and several media outlets reporting on it.

Depicting several of Williams’ beloved characters from Mrs. Doubtfire to Peter Pan to Patch Adams and more, the image has appeared on the Huffington Post, USAtoday.com, PtboCanada.com, Q107.com and more since Boyco tweeted it out from his Twitter account on Thursday, August 14. Boyco was also interviewed by CBC’s Ontario Morning and CHEX TV.

“I’m blown away by it to be honest,” said Boyco. “I was practicing minimalism style of art for the movie I’m trying to make and I decided I’d try it on Robin’s characters. I posted it on Facebook for feedback from friends and on Reddit for artists to let me know how I’m doing and BOOM. Rosie O’Donnell retweeted it and it went crazy.”

The recent grad who hails from Peterborough, Ontario is currently working to secure funding for his first full-length movie and has begun commissioning his artwork. A musician at heart, he’s also releasing a new solo album this year.

During his time on campus, Boyco won Best Video at the Reel Film Festival for his short film titled Sassquatch. Sassquatch and its sequel, Sassquatch 2: The Search, both screened at Toronto Digifest 2014 and XCON in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“My experience at Durham College was great,” added Boyco. “I met a ton of great people; the professors were good, some of which I call friends now. I made some short films that won awards, which I’m now turning into a full-length musical. Riot Radio interviewed me and my band. I felt like my talents were being appreciated there. It was good!” 

Prints of Boyco’s Robin Williams tribute, as well as pillows, T-shirts and cell phone cases, are now available at redbubble.com, with all proceeds going to charity.