2009 Alumni of Distinction

Elaine Garnett Advertising Administration, 1990 Since graduating from Durham College’s two-year Advertising Administration program on the Honour Roll in 1990, Elaine Garnett has built a successful multi-media career in television, radio and newspaper while encouraging the pursuit of education through the development of academic course materials at the post-secondary level and her role on Durham College’s Advertising program Advisory Committee. Currently the general sales manager for Channel 12, a Corus Entertainment company, she is accountable for more than $1 million in sales revenue each year through the creation of sales opportunities and regular forecasting. In addition, she manages and leads a team of four sales staff and is responsible for internal and external branding, marketing and competition assessments, incentive programs and the Channel 12 website. Garnett has also worked as a professor at Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario where she designed and taught a Media Planning and Buying course for a new post-graduate program focused on the marketing and advertising sectors. Her previous positions include being an account executive with Chex TV Durham, a sales representative with the Oshawa News and a sales and research co-ordinator with Western Broadcast Sales. Garnett was also part of the team that created the Discover Durham and Weekend Wrap Up programs that air on Channel 12 and in 2006 she received the Business Person of the Year award from the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce. Garnett is involved in a number of community initiatives including being past chair of the Durham Family YMCA’s Leadership Gifts committee. She has also been the president and Communications Committee chair of the Clarington Board of Trade for the past eight years.

Margaret Greenley Business Administration – Marketing, 1985 A 1985 graduate of the Business Administration – Marketing program, Margaret Greenley has built a reputation as a champion of students at Durham College and the Ontario Tech University (Ontario Tech). With more than 23 years of student services expertise, she is currently vice-president of Student Affairs for both the college and the university, responsible for student awards, financial aid, student life, career and health services, residence, the Access and Support Centre and the Student Academic Learning Services. In addition, she is also the liaison to the Student Association and the Student Centre. In her role, Greenley develops and delivers student services programming for both institutions including leading a number of cross-campus initiatives such as the Special Olympics Ontario 2008 Spring Games and the Campus Accessibility plan. Her dedication to student engagement, accessibility, the elimination of financial barriers to higher education and graduate employment success continue to make her an exceptionally strong supporter of individual student rights and responsibilities within the college system. Greenley’s community and volunteer work includes being director of the Soroptimist Foundation of Canada, an organization that assists female graduate students with their university studies; working with the Denise House, a shelter for battered women; and co-ordinating a bursary program for women returning to school. She was named a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 1998.

Nancy Hughes Human Services Counsellor, 1996 Since graduating from Durham College’s Human Services Counsellor program in 1996, Nancy Hughes has worked hard to make a difference in the lives of individuals living in Ontario and the Northwest Territories (N.W.T). A single mother of four when she enrolled in the Human Services Counsellor program, Hughes has gone on to hold key positions with several high profile community organizations including her current role as manager of Supportive Living Services with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority in the N.W.T. In this role she is overseeing the development and operation of the first territorial Supportive Living Services program, which includes three independent residential homes and a community participation building. She was also the first-ever manager of Community Health and Rehabilitation with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, was manager of Community Support and Volunteer Services for the Victoria Order of Nurses (VON) Canada – Durham and manager of Business Development for VON Canada – Durham and Peterborough where she co-ordinated successful volunteer and fundraising programs. Hughes was the president of the board of directors for the Community Development Council of Durham and the Ontario Healthy Community Coalition (OHCC) as well as chair of the OHCC’s Communications and Provincial Awards committees. She was the board secretary for Distress Centre Durham, on the board of directors for the Oshawa Chamber of Commerce and was involved with Durham Lives! before moving to the N.W.T. in March 2008. Currently, she is on the Hay River Library Committee and is the secretary of a local multicultural group. In 2005 she was honoured with a YWCA Woman of Distinction award and in 2008, was nominated for a FLARE Magazine National Volunteer award. She is currently completing her Professional Arts degree with a Human Services major through Athabasca University.

Kianda Mauch Registered Nursing, 1998 A 1998 graduate of Durham College’s Registered Nursing program, Kianda Mauch has spent the past 21 years in the nursing field working in the area of pain management. Currently an advanced practice nurse (APN)/clinical nurse specialist with the Pain Services division of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, she is working to change the culture of pain management across the organization through the hospital’s Interprofessional Pain Council of which she is the chair. The committee is working to standardize pain management to ensure all staff manage it appropriately. In addition to her role at St. Michael’s Hospital, she was an APN at Toronto Western Hospital working in Acute Pain Service; worked in the Medical Surgical Resource Support Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut; was a registered nurse (RN) at Bridgeport Hospital in Fairfield County, Connecticut; and was an RN at Lakeridge Health Oshawa in Ontario. From a post-secondary perspective, Mauch has taught in the areas of nursing and pain at both the college and university levels including holding a faculty instructor appointment with the Faculty of Nursing at Ryerson University. Currently pursuing her PhD in Nursing, in 2007 she also received more than $55,000 in joint funding from the Canadian Nurses Foundation and St. Michael’s Hospital for her research into a pain assessment tool for non-verbal patients. Her volunteer work includes offering support and special needs accommodations at her home and cottage for individuals with disabilities and providing RN monitoring and support for a community weight loss and cardiac rehabilitation program.