J U LY 6 1995 VOL 1 NO 26 VANCOUVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE Safety tips for working women (Editor's note: this week's issue ofVCC Connections contains information taken from a poster called Inside "Keeping Women at Work Safe," which was recently produced by the Ministry of Women's Equality and the Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture. The July 6 edition will deal with getting to work safer and the following week will provide tips on how to make the workplace safer. Copies of the poster are available from the office of Janice Hansen, Human Rights Coordinator.) No matter where you work, or what type of work you do, you can reduce the Heartfelt thanks from Sonja Alton risk of violence in the workplace by increasing personal awareness and plan¬ ning responses to threatening situations. Employers can introduce some basic safety devices and train staff in safety awareness, and small business owners can work together to set up safety programs. Awareness and prevention are the keys to increasing safety for women in the workplace. Thai scientists enhance their English TRAVELLING TO WORK Keep your car in good repair, the gas tank at least half full, and always check the tires. Park in well lit spaces. Walk with others after dark. Riding the bus/transit system • Carry a schedule. After dark, arrive just Operations Council update before the transit vehicle is due. • On the bus, sit near others and tell the driver if you are being bothered. • Use the Request Stop service available on some bus routes. Call BC Transit for more information on this service. Celebrating 30 Years If you use underground parkades, make sure you park near the attendant or exit. Always lock your car and keep all win¬ dows tightly closed. Have your key ready, check inside the car to be sure no-one is hiding. Don't open your car window more than one inch to speak to someone approach¬ ing your car, or just drive away if you feel Driving uncomfortable. • Do not identify your keys with car plate If you suspect another car is following your numbers or name/address. • Carry personal safety alarms on your key car, do not go home. Drive to a service/ police/fire station and stay in your car, chain. They will help attract attention if honking the horn in short repeated blasts you are attacked. until someone comes out to help you. continued on page 2 Safety tips (continued from page 1) If your car breaks down 8 Place a "help/call police" sign in the win¬ dow. Do not raise the hood of your car as that stops you from noticing if someone is approaching the car. • Stay in the car with windows closed and elevator. Make sure you are away from 8 Only open the window one inch to speak to anyone other than the police. Walking Q uote If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. • Wear comfortable shoes, such as runners. 8 If you are using a stairwell be sure it is well lit and that you can quickly exit to a safe place. • Stay on well lit streets, in the centre of the sidewalk, away from bushes, doorways and parked cars—anywhere that an at¬ tacker could hide. Cross the road if neces¬ sary. -Ruth B. Love room number or your name. 8 Get a room on upper floors close to the doors locked. uick 8 Leave instructions not to give out your 8 If you think someone is following you, turn around and check. Let them know you are aware of their presence. Do not go to your car or your house. Cross the street and go to a safe place, such as a store or restau¬ rant. stairwells and fire stairs/exits. 8 Do not enter the room if you suspect some¬ one is in there, if you are being followed, or if someone is lingering near your door. 8 If you're in a motel try to get a room next to the office or the manager's unit, and keep all windows locked. If you're flying 8 Check for early and late shuttle bus serv¬ ice. 8 Leave only your car key with parking lot attendants. 8 Do not accept rides from people you have met on the airplane, and be cautious about sharing taxis. Leave dear instructions/ information at the workplace 8 Tell staff, or friends/family members, if you work alone, where you are going and when you expect to arrive and leave. In¬ clude dates you'll be in various locations. Hotel safety 8 Make sure your reservations are guaran¬ teed if you're arriving late. 8 Purchase a travel lock or alarm/motion detector for hotel room doors. These items Leave emergency contact numbers. 8 Make sure anyone attending to your busi¬ ness, mail or phone machine does not give information about your absence or travel plans. are available from locksmiths. 8 Use a business card or first initials at check in—keep your name private. (Next week: safety at the workplace) Tips 'n Tricks for submitting items for DTP Only one space between sentences, please Did you know that the practice of putting two spaces between sentences has gone the way of the dodo bird? It's difficult to get used to this if you've spent years pressing a typewriter space bar twice after a sentence, but modern typesetting requires only one space after periods, continued on the next page PAGE 2 J U LY 6 1995 Heartfelt thanks from me to you Anyone who didn't make his or her way to the KEC staff cafeteria on Tuesday afternoon, June 20, missed a really great party. I couldn't have asked for a happier retirement "sendoff." So now, I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all of my friends and col¬ leagues who helped with the party, who made such wonderful and funny comments and Betty and Jean, keep on singing. You do it so well, and your lyrics were remarkably astute. On the other hand, I think I was roasted "good and proper" by those two gentlemen who fancy themselves as budding bards and ob¬ viously don't understand anything about the "tea ceremony." Since Joan Rike was cor¬ 824H0IMRELAY FOR THE KIDS rect when she said I like to get the last word, We need I've written a couple of limericks about these more Special thanks to the co-hosts, the VCCFA gentlemen in response. I doubt that you'll rec¬ (Dalton, sorry you couldn't make it—I'm ognize who I'm talking about, though. runners who came to wish me well. sure you didn't have as much fun at the Board Finance Meeting) and to all of you in the Humanities Department: MC Joan Rike, Walter Behnke, Joan Burnett, Ruth Chiko, Stephanie Jewell, Larry Perras, and organ¬ Walking, running and cycling's his game. Though he jokes with great style, And a cavalier smile. for students who love the Humanities. people, has been laminated. Now that I'm on holiday, I'll have lots of time to read and en¬ joy the witty comments. for the Kids. In response to the June 22 article, two energetic people have al¬ Malcolm C.from Down-Under's the name. The scholarship award established in my name is truly meaningful, a gift for me and designed, and which was signed by so many 24-Hour Relay Well knows how to measure a litre. But he botches the beat of a metre. all wonderful! Wayne, the large card you so humorously A Science instructor named Peter, Natural things are the bent Of this amiable gent, izer extraordinaire, Grace Shaw. You were ...for next year's Writing poetry will not bring him fame. Quick fellas, this is a test question: Is the ready indicated their interest in running on a VCC relay team next year. Any¬ more takers? metre of the above iambic, anapestic, trochaic or dactylic? Cheers! Sonja Alton TIPS 'n TRICKS (continued from page 2) question marks, exclamation marks and colons. The same goes for anything typed on a wordprocessor, because these programs feature proportional spacing. Typewriters didn't offer this feature, so two spaces were used to emphasize the start of a new sentence. From wp to dtp When submitting copy for use in a desktop publishing program, a good rule of thumb is to keep it as simple as possible. If the text is in a word-processing program, fancy format ting is not necessary and is often more of a disadvantage to the person doing the final output. Avoid excessive tabs, underlining, columns, (and, of course, two spaces between sentences) etc. The desktop publisher only needs the text in "raw" form. If you wish, highlight on your hardcopy the areas which you would like specially formatted. VOL 1 NO 26 PAGE 3 VCC offers successful English language program to visiting Thai scientists July. During her Vancouver Community College ESL faculty member Christel Nierobisch teamed up with faculty members from BCIT for the second year in a row, to provide a highly successful two month program for visiting faculty and graduate students from Thailand. Under the auspices of the TCCEAD-CIDA Project, eight scientists from Thailand were selected to spend eight weeks during March and April in Canada. The TCCEAD Project had two important objectives. The first objective was to familiarize the visiting scientists with Ca¬ nadian agro-industry. The responsibility for this part of the project was assigned to BCIT. absent, contact The second objective was to enhance or en¬ Celeste Roberts rich the visiting scientists' English Language Skills with special attention to their areas of expertise. The responsibility for this part of Holiday Notice Lyn Lennig will be on holidays for the month of at local 8607. the project was assigned to Vancouver Com¬ munity College. The VCC project was administered through International Education and coordinated by Jennifer House. Christel Nierobisch both instructed and cre¬ ated a six week program designed to specifically enhance the Thai delegation's professional vocabulary, communication skills and cultural understanding of Canada. During the program, Christel also arranged with Stephanie Jewell's able assistance for an orientation to Vancouver and field trips to Washington State, Victoria and agro-indus¬ trial sites. The program concluded with the entire delegation giving a group presentation on Thailand to students and faculty at both BCIT and KEC. The presentation featured information on all aspects of life in Thailand, complete with a video featuring none other than Peter Ustinov! This is the second year VCC has provided the English language instructional component for the TCCEAD-CIDA Project, and once again the visiting delegation from Thailand has complimented Vancouver Community College on its instructional excellence. "Kobkhun" from the Thailand delegation to Vancouver Community College and Christel Nierobisch. Jennifer House UPCOMING SEMINAR The following seminar is coming to Vancouver in the near future: Stress Solutions Workshop for Women, August 28, 1995, Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, 999 Canada Place. If you would like further information, please contact Cassandra Huang at local 7004. PAGE 4 J U LY 6 1995 Operations Council Update (Editor's note: the following is a summary of the minutes from the Operations Council's June 13 meeting. As you read through, you will notice that a number of issues that were discussed at the meeting have since progressed further than is noted in the minutes. For example, the pub night scheduled for June 30 was cancelled. The purpose of presenting a summary of the minutes is to give an outline of what was discussed at the meetings, rather than the latest news on a topic. If you have questions about the minutes or agenda, please contact Delia Glendenning, at local 7016.) Terms of reference for Operations Council Operations Council will proceed with the draft terms of reference for the time being and revise in accordance with Education Council Terms of Reference as they are de¬ veloped. Tuition fee increase Board, the name of the new security com¬ pany will be announced. Emergency procedures for VCC The Health and Safety Branch of the Facili¬ ties Department is conducting a policy review of fire safety, bomb threats and emergency first aid at VCC. Earthquake preparedness and procedures will be reviewed in the fall. An 11% tuition fee increase has been ap¬ Added parking payment proved by the VCC College Board. The increase will be effective September 1,1995. features at KEC iot 1995/96 operating budget The 1995/96 draft budget package was re¬ viewed. Individual department budgets are being produced and a complete package will be made available to the VMREU and the VCCFA. Copies of the package will also be available for viewing in the Executive Of¬ fice, the Budget and Planning Office and in New machines in the KEC parking lot offer the option of paying for a ticket on a weekly or monthly basis, in addition to the daily park¬ ing ticket. Operations Council summer meetings Meetings for Operations Council during July and August will be at the call of the Chair, depending on agenda items brought forward. Financial Services. The Student Associations are welcome to request a copy of the budget Proposed student strike package if they feel it would be useful to A proposed student strike to protest the 11 % them. tuition fee increase was discussed. The Col¬ Student pub night A pup night has been planned for Friday, June 30, to be held in the KEC courtyard. recommendation Bookstore hours As the contract with Bums Security expired The KEC Bookstore will not open until 11:30 on Wednesdays. The City Centre Bookstore will be closed for a two-week period from July 10 to 21, 1995. If an emergency need arises, Parviz Lalji or Karen Kelly can be of curity company for VCC. One bid has been chosen by the Committee, and after approval by Finance/Administration and the College VOL 1 NO 26 Mark your calendars, everyo n e. Connections will have the month of Au¬ gust off, and will return the week of Sep¬ tember 4th, right after La¬ bour Day. cannot be considered a vacation day, flex day, or RD. day, unless previously arranged. organized to set up criteria and choose a se¬ fishiiV lege community will be notified that all staff and faculty will be expected to be at work on the day of the strike, and that the strike day Security contract in March, 1995, a selection committee was Coin' assistance. PAGE 5 Manager of Budget Accounting appointed I am pleased to announce the appointment of Claire Prescott as YCC's new Manager of Budget Accounting, effective Monday, July 17. Claire has a varied and interesting work back¬ ground. She previously worked with Deloitte & Touche Chartered Accountants as their Audit Senior. Her responsibilities included Claire received her chartered accountancy designation in April 1994 from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the Uni¬ versity of British Columbia. In addition, she holds a diploma from York University in their International Baccalaureate program. Connections auditing and accounting for several compa¬ Editor, Design and Layout: Dale Rasmussen, nies, both large and small, in public practice and in consulting as well as supervision of staff accountants engaged in multiple audit PR Dept engagements. For three years, from 1990 to during this period. Please drop by and intro¬ Campus Contacts Ngee-Moi Voon 1993, she worked at BC Children's Hospital as a Unit Clerk/Receptionist in their Special vcc. (CC), Care Nursery and she was also a Project Manijeh Golkhizi Marketer for Tourigney, Hall and Associates Investment Realtors in 1989. (KEC) On a temporary basis, Claire will be located in David Kolot's office, local 7.165,5th Floor Executive area. She will report directly to DanaMerritt, Director of Financial Services, duce yourself to Claire and welcome her to Mary Hoekstra Vice President, Finance and Administration Communications Coordinator Sarah Lucas, local 7158 Please recycle this newsletter. jOB POSTIN<3S Program Assistant (c), Basic Education Depart¬ ment. Closing: July 13. Mathematics or Computer Science Instructor, St. John's College, Bangkok, Thailand (non-sala¬ ried position). Closing: September 1, 1995. FREE STUFF The following item is available for departmental use: 51/4 disk box. For a chance to win this item, please place your name and local in the box lo¬ cated on the 4th Floor reception desk. The draw FOR SALE KEC library is offering for sale approximately 150 vinyl LPs. These are mostly classical orchestral and operatic recordings from the 60s and 70s and are in excellent condition. Price is $ 1.00 per item as is/where is. Please drop by the Library 3rd level workroom to view. 1985Dodge Diplomat. V8-318 engine. Good run¬ ning condition and a decent body! Very reliable transportation. $600 obo. Call Carol in Employee Relations at local 7142. will be held on July 28. The fine print Connections publishes every Thursday, and the deadline for submissions is 3:00 pm on the previous Friday. Please supply your article to Manijeh or Ngee-Moi in a simple,word-processed format (text only is best) on an IBM-compatible disk, and include a hardcopy. The editor reserves the right to edit ' submissions for clarity and length, when necessary. PAGE 6 J U LY 6 1995