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Okanagan College staff build Connections every year
T
his summer at
Okanagan College,
the president and
some department
deans gamely took
their turns perching on the seat of
a dunk tank as professors and staff
from across the institution took
their best shots.
“You could not believe the
excitement that created,” Dean
Warner, an accounting and
finance professor in the college’s
business school, says with a laugh.
The event, part of Okanagan
College’s annual Connections
conference, raised some $2,000 for
the student food bank.
Connections, now running for
nearly two decades, has become a
beloved tradition for much of the
college’s faculty and staff. Put on
by and for employees just before
the start of a new school year,
Connections brings colleagues
together for a day of socializing
and workshops that cover topics
ranging from the work-relevant,
like copyright in the classroom
and artificial intelligence basics,
to hobbies and curiosities, such as
the art of brewing beer, gardening,
the James Webb Space telescope
and how one professor learned to
fly a plane at age 68. Food truck
lunches and afternoon socials
with music from an all-employee
band and sports games round out
the day.
“It’s not meant to be a total
work day, it’s meant to bring us
together,” says Warner, who has
been the chair of the Connections
organizing committee for a
decade.
The college’s people services
department provides funding
for the event and usually puts
on a workshop or two. Gillian
Henderson, the head of that department, says she looks forward
to the conference every year and
always participates in the bocce
tournament.
“You meet new people and get
the opportunity to learn about
what people are passionate
about,” she says. In past years,
she’s attended a “riveting” talk on
fungi, and artistic sessions such
Dean Warner, Michelle Lowry and Bobbie-Jo Koutsantonis (left to right) are among the organizers of the
annual Connections event at Okanagan College.
as painting little windows. “It
is quite unique. I’ve never seen
anything like this in any other
organization.”
Henderson says she’s quickly
learned over her three years at
the college that “as soon as the
conference email goes out, register
straightaway.”
If anyone needs help,
people jump up and step in.
— Dean Warner
Professor
The Kelowna-based college,
which also has campuses in
Penticton, Vernon and Salmon
Arm and two additional centres
in Revelstoke and Oliver, offers
a range of degree, diploma and
certificate programs.
With more than 1,200 employees spread out across those
locations, Henderson says the
college has needed to be “really
intentional” about making sure
that it celebrates the diversity of its
campuses and centres, while also
trying to ensure employees at the
smaller campuses feel like part of
a connected whole.
“Each Okanagan College campus has a different feel, a different
student population, some facilities
that only exist there,” she says.
“We see ourselves as one college
and talk about that, and acknowledge the wonderful differences in
the campuses.”
Connections helps, Warner says,
as many colleagues come from
across the region to attend the
conference in Kelowna. He says
the committee also encourages
