Capilano College Staff Career
Development Committee

Annual Report 1992

With its mandate under the collective agreement
to ‘‘develop a career development program for
staff’’, the Committee completed its third year of
fulfilling this objective. We continue to program
college-wide career development events for support
staff; work to ensure that staff have access to and
benefit equally from all provisions of Article 19
(Career Development); inform staff of career
development opportunities both on and off campus;
and identify areas for training and development to
Personnel Services.

Highlights

The second annual Staff Career Development
Day was mounted February 13 at Lonsdale Quay
Hotel. The event attracted 105 keen participants in
five workshops: Cross-Cultural Communication;
Motivation and Goal Setting; Using your Creative
Edge; Self-Esteem and Confidence; and Using
Drama to Help you Work Smarter, Not Harder; and a
panel discussion: Removing the Barriers: A look at
employment equity and women and language.
Workshop leaders were retained from both the
college community and the external community.

The Committee provided a motivating and
educational day of work and ‘fun”’ for support staff.
In addition to the obvious career development
benefits obtained, Staff Career Development Day
allows co-workers to interact in a neutral, non-work
setting that fosters better relationships in the
workplace. Participant evaluation provided positive
feedback and a recurrent suggestion that full-day
workshops would be more beneficial led to a
committee recommendation and approval by
administration to offer a two-day event in 1993. This
format enables better staff coverage in work areas
and gives each staff member an opportunity to
attend one full day.

Workshops

Starting in 1991, Staff Career Development
workshops were implemented through Extension

Programs & Services Department, a procedure
which allowed co-ordination between Staff Career
Development Committee offerings and staff training
offered through Personnel Services and also freed up
the Chair’s limited release time. Due to time and
budget restraints, Extension could no longer offer
this service in 1992, and so the Committee has
reverted to handling the entire task of presenting
career development workshops.

Spring Workshops

In April a two-session Writing Clinic led by Reid
Gilbert from the English Department helped staff
learn to avoid common grammatical mistakes and to
apply these skills in letters and reports.

Several staff members accepted the Faculty
Development Committee’s invitation to participate
in their May Faculty Development Days which
included workshops entitled Dealing with
Psychological Distress among Students and Persons
with Disabilities: Building Awareness.

Fall Workshops

Workplace awareness was the theme of the Fall
Workshops. The College’s first Sexual Harassment
Policy Advisor, Heather Laing, led the November
session: Working Towards a College Free from
Sexual Harassment. Both female and male staff
members took part in this information and
problem-solving session.

In November the Committee initiated a video
viewing and discussion entitled ‘The Chilly Climate
for Women in Colleges & Universities”’, with
facilitator Rosalie Hawrylko, a Social Sciences
instructor. Eight additional College groups
co-sponsored the event, including the Employment
Equity Committee, President’s Advisory Committee
on Sexual Harassment Policy, Women’s Issues
Committee (Capilano Students’ Union), Faculty
Development Committee, and Office & Technical