Fifteen Centennial College faculty and staff are being honoured with three distinct Minister’s Awards of Excellence from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities for their outstanding work in the College and in the community. This is the second time Centennial is being recognized in what is the second iteration of the awards program. Business Professor Vida Barker received the award in 2020 for her dedication to her students and her faculty colleagues by helping facilitate the transition to remote learning in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, Centennial faculty and staff earned three awards out of a field of some 700 nominees representing many of Ontario’s universities and colleges. Our award recipients worked to resolve formidable challenges brought about by a global pandemic, or long-standing impediments to members of underserved communities trying to advance themselves. Meet our Minister’s Awards of Excellence recipients!
Nursing professor Margaret Verkuyl has pioneered innovative learning experiences by creating virtual gaming simulations for healthcare practitioners. As an internationally renowned simulation designer, her work has motivated students around the world to think critically while preparing them for dynamic clinical environments in the healthcare realm. Margaret has led the development of eight virtual gaming simulations and consulted on numerous other games. Users develop critical thinking and clinical judgement skills by making decisions and observing the outcomes of their decisions. Margaret’s work is being consumed globally with more than 1.6 million plays in 25 countries, and is seeing exponential uptake during the pandemic.
Janna Erichsen is the Chair of Part-time Learning in the School of Transportation. She leads the delivery of two Pre-Apprenticeship programs and is the key contact for an Autobody program that is partnered with Tropicana Youth Services, which offers culturally aware and supportive programs to those in need, with a focus on local Caribbean, Black and African communities. Pre-Apprenticeship is tailored for people from under-represented and marginalized communities who often have to overcome barriers to education. Janna showed tremendous leadership and decisiveness at the start of the pandemic when she rescheduled the programs to have theory content delivered remotely up front and labs pushed to the end. When the lockdown was lifted in July 2020, Janna’s pre-apprenticeship labs were Centennial’s first to resume activity on campus, allowing the hands-on technical courses to be completed on schedule – a big win for learners.
Finally, a group of AMAT faculty and staff in the School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science distinguished themselves by answering the call for 3D-printed components for personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the pandemic when demand had outstripped supply. Utilizing Centennial’s 3D printers at Progress and Downsview campuses, the team developed a plan to manufacture head bands for face shields and ear protectors, and they also worked on a prototype of a reusable N95 mask. From May to July, 2020, our 3D printers ran for two shifts Monday to Friday to meet the demand. Team members devised safe work practices to enable PPE production. Recognized are AMAT Chair Donald Wang, Program Coordinator Tim Repetski, faculty Iulian Radu and Pouria Tavakkoli Avval, support staff technicians Ken Barr, Edward Lada, Samir Mustafa, Wei Wang, Mark Ma, Ray Tjandra, and administrators Devon Khan and Timothy Chen. Jane Burpee, Director of Libraries and Learning Centres, also joined the effort by providing their 3D printer.
Congratulations to our exceptional Minister’s Award of Excellence recipients for their ingenuity, creativity and selfless sacrifice beyond their daily responsibilities to fulfill a promise to our constituents, our learners, and to our community. Award recipients will receive a certificate signed by the Honourable Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities. The Ontario government awards recognize the great things happening on our campuses and in the communities we serve!