Recognition, revision and new additions from Algonquin BOG
Two Algonquin students, along with a student from Carleton University, were awarded the People’s Choice Award in June’s Hacking Health Ottawa competition. Their accomplishment was recognized by the Board of Governors meeting on Monday.
This was one of the sweetest events to happen at the Board of Governors meeting on Monday, Oct. 28 in T102 A&B.
Mohamad Akel, mobile application design and development student and Wilfred Turcotte, Interactive media design student, along with Erin Wiles, Carleton psychology student, pitched an idea at the Hacking competition for a Gamified Mental Health Resource Library App.
Over one weekend, the team built up the concept, which is now known as Mindus.org. The People’s Choice Award is voted on by all the participants at the Hackathon.
“We hope that we’ll be able to provide earlier intervention and prevention of more serious issues,” said Wiles.
Here are the highlights from Monday’s meeting.
Student information system
The board of governors has authorized funds for the college to replace the current student information system.
The team in charge of the project led by Patrick Devey, acting vice president, innovation and strategy, informed the board that a request for proposal for the project had just been put out on Oct. 25.
A student information system is a tool that provides the administration of student information and is responsible for managing academic progression and student data.
Devey also stated that they would be looking at software as service systems to work with on this project.
“We made the decision to go ahead with a SAS system because we are at the end of the era for the current system,’ said Devey.
There were concerns about data privacy with the cloud-based system by a member of the board.
“I’m concerned that if the company’s servers are in the US, then our student’s data is subject to the patriot act,” said James Roblee, board, vice-chair.
Devey assured the board that this is one of the concerns they are looking at and are prepared to screen companies properly to ensure all details are covered.
Sexual assault and sexual violence policy
In other BOG business, the board has made revisions to the sexual assault policy in response to the provincial governments assessment.
Students are made aware of services available to them through Project Lighthouse.
“We currently have ongoing training available for staff, they are not compulsory but highly recommended,” said Laura Stanbra vice president, student affairs.
New Programs at Algonquin
Based on the recommendation of the academic and student affairs committee, the board approved the creation of two new programs.
The two programs are a graduate certificate program in cybersecurity analysis and a bachelor of commerce in marketing.
These programs were created to meet the demands of growing industries.
Both programs The programs are expected to start in fall 2020 and fall 2021, respectively.
