Nov. 9, 2022 – Lethbridge College will launch a new certificate program this fall for students interested in pursuing in-demand careers in the health sector.

The new Health Sciences certificate caters to students who may need to upgrade before entering a health-related diploma or degree program as well as to those who are waitlisted and want to start earning credits right away.

The 10 courses in the new program can be completed in just eight months and can enhance a student’s standing for admission to six health-related Lethbridge College diploma and degree programs.

“The curriculum focuses on laddering into Lethbridge College diplomas by offering students the opportunity to pass and gain credit for the non-specialist courses associated with the Nursing, Practical Nurse, Massage Therapy and Therapeutic Recreation-Gerontology programs,” says Dr. Kevin Smith, Dean of the Centre for Business, Arts and Sciences (CBAS). “The chosen curriculum has the added advantage of containing courses that have current transfer credit with other post-secondary institutions, offering potential collaborations for students to transfer into diploma and degree programs.”

The credits can also be applied to the college’s Exercise Science and General Arts and Science diploma programs.

CBAS is the home for the new program, which also benefits students interested in programs offered in the college’s Centre for Health and Wellness (CHW).

“The new Health Sciences certificate highlights the extensive collaborative nature between departments and centres at Lethbridge College,” says Debra Bardock, Dean of CHW. “This demonstrates our determination to find ways to support student success through alternative pathways.”

With demand for entry to health-related programs high, the new certificate opens a door to getting a start on the program of their choice while waiting for admission, as well as exploring an interest in health sciences before committing to a particular specialization.

Marda Schindeler, associate dean of CBAS, says the new certificate provides a way for students to connect with peers in an identifiable cohort, who can learn and graduate together. Typically, students upgrading through Open Studies before entering a specialized diploma or degree program do so independently. They may not connect with others with similar interests and academic and career goals.

The certificate is offered in a highly flexible (hyflex) way so students can choose to learn on campus or take a mix of in-person instruction and asynchronous online courses that fit their schedule. Schindeler says some courses and lab components are best completed in person for the ideal learning experience and to provide the benefits of a student cohort who can learn, work and succeed together.

She says another benefit of taking the certificate program is that because the courses count toward other credentials, a student can make the workload in the degree or diploma program more balanced and manageable.

The first Health Science students will begin classes in September. Students can apply now. For more information about the course requirements and how they transfer into other programs, visit the Health Sciences program page.

The college’s English Language Centre (ELC) remains in good standing with its governing agency, Languages Canada, after passing a rigorous accreditation process for the second time in eight years.

The audit, done every four years, ensures the ELC maintains acceptable standards across several categories including admissions, instruction, curriculum, finances, occupational health and safety, records management and more. Documents, some thousands of pages in length, are produced and cover everything from policies to student rights.

“If you don’t have this accreditation, you can’t recruit and register international students,” says Karen Smith, manager, English Language Centre. “Meeting the strict standards of Languages Canada is an accomplishment in itself – hearing that our services are ‘above average’ is a point of pride.”

Languages Canada accreditation is recognized by the Government of Canada and internationally.

Karen says preparing for the audit took months of hard work, not only from herself, but from her entire ELC team as well as Marko Hilgersom, Registrar, and Chiye Kinjo, manager, International Services who sat in on focus groups and helped prepare documents.

“It was a lot of work, and everyone came together to get it done,” she says. “One thing the auditor mentioned is the great collaborative team we have, and I couldn’t agree more. I have the best team. I’m very lucky.”

Congratulations to everyone who worked tirelessly over the past several months so the college’s ELC could pass this accreditation with flying colours. Well done!

Lethbridge College is rebranding one of three majors offered in its Business Administration diploma program. As of Fall 2022, the General Business major will be renamed Business Operations. The two-year diploma includes a common first year, followed by the choice of one of three majors in the second year: Business Operations, Management and Accounting.

The change from General Business to Business Operations stems from data collected during a recent program review as well as feedback provided by industry partners. Changing the title of the major also aligns with the original intent of the program – to include courses that provide the organizational and entrepreneurial knowledge required to oversee day-to-day business operations. “The name change will make the focus of the major more obvious to potential students,” says Marda Schindeler, Associate Dean, Centre for Business, Arts and Sciences. “It also better highlights the wide-ranging curriculum of the Business Administration diploma while maintaining a connection with the reputation and recognition of the existing qualification.”

In addition to the name change, there will be a minor curriculum adjustment to increase the number of business courses taken in the second year of the program. Courses in the common first year will stay the same, but year two will now include a core three-credit course called Project Management. It will involve a capstone project and work integrated learning opportunities so students can gain industry experience.

LC NAVI – Mobile application that will simplify your student life. Our project was to make the LC Navigation application to assist students, and staff members to find their destinations in the college. We find it difficult to locate classrooms in the college, hence we decided to go with this idea. We worked with three CIT students to develop a prototype. Starting with the mapping of the main floor of the IB Commons.

Art for a Cause – Designed to bring together a set of individuals who are interested in the arts and in helping the homeless at the same time. Our main goal was to raise money to contribute to a non-profit organization that supports homes people in the Lethbridge area. We picked Lethbridge Shelter and Stabilization Centre.

Business Club Creation - Our project this semester was restarting the Business Club. We started by re-writing the constitution, re-vamping our vision and mission statements, and then becoming ratified by the LCSA.

Community Service - Our project was a food give back to our fellow students. We accomplished this by working with the local community of Lethbridge to obtain non-perishable food donations to give back to students at the Lethbridge College. We also provided more information and awareness of possible jobs being offered from PepsiCo. A major goal of ours was to put a smile on people’s faces. We obtained a generous donation from PepsiCo. They donated over 2000 single serve chips. The local Save-On Foods on the west side also assisted us and donated over 300 regular sized water bottles.

Salon Fundraiser - The Twisted Salon’s Grand Opening Fundraiser was a huge success, we were able to raise more than our initial goal, the salon was busy with new clientele and we were able to bring awareness for the mindful munchies program. All donations from the silent auction were donated (over $750) to ‘The Mindful Muchies Program’. This program provides lunches to schools all over Lethbridge for less fortunate students. 

School Supplies Drive/Swap – Our project was a fundraising campaign where we gathered school supplies from donors and set up in the center core where student were able to take what they needed for free. Our mission was to make much needed school supplies readily accessible to those who may not be able to afford them in hopes of making the lives of the students at Lethbridge College easer and less stressful. 

Business Club Fundraising - The Business Club would like to start a funding program within the campus of Lethbridge College to which we can assist students and staff of all trades. The event will be fun for both the club, students, and staff who will participate in the event. Participants will be provided with three professional headshots in exchange for a small fee. The purpose of this project is to provide the community Lethbridge College with an opportunity of professional development.

Lethbridge College Business Administration students will soon be gaining valuable skills while saving time and paper thanks to a $41,250 grant to develop digital case studies. The funding comes from the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Education Foundation, Canada’s only accounting designation, who have recognized that Lethbridge College’s expertise in accounting extends to research and development of teaching practice as well as the teaching itself.

“It has become challenging to offer paper case studies despite their value to students,” says James Reimer, School of Business chair. “With digital simulations, students can complete pre-built, tested case studies online that reflect todays increasing online requirements for business. Cases are graded automatically, and the progress of each student is available to instructors in real time enhancing student learning by allowing for more valuable and timely feedback.”

The grant will be used to purchase CollegeCasePro software licenses for three years. Funding also allows for the development of three unique case studies each year over the course of three years and the opportunity to expand the scope of cases by adding up to three modules, such as bank reconciliations. The digital case studies were piloted last fall and the software will be available to all first year Business Administration students in Fall 2022.

This semester, students are excited to be working with real business partners in several classes in the School of Business including Advertising, Advanced Small Business Management, and Project Management. Some of the business matches came through Riipen, an online service that helps students and classes match with businesses looking for collaboration on projects.

“I was amazed at how many businesses were looking for students to help with projects. When I posted my classes, I had immediate responses requesting our students. Within days, I was able to meet with the businesses and line up partners for Advertising and Small Business Management,” said Natalie Barfuss, a business instructor.

“My students are having their first client meetings this week. It’s a great opportunity to apply the skills they’ve been learning.”

ACU instructors Sarah Yavitu, Joyce Shigehiro and Lee Nemeth were involved in teaching upgrading math and science to a group of women in a program called Women Building Futures.  It is an introduction to the trades, which gives a little taste of all the trades opportunities. The great thing about this program is the students get hands on experience with all the different trades that the college has to offer.  ACU instructor role is teaching trades math and science to help students with the trade of choice and to pass their entrance apprentice exam.  Also, the program helps them by getting their foot in the door, helping them with their resume and connections in the community. In addition, we as ACU instructors had the privilege of working and collaborating with people from varying programs within the college. This was a great way to connect and to be involved in cross-curricular collaboration within the college community while working with Women Building Futures.

Kelson Burns, an accounting student in the School of Business, completes his Industry Placement with the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce this semester. The Chamber received funding this summer for two student employees. Burns has had the opportunity to assist with event planning, participated in coordination and meetings with members, developed online content, and gained valuable experience in accounting during this work integrated learning (WIL) experience.

Burns said, “My favorite part of working with the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce is getting the opportunity to attend and assist with organizing our events. These events attract a wide range of influencers in our city from politicians to entrepreneurs. There is no doubt in my mind that the connections I have made at the events will pay dividends going forward.”

The Lethbridge College Business Administration program is once again excited to share it has maintained recognition with the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA). 

The annual CPA reporting and evaluation process is significant.  Our result is always good news for a number of reasons including the reassurance that our Business program, in particular Accounting, is doing what it should be doing, including preparing our students for success and further education including pursuing Canada’s only accounting designation – CPA.

Courses that receive transfer recognition with CPA: Acc1170, Acc1175, Acc2250, Acc2251, Acc2271, Acc2273, Bus1166, Bus2292, Ecn1180, Ecn2253, Sts2250, and Tax2251.  With these courses our Business grads are well positioned to pursue the CPA designation.

This project presented three classes of creative writing students at Lethbridge College with the opportunity to connect with 10 professional authors from across North America to learn about the publishing industry, to form a writing community of their own, and to improve their creative writing. Some of these authors included Deb Caletti, National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor recipient; Sydney Smith, winner of the Governor General’s Award; Victoria Jamieson, National Book Award finalist; Heather Smith, winner of the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award; and Kat Leyh, recipient of the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book.

For many students, this represented the first time they were able to meet and talk frankly with working authors. Students were able to gain real advice about how to query publishers with their writing and learned from other writers about how to self-publish their work.

In 2023, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Exchange Grant will again support inviting authors to speak virtually to creative writing students at Lethbridge College. This second level of support will increase student involvement in author visits and lay a foundation for student participation in a mentoring program at an academic/creative writing conference.