News

WHITEHORSE – Students across Yukon are learning new practical skills that will provide opportunities for them to find employment and make a difference in their community.

Yukon College has created a number of new courses unique to each community. The courses cover a range of skills from outdoor power equipment maintenance to trades exploration to cultural arts.

The programs are funded by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) Northern Adult Basic Education (NABE) program announced earlier this year.

“This new funding has helped us address a desire in our communities to try different approaches to education and skills training,” said Dr. Karen Barnes, Yukon College president. “As a result, our community campus staff has been able to move very fast to implement these new training opportunities.”

WHITEHORSE – The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) announced a new student award of $1,000 this week.

The PDAC bursary will be awarded at the end of the academic year to a Mineral Resources student who has excelled in the program and will be pursuing a second year.

“It is great to see this level of support offered to students,” said Chad Bustin, a first year student in the program.

Bustin intends to enter the second year and continue onto a Bachelor of Science in Geology before entering the mineral resource industry.

As well as the full-time course load, the 24-year-old also works two jobs to cover rent and tuition – Banquet Supervisor with the High Country Inn/Gold Rush Inn and on-call Security Officer at Yukon College.

“This could mean the difference between working a job until midnight with class in the morning and getting a good night’s sleep and going to class rested and focused,” he added.

WHITEHORSE - Yukon College is hosting 70 researchers in Whitehorse this week to discuss ways of reducing the social costs to communities of resource development in the North.

The second annual workshop of the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA) research network is being held in Whitehorse, November 22 and 23 at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

The main focus of ReSDA’s research is on finding ways to ensure that a larger share of the benefits of resource development stay in the region with fewer costs to communities.

This workshop is an opportunity for social science researchers, government representatives and community organizations to discuss existing research and determine what is needed to address the emerging challenges facing northern communities as resource developments in Canada’s North continue to expand.

WHITEHORSE - A new student award from Kaminak Gold Corporation aims to encourage more women to get involved in mining and exploration.

On Tuesday November 20th, Rob Carpenter, Kaminak Gold President and CEO, will present a $2,000 cheque to Dr. Joel Cubley, coordinator, Mineral Resources program at Yukon College.

Female students in the program are eligible to apply for awards of $1,000.

“Geology is an area I have always had an interest in, but it just seems like a guy thing,” said Jutta Hopkins-Lecheminant, a Mineral Resources student who is swapping her desk job with the City of Whitehorse for a rock hammer.

She was encouraged to enter the program after talking with a handful of women working in the industry and said she was hooked from the first field trip.

“Awards like this show that the industry is welcoming to women, and are fantastic encouragement to stay focused and do well,” said Hopkins-Lecheminant.

WHITEHORSE – Cheques will be handed out and the academic achievements of 34 students will be acknowledged tomorrow evening at the Yukon College Awards Ceremony.

A total of $32,000 will be awarded to Yukon College students in 2012. The awards range from bursaries of $200 to a full year of tuition. The annual event brings bursary donors together with the students who have earned them.

“The event is a wonderful opportunity for donors to hear how important their generosity is directly from the students who are receiving it,” said Bente Sorensen, Financial Aid advisor and event coordinator.

"Every little bit helps," said Talyce Henkel, an Electrical Pre-Employment Certificate student. "This will go towards books and tools."

WHITEHORSE – Yukon Government has appointed Carol Geddes to the Board of Governors of Yukon College for a three-year term. Geddes is an award-winning filmmaker and member of the Teslin Tlingit Council.

"For Yukon First Nations people, learning traditional knowledge and skills from our elders has long been our institution of higher education," said Geddes. "But in order to fulfill the mandate of self-government we also now require the expertise and experience formal post-secondary education can give."

"Carol Geddes brings a thoughtful, creative approach to the Yukon College Board," said Paul Flaherty, chair of the Board of Governors. "We welcome her enthusiasm, perspective and experience."

WHITEHORSE – “The world needs more conscious elders,” says PhD candidate Larry Gray.

WHITEHORSE – A new book co-edited and authored by Yukon College vice president Academic, Dr. Bill Dushenko, highlights fresh thinking in the on-going debate over sustainable urban planning and development.

Urban Sustainability: Reconnecting Space and Place brings together 12 researchers and practitioners from across North America to explore the governance challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for city planners.

Smaller carbon footprints, walkable cities, eco-friendly buildings, and urban agriculture are topics of discussion at city halls across Canada, and no stranger to Whitehorse council meetings. These are some of the concrete ways of achieving urban sustainability put forward in the book.

Dushenko believes that to create more sustainable cities municipal politicians and planners will increasingly need to take a community’s social capital and their engagement into account when making decisions.

WHITEHORSE – Virtual schools, improved capacity within First Nations’ governments, climate change impacts, and the potential of a much larger, more ethnically diverse growing population, are some of the visions expressed when thinking about Yukon 25 years from now.

This is what was heard at a series of community consultations, held this past spring and summer, intended to inform the next five-year strategic plan for Yukon College.

Between April and June, public meetings were held in every Yukon community and with key stakeholders, including youth and youth workers, the arts community, the mining sector, the business community, Yukon government, plus College staff and students amongst others.

“Over 400 people came out to give us their thoughts and what we heard is that the College is many different things to many different people,” said Paul Flaherty, chair Yukon College’s Board of Governors.

WHITEHORSE - Have you ever found yourself explaining life at minus 40 to a tourist from Florida?

For a visitor this story of your everyday life could be one of the most meaningful experiences they take away from their trip here-fulfilling their sense of wonder and reinforcing the uniqueness of Yukon. For you, sharing this story may help to reinforce your own identity of being a survivor, of your resourcefulness in keeping yourself and your house warm.

Interactions like this take place every day through winter and summer in Yukon. They are part of our cultural geography and have a huge impact on the value and meaning visitors take away from their experience here. However, unlike the number of people entering via the airport or the highway and how full our hotels are, the sharing of stories and their impact is much harder to measure, and therefore value.

WHITEHORSE – After picking a new direction for the city, Whitehorse residents can pick a new direction for themselves. On Thursday October 18th the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre is not just a polling station; it also plays host to a career and volunteer fair.

Yukon College, Volunteer Bénévoles Yukon and Yukon Work InfoNET (YuWIN) are joining forces to present a range of volunteer, career and educational opportunities to city residents.

Over 40 representatives from companies, professional associations, non-profit groups and post-secondary educational institutions will be on hand to speak with people at the event.

“When looking for work or fresh opportunities, it’s often said that it’s not what you know, but who you know,” said Ann Bowen, Enrolment Management Coordinator, Yukon College.

Whitehorse – Two national science programs celebrate milestones this year and the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College is throwing them a party to celebrate.

The Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) and Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP) reach 20 and 50 years respectively of fostering science in the North.

"A great deal of research and knowledge has come from these two important programs," said Chris Hawkins, vice-president Research at Yukon College.

"The research and science taking place in Yukon is always the result of valuable partnerships between a variety of organizations, including NCP and NSTP, so we have chosen this as our theme in celebrating their anniversaries."

Partnerships in Yukon Science will take place on October 18 in the Multipurpose Room at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be speakers and presentations with lunch provided at 12pm.