2007 Institutional Report

1. Reporting Institution: Okanagan College , Department of Geography & Earth and Environmental Science.

2. Representative: Dr. Leif Burge

3. Changes

There have been many changes to our college and our department over the last two years. The Department of Earth and Environmental Science and the Department of Geography were both decimated by the transition from Okanagan University College to Okanagan College in 2005. All members of both departments except one went to UBC Okanagan. This left only one permanent fulltime faculty member with a cross appointment between the two departments left after the transition. Subsequently, Stephen Doyle, Stephanie Bunclark and Leif Burge were hired in the Geography and Earth and Environmental Science departments. The departments were recently merged into one department called Geography & Earth and Environmental Science.

Programs/Courses

We teach Earth and Environmental Science Courses to first and second year associate of arts and associate of science students. We offer first year Earth and Environmental Science and Geography courses and a small selection of second year courses in our Salmon Arm, Kelowna , Vernon , and Penticton campuses. Students transfer to university to complete their degrees. We began offering directed studies courses to allow students to gain wider experience while at the college. Student feedback on these courses has been positive. One directed studies student won a national student award for his project.

Staffing

We currently have four fulltime faculty members spread out over our four campuses. We also employ two temporary staff members.

Enrolment Trends

Our enrolments in Earth and Environmental Science have been respectable and slowly increasing. This is related to the growth in the number of Arts students who take our courses for lab science credit. We expect that this trend will continue with the increase in the number of Arts students.

Facilities

We are working on developing our laboratory facilities as Okanagan College grows. We have set up a new lab and have purchased field equipment for our growing program. We began with little to no equipment from either department for our Kelowna Campus.

The Kelowna campus of Okanagan College is preparing to build a new learning center that will provide new faculty offices and much needed classroom space. Our library will receive a makeover at the same time. There are future plans for a number of new buildings to house new and growing programs at the Kelowna and other campuses.

4. Issues/Challenges

We still have significant challenges in building this new department and deciding our future directions. We are interested in developing our environmental offerings in light of the present interest in environmental issues. Okanagan College retained two degree programs, bachelors in business administration and bachelors in computer information systems. We are looking into the possibility of providing electives for these students.