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Frank Bowick

Professor, Electrical Engineering

On Monday, Dec. 19, Frank Bowick — a 30-year professor of electrical engineering at Algonquin College — received the President’s Star following a surprise visit by AC President and CEO Claude Brulé.

The President’s Star Award is given to employees of the College who “demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their role” and embody the College values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect. Frank has shown these behaviours consistently throughout his career at the College, which began in 1991 as a professor in the Electrical Apprenticeship program. In the years since, he has helped in the development of the Electrical Engineering Technician, Electrical Engineering Technology and Powerline Technician programs, making his home phone number available to learners in case they ever needed extra help.

In his nomination letter, Frank received praise from a number of people from the College, including Kathryn Reilander, Professor and Coordinator for the Electrical Engineering Technology program.

“Sharing an office with Frank for over 10 years allowed me the opportunity to see Frank’s attention to his students and to the learning environment,” said Reilander. “Frank is always willing to help other faculty or students. He has always maintained an open-door policy for students who need advice on life or their studies.”

Congratulations, Frank!

Trudy Price

Student Pathway Advisor with AC Online

On Dec. 14, Trudy Price, formerly an Academic Development Administrative Assistant, was awarded the President’s Star Award by Algonquin College President and CEO Claude Brulé. Trudy’s new position is a Student Pathway Advisor with AC Online.

The President’s Star Award is given to an employee who demonstrates a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrates outstanding service; and truly embodies our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.

In the President’s Star nomination submission, Trudy was praised for exemplifying the College’s values of Caring, Integrity, Learning, and Respect, and as integral member of the Academic Development Team. During the ACET meeting, Trudy’s commitment was highlighted:

Nomination of Trudy Price

Trudy consistently goes above and beyond in providing support to faculty, chairs, and other support staff, particularly in the use of Course Outline Mapping and Management System (COMMS). During the busy course outline development periods, Trudy responds to countless emails and requests, and works very hard to provide quick and fulsome responses.

She is a problem-solver and has a great ability to decipher requests into meaningful and supportive actions that often lead to process improvements. She is very kind in her approach and is truly focused on finding solutions so that learners experience timely access to complete course outlines.

Her name has become essentially synonymous with COMMS support and individuals across all roles within the course outline development, review, and approval process rely on and trust her guidance for all manner of COMMS-related questions.

Trudy was also recognized as a supportive team member, who has led various employee engagement activities within Academic Development, such as the “Not Myself Today” campaign and as a member of our internal “Fun Committee.” Especially throughout remote working, the activities Trudy has led, and been a part of, fostered feelings of connection and engagement to the larger team and to the College. Trudy is a trusted and valued colleague and very deserving of recognition of her ongoing contributions to the College.

Congratulations Trudy! We congratulate you on your award and thank you for you dedication to Algonquin College.

Mary Anne Reinhard

Library Front Desk Coordinator

On Dec. 7, Mary Anne Reinhard, Library Front Desk Coordinator at the Ottawa Campus Library, received a surprise visit from Algonquin College President and CEO Claude Brulé, who came bearing not only recognition for service excellence but a token of appreciation — the President’s Star.

The President’s Star Award is presented to an employee who demonstrates a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community; regularly and consistently demonstrates outstanding service; and truly embodies our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.

Librarian Brenda Mahoney nominated Mary Anne for the award and had many good things to say about her dedication to the college.

“She truly believes that the library is the heart of the College and is devoted to the success and well-being of our learners,” wrote Mahoney. “When approaching a problem, she always tries to take the student’s point of view. By her actions she has inspired us to maintain a welcoming and responsive environment for users. To say her public service skills are “the best ever” isn’t hyperbole. Heck, she even developed our Customer Service Subject Guide so we could all sharpen our skills. “

Nomination of Mary Anne Reinhard

Mary Anne came to Algonquin College in 2005 from the Georgian College Library. She came highly recommended via a host of glowing emails from her former co-workers.

She was contacted for an interview on what turned out to be her moving day. She grabbed a dress from a box as the moving truck was headed up the driveway. Because of her time with the Georgian College Library, Mary Anne joined Algonquin College already familiar with the Ontario College Library system, so she hit the ground running and basically has never stopped.

Mary Anne took on her current title of Library Front Desk Coordinator “temporarily” during the transition to the beautiful new digs on the 3rd floor of the DARE District. Under this title she was assigned the task of writing the procedures that would see the library go from a one desk service to staffing three desks and an online chat service. That’s four schedules to manage! Here, her skills to multitask really shone. She did this while also working the main desk and serving our students, faculty and staff. Always observant, she took on all the little, thankless jobs that we were not even aware needed doing until processes suddenly worked smoother and services ran better. She does what needs to be done and doesn’t expect praise or thanks.

Mary Anne serves both technical services and public services of the library. This is a usual arrangement for a library. Technical services ensure that resources are there, online or on the shelf for users. Public services help the users interact with these resources. To have someone with Mary Anne’s background, experience and willingness to “mix it up” has been a blessing for the AC Library.

In Technical Services, Mary Anne has been able to flex her admirable attention to detail. She has been responsible for tracking, receiving and processing orders for the Ottawa, Perth and Pembroke Libraries. She has a special knowledge of the acquisition processes for video resources, a skill she developed while at Georgian College. Thank goodness, because those licenses are tricky!

Mary Anne doesn’t mind being tested by something new and is always open to learning. In July, the AC Library, along with 17 other Ontario College Libraries, moved to a new library platform, ALMA. Mary Anne has worked in collaboration with Ontario College Library Services user groups and her colleagues at Algonquin College to help establish this new platform at the library. Again, her main aim is to ensure access for our users is simple and straight forward. She never forgets what it is like to walk in a student’s footsteps.

At the busiest times she can always be found in the middle of things. She relishes volunteer opportunities within the College such as AC Day 1 and the Here 2 Help Booths. One of her favorite events is AC’s Convocation ceremonies. She gets as much out of this event as she puts into it, coming back to campus with heartfelt stories of student success, humming with restored energy. Most recently she has been found working at the library at our Perth campus so that our lone library technician can have a few well-deserved days off-site and to ensure Perth learners still have on-campus library access.

Outside of the College, Mary Anne continues her quest for learning and development. She is deeply committed to her family, which includes her husband, Pierre, her children and her grandchildren. She participates in her church and enjoys sewing, music, square dancing and camping.

Mary Anne will be retiring from the College in December. On behalf of grateful employees and learners, we would like to congratulate Mary Anne on her successful career and thank her for her dedication to Algonquin College. Thank you, merci, Miigwetch. Best of luck and enjoy your retirement.

On Tuesday, Aug. 23, Nancy Tremblay received two surprises. The first was a surprise retirement party to celebrate her upcoming retirement, recognizing her 35-year career with the College. The second was receiving the President’s Star Award from Algonquin College President and CEO Claude Brulé.

The President’s Star Award is presented to an employee who demonstrates a commitment to excellence in their role within the College community, regularly and consistently demonstrates outstanding service and truly embodies our shared commitment to student success and the College’s values of Caring, Learning, Integrity and Respect.

In her nomination letter, Christopher Janzen, Senior Vice President Academic, wrote the following about Nancy:

“…it has been overtly apparent that the experience of our learners remains her highest priority. From her first point of contact with any student, for reasons ranging from general inquiries, program issues/challenges or more complex issues of heightened distress, Ms. Tremblay is quick to assist with a warm demeanor and eagerness to go the extra mile. Further, her infectious enthusiasm and spirit for volunteerism is admirable – as she continually seeks out opportunities to be charitable with others and assist wherever she is needed. From the time our first learners arrive at residence on move-in day, to convocation at year end, Ms. Tremblay is always ready and willing to celebrate these milestones with our learners and showcase our College values in every way.”

Congratulations on your retirement Nancy. You will be missed.