BCIT students are amazing: their passion and work ethic and intelligence never cease to inspire me (my fellow faculty and colleagues at BCIT are great too).
I speak “ok” Italian, but I would love to be more fluent – ah, for some more time to practice, preferably in Roma.
My students! They keep me focused on what matters most at BCIT – helping young people launch meaningful and rewarding careers.
Take my guitar playing to the next level so that I can fulfill my destiny of rock stardom.
What’s your favourite thing about working at BCIT?
One of the things that attracted me to BCIT is the applied learning focus. At an individual level, I find great joy in helping students gain new insights and perspectives towards accomplishing their goals.
The diversity and initiative of the BCIT community: the students, with their energy and passion for their education and projects, faculty and colleagues and their many interests, and the constant change that happens.
I’d like to learn how to understand people better, especially my children.
I joined BCIT as Part-time Studies (PTS) Coordinator for Computer Systems Technology, CST in 1998. My background included over 20 years of technology business management, product and service development, as well technology training. Since 2002 as Program Head for Computing PTS, I lead one of largest program areas at BCIT with 70 PTS instructors and over 2,000 individual students. Together with a PTS Coordinator and Program Assistants every term we maintain and deliver over 160 COMP course sections interlaced into 15 different credentials.
Along with the laddered credentials leading to the CST/PTS Diploma, I have developed 10 related Applied Associate Certificates as IT sector sub-sets of the CST Diploma. These smaller part-time programs are aimed at those with other education who want to change or advance their careers while continuing to work during the day.
To help student success I have created a Computing PTS Student Guide. I also work very closely with industry and our instructors to keep our courses and programs in demand. My methods have been documented as best practices for PTS Coordinators and Program Heads across BCIT. I have volunteered for several selection committees and served on various councils; Life Long Learning, ITS User Chair, and Marketing. For the last 12 years I was the Tech-Rep for Computer Systems and I was elected by our members to the FSA as Director-At-Large in 2019.
BCIT has allowed me to create and develop many post-secondary courses and credentials that didn’t exist. These courses and programs have enabled thousands of students get rewarding jobs as well provide as a foundation to move on to earn a degree one course at a time.
I always wanted to learn how to draw but don’t have that skill. Maybe I could using a computer tablet if I had more time.
Holly believes knowledge and expertise deserve to be shared and is passionate about helping her students succeed. In addition to her role as a part-time studies instructor in the Technical Writing program, Holly is a partner in a professional communications firm. She also serves on a number of non-profit boards bringing communications and board governance expertise.
Holly was elected to the FSA board in 2019. She is eager to ensure BCIT provides a safe and fair learning environment for all students and instructors at BCIT, particularly those in part-time studies.
Judy joined Information Technology Services (ITS) at BCIT after completing a diploma program in the High Performance Technology program in 2000. Today she splits her time between the role of Senior Business Analyst in Enterprise Planning in ITS and that of Performance Development System (PDS) Coordinator for the FSA Faculty, Specialty Faculty and Tech Staff. Judy also holds a position as Governor on the BCIT Board of Governors.
Judy was elected to the FSA board of directors in May 2020.
Michael’s career includes a variety of roles over 15 years in post-secondary labour relations. His time as the Executive Director for the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC) representing five faculty associations is reflected in the depth of his understanding of BC’s post-secondary environment. Michael was also the Executive Director of the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS) at UBC. On a national level, Michael served as the Research & Policy Officer at the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), to which we are affiliated. Most recently, Michael expanded his national scope by serving as the Executive Director for the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), representing their 17,000 members.
In his spare time Michael is a year round cyclist and is looking forward to getting back up into the North Shore mountains.
Maria works closely with the FSA Board of Directors, the President, and Executive Director assisting them with the overall operations of the FSA office and providing resources and support to ensure effective and efficient governance. Over her career, Maria has experience supporting senior level executive teams in commercial real estate and retail industries and has contributed to the improvement of the FSA’s internal systems and administrative practices. Maria draws upon her professional photography and design experience and knowledge to support the FSA’s brand identity and communications work. As a long-standing employee at the FSA, Maria brings extensive organization history to her work.
While articling for a boutique labour and employment law firm, George was an activist with the Council of Canadian’s Ottawa chapter, and later became the Council’s head of human resources. In the past, George has written freelance articles, mostly in the area of labour law and labour relations, for publishers such as Canada Law Book, Lancaster House, and Workforce magazine. As a result of his experiences, he became a founding member of the C.E.P.’s Canadian Freelance Union, now part of Unifor.
Advising organizations in the non-profit, private, and public sectors, George’s repertoire includes collective agreement interpretation, conflict resolution, training, collective bargaining, legal drafting and research. He is a member of the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources, BC & Yukon and of the Law Society of Ontario.
Soon after completing his education, he started working for one of the largest private sector unions in BC where he specialized in collective bargaining agreements, negotiations, and grievances. He was eventually elected as the unit president of the bargaining unit at the union and he worked diligently to represent his colleagues’ interests and rights in the workplace.
Steve is very excited to be back in the post-secondary environment and to be working with his FSA colleagues towards strong representation of the interests and rights of FSA members.