Elevating Devices Program Coordinator, Alan Bennink, and student, Melissa Brosnan work on an elevator control panel .

Mohawk College is one of just two colleges in the province offering a two-year diploma that trains future elevating devices mechanics 

With the significant demand for housing, and buildings and cities only getting taller, a lot rides on developing the skills of future elevating devices mechanics to serve the vertical transportation industry. 

Mohawk College’s Marshall School of Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship offers a two-year Mechanical Technician - Elevating Devices diploma program and an Elevating Devices Mechanic Apprenticeship program. 

The programs cover all aspects of training, including electrical, electronics, programmable-logic-controllers, hydraulics and mechanics, that are required for installing, maintaining and servicing elevating devices. 

A third cohort is now finishing the diploma program, bringing the total to about 100 students graduating from the program launched in 2020. Mohawk has also offered the in-school training for apprentices in the field since 2019. 

Mohawk College, one of Ontario’s largest educators in skilled trades, is among only two colleges in the province, along with Durham College, offering a diploma in the field and one of just two non-union delivery agents in Canada approved to offer the apprenticeship. 

It’s important to attract people from all walks of life, says Isowa.

“Mohawk College puts a great deal of effort into reaching diverse groups, including young people in high school, people from diverse backgrounds, women and girls, and second-career learners to introduce them to skilled trades careers, like Elevating Devices Mechanic, that they may never have thought of,” she says.

Alan Bennink, Program Coordinator of Elevating Devices, who teaches alongside five other faculty members, says the industry is booming, including on the residential front.

“Ground costs money, and houses, like most other buildings, are going higher and higher. As people get older, many don't want to climb stairs anymore. When you have a three- or four-storey house, at minimum, you want a dumbwaiter to carry stuff, but in a lot of cases, you probably want a full elevator to take you up and down. As a result, the demand for private residence elevators has grown substantially.”

The housing crisis, which will require more dense, multi-level housing, along with expanding transportation, healthcare and office infrastructure, will all result in more demand for skilled labour to build, install and maintain elevators and escalators.

All that construction also requires hoist devices to carry materials and workers up and down.

The College’s large Elevating Devices Mechanics Lab is equipped with three working elevators, an escalator, accessibility lifts and elevator controls. Much of the equipment has been donated by industry partners. Students in the program also have access to electrical, electronics and hydraulics labs.

Graduates are being trained to work in the maintenance and repair sector, as well as for elevator and parts manufacturers and installation companies. The program can also lead to sales or inspection jobs.

Annually, more than 100 post-secondary students and apprentices are studying through Mohawk College’s elevating devices programs.

Bennink, who came to Mohawk College about five years ago after a 23-year career in the industry, says elevators are sophisticated devices that rely on computer controls and electronics.

“I usually say most elevator mechanics do more complicated electrical work than about 50 per cent of the electricians out there. And it’s work that people rely on for their safety.”

Bennink says there are great careers, locally, nationally and internationally, to be found in the elevator industry.

“I don’t know anybody who has left the trade after becoming fully licensed. There is a high retention rate and six-figure in salaries. For me, it’s been a great career. It gave me variety, challenges to solve and the ability to work on my own and earn at a high level.”

With the program being so new, survey data about post-graduate employment is limited, but Bennink says he’s learned through conversations with students that roughly half of them secure jobs with regional companies before they even graduate.

Finlay Rae, who graduated from Mohawk’s Elevating Devices Mechanic diploma program in April 2023, now works as an apprentice with Delta Elevator, covering the territory from Brantford to Windsor.

Like many, Rae, 20, was hired before finishing his diploma. He says he knew in high school that he wanted to work in trades.

“I was better with my hands and at thinking more mechanically,” he says. One of his guidance counsellors had taught someone who became an elevator mechanic and when Rae looked into it, he was interested.

“You get to do something different every day and there is so much to learn.”

Mohawk College is helping to address a huge industry need.

Recent government employment data projected as many as 700 job openings in the elevating devices field from 2021 to 2025 — just in Ontario — with half of those being new positions.

A 2018 provincial taskforce report determined a shortage of mechanics is leading to poor maintenance and long elevator outages. Just one in five elevators in the province met all safety requirements.

As well, provincial legislation now requires that elevators return to service within 14 days, and within seven days in long-term care facilities and seniors’ residences.

“Elevators are definitely an important mode of transportation. And I think we're so used to elevators that we forget they are a mode of transportation just like a car, and they need to be maintained,” says Melissa Brosnan, a second-semester Elevating Devices Mechanic student.

Melissa Brosnan reviews schematics as she services one of the lab's elevators.

“They need to be running, and they need to be fixed on time because people depend on them. When an elevator breaks, people still need to go up and down. So it's definitely a very, very important trade.”

Brosnan is immersed in learning the basics and theory behind elevators and their maintenance and repair. It’s a fascinating career change for Brosnan, who had been working as a funeral director for a little more than 10 years.

“It’s a big change but it’s an exciting one. It's definitely challenging, but I'm learning a lot and gaining valuable experience.”

Brosnan says she was drawn to the program because of the job opportunities in the field, driven by looming mass retirements.

“There are so many places to grow, whether you're working in the field, or you're selling or inspecting, even consulting, so I thought it was a good opportunity to get an education in a field that’s seeing growth and development.”

After deciding she wanted to pursue a trade, Brosnan did research, talking to people working in different fields, including a friend working on elevators. She found out about Mohawk College’s program and applied at the last minute. She makes the trip in each day from Toronto.

“The trade is booming right now and it's a good time to get into it."

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Clockwise from top left: Tyler Thiem, student; Evan Weidner, student; Tyler Sowden, Technologist; Noey Dang, student;  Irene Amog, Professor, Building and Construction Technology and Engineering  Technology; Oscar Padron-Janica, student.  

The Construction Materials Lab is the first post-secondary institution in Canada approved by the Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories to test aggregate used in a wide range of infrastructure applications.

This past fall, Mohawk College became the first post-secondary institution in Canada to be certified for testing of aggregates used widely in the building and construction industry for asphalt and concrete designs. 

The College’s Construction Materials Laboratory, located at the Fennell campus, was certified by the Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories (CCIL). CCIL, a non-profit organization representing independent, private-sector testing laboratories in Canada, offers the largest laboratory certification program in the country. 

The lab is used for both applied research projects within the construction industry, as well as teaching in the Civil Engineering Technology, Civil Engineering Technician, Architectural Technology, Architectural Technician and Transportation Technology programs. 

This certification means the college has met the standardization and interlaboratory testing requirements of the CCIL Aggregate Laboratory Certification program and is qualified to perform six tests under Aggregate Quality Control Laboratories (Type C) and five tests under Aggregate Physical Property Tests (Type D). 

Irene Amog, a faculty member in the college’s School of Engineering Technology and Aviation, led the certification process along with Tyler Sowden, the technologist for the college’s Building and Construction Sciences program. 

Preparation for the certification process was time-consuming and very detailed, says Sowden. It required proving the lab could complete all the tests, that its equipment worked within the specifications that are required in the industry and that all the necessary calibrations and maintenance is being performed on the equipment. 

The lab also had to produce a quality manual that documents the step-by-step handling and reporting of the materials, along with a maintenance manual showing the calibrations and logs for each piece of equipment. Amog and Sowden had to prove their ability, through written and hands-on tests, to perform and teach the testing methods. 

The lab will be audited every two years to maintain its certification, but all the time and effort is worth it, say Amog and Sowden. 

There is a growing demand in Ontario for applied research expertise in aggregate materials testing and applied research. 

The lab’s certification benefits students, who get hands-on training and the chance to be certified in industry testing – an advantage in the construction sector – but it also benefits industry partners who get the credibility of third-party testing of new materials. 

Amog, who has more than 25 years of experience in testing and quality control in the construction materials industry, says Mohawk College’s primary goal in seeking certification was to provide students the opportunity to get certified. 

“I come from industry and trying to get new employees certified, especially students who often only work for consultants and contractors for a short period of time, was really difficult.” 

The testing work exposes students to new materials in a practical way, says Sowden. 

Students Tyler Thiem and Oscar Padron-Janica weigh and test the specific gravity of aggregate samples.

“Unlike other schools, we’re able to offer our students hands-on training, rather than just watching demonstrations, or scaled-down simulations. Our students get the feel of doing actual full-scale material testing procedures and have the ability to work with the equipment.” 

Providing third-party testing supports applied research projects for industry partners, says McIsaac. 

“Hamilton and our surrounding communities are recognized as a hub of innovation for the aggregate industry. As the first and only college in Canada to have been certified, we now can offer the industry the talent and expertise they need.” 

The 3,500-square-foot lab, located at Mohawk’s Fennell campus, includes equipment to wash materials, sieve sets to grade materials into specific sizes using mechanical shakers, and ovens that can dry up to five kilograms of material at a time. 

Three students in the Civil Engineering Technologist program have now achieved the certification. They have been integral to a partnership with aggregate giant Lafarge Canada to test recycled granular material for its compaction, durability and performance in road construction compared to newly extracted natural material. 

“I'm amazed as to how quickly our students were able to learn the proper procedures and put a system together to test all the research samples,” Amog says of the students who achieved top marks on the certification exam. 

Amog says that if testing can prove that recycled material is equal to or better than virgin aggregate in meeting industry specifications, it will cut maintenance needs, reducing costs, improving safety and providing environmental benefits. 

Recycled aggregate has carried a stigma in the industry because it used to contain other construction materials such as lumber, steel slag and even other foreign material that undermined its performance. 

While recycled material has been used on 400-series highways overseen by the Ministry of Transportation, many municipalities have been reluctant to adopt the materials, says Amog. 

“Lafarge wants to have credible third-party testing data showing this material passes all the requirements.” 

Students Evan Weidner and Noey Dang load fine aggregate into a rotary sifter to perform a sieve analysis.

Fifth-semester Civil Engineering Technology students Tyler Thiem, Oscar Padron-Janica and Evan Weidner work within the Construction Materials Lab and have all earned CCIL certification. 

Each is scheduled to graduate in December after a co-op term and final school semester. They all say the testing certification will help them stand out for jobs. 

“I value this lab experience because it's more working experience on top of the co-op itself,” says Thiem. “I was eager to join this research team because it's another opportunity to further my knowledge in this field.” 

Weidner says working in the lab has given an opportunity to work closely with faculty and to network in the industry. 

“We’ve been able to visit big industrial settings such as the Lafarge plants. Meeting with their managers has opened up new opportunities for networking, to see what's out there in the industry and just get your name out there.” 

Padron-Janica says he’s interested in both the design and materials testing side of civil engineering. The certification has immediately paid off in a summer co-op at Lafarge. 

“Getting the certification, plus that core experience in the lab, has given us a pretty wide angle of expertise. The certification is a huge bonus on our resumés.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Mohawk College shines as college and two of its employees take top honours in 3 of 10 categories at CICan’s annual Awards of Excellence.

Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) announced its 2024 Awards of Excellence recipients, spotlighting innovation and exceptional performance within our pan-Canadian community and Mohawk College and two of its employees came away big winners. 

Among the gold medal recipients were CityLAB Hamilton and Mohawk College, who took top spot in the Program Excellence Category, and staff members Tara-Lyn Dinyer and Greg Gagnon, who earned gold in the Leadership Excellence for Faculty and Leadership Excellence for Non-Managerial Staff categories, respectively. 

CICan’s Awards of Excellence celebrate a select group of member institutions and individuals each year for their exceptional achievements within Canada’s largest post-secondary network. These awards honour those who exceed expectations in key areas vital to Canada’s social, cultural, and economic prosperity. 

Program Excellence Award 
Gold: CityLAB Hamilton, Mohawk College 

The Program Excellence Award recognizes programs across Canada that demonstrate innovation, portability, sustainability and effectiveness. Mohawk College nominated CityLAB Hamilton after seven years of successful collaboration. 

“The national recognition of the City LAB program underscores the significant community-building efforts of our student-led initiatives,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “Our long-standing partnership between the City of Hamilton and Mohawk College is a testament to the great work that can be done when we join forces to build a better Hamilton for today and future generations.” 

Originating as a pilot project in 2017, CityLAB Hamilton is a collaborative innovation program between the City of Hamilton, Mohawk College, McMaster University and Redeemer University. This program unites students, faculty, and civic leaders to develop innovative solutions to city-identified projects that align with the City’s Strategic Priorities. 

CityLAB officially transitioned to a permanent program in 2022 with support from Hamilton City Council. Annually, the CityLAB program engages approximately 450 students in experiential learning projects that meaningfully address civic challenges, yield tangible community benefits and cultivate a long-term sense of civic responsibility. CityLAB projects tackle complex challenges and pioneer new solutions while mentoring and inspiring the next generation of leaders. 

“We are delighted that CityLAB Hamilton has received this national recognition,” said Dr. Cebert Adamson, VP, Academic, Mohawk College. “We are proud that Mohawk College students and staff are involved in the innovative projects being done through CityLAB, and we are proud to share the story of our collective success with other Canadian colleges by way of our nomination. One of the criteria for this award is a program’s ability to be replicated in other regions. This recognition shines the spotlight on another innovative Hamilton collaboration that may be replicated across the country.” 

"This award highlights the strength of our CityLAB partnerships and celebrates our commitment to innovation and student engagement," said Marnie Cluckie, City Manager. "It's a proud moment for all involved, showcasing how collaboration can address real-world challenges and strengthen our community." 

Experiential learning through CityLAB allows students to explore careers of interest while developing transferable interpersonal skills and work habits that will benefit them in the future. 

The City of Hamilton and Mohawk College value the ongoing partnership created through CityLAB Hamilton and look forward to continued collaborative successes. 

Leadership Excellence Award for Faculty 
Gold: Tara-Lyn Dinyer, Mohawk College 

Leadership Excellence Award for Non-Managerial Staff 
Gold: Greg Gagnon, Mohawk College 

Dinyer, program coordinator for the college’s School of Health and Community Services, is a remarkable educator who inspires everyone she meets. She has developed innovative teaching solutions and created unique partnership opportunities in the Health, Wellness, and Fitness industry. She is the creator and organizer of an experiential learning opportunity called Fit to Pitch, she has inspired students to start their own businesses and she has built strong connections with industry at the same time. Now entering its 8th year, the competition has become a signature event at the college. 

Gagnon, a technician with Mohawk College’s Accessible Learning Services, has a reputation for going above and beyond to ensure students with accessibility needs have what they need to succeed. Throughout this time, he has strongly advocated for accessibility at the college and across the broader postsecondary community. Greg has profoundly impacted the lives of the many students who rely on the services and support he provides to succeed and thrive in their post-secondary journey. 

“Congratulations to Tara-Lyn and Greg. This is an impressive achievement and a proud moment for our college,” said Mohawk College President and CEO Ron J. McKerlie. “These honours demonstrate their incredible commitment to Mohawk College students and their college experience.” 

Click here for a full listing of 2024 CICan Awards of Excellence Recipients . 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

From Left to Right: Tim Clement, Automotive Shop Technologist; Kristy Hurley, Program Manager; Bob Brown, Motive Power 2^nd Year Program Coordinator and Automotive Professor; Rebecca Isowa, Associate Dean, Electrical, Transportation and Innovation; Chris Pinard, Automotive Service Technician Program Coordinator and Automotive Professor; Bryan Ledgerwood, Manager, Early College Initiatives.

The Electric Vehicle and Smart  Mobility Lab will train next-generation automotive service  technicians and support research.

A  revolution is underway in the way we drive and Mohawk College is stepping up to ensure the workforce is in place to serve 
that future.

The federal government has mandated that all new vehicles sold by 2035 must be zero-emission. Meeting that target will require a massive shift in skills within the automotive industry. 

Mohawk College’s Electric Vehicle and Smart Mobility Lab is meant to directly tackle that challenge.

“The lab exists to provide education and training to automotive professionals that enables them to work on these new vehicles,” says Rebecca Isowa, Associate Dean – Electrical, Transportation & Innovation. 

The EV and Smart Mobility Lab is currently offering an Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Service micro-credential, which is an upskilling course that provides current licensed Automotive Service Technicians with the specialized skills required for the service, repair, and maintenance of electric and hybrid vehicles. This micro-credential is one of the first of its kind in the region, with funding from the Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) in collaboration with BCIT. 

As of March 31, nearly 100 licensed automotive service technicians have completed the training and acquired the skills necessary to support the transition to a zero-emission future. 

The micro-credential covers high-voltage safety procedures, high-voltage vehicles, battery systems, motors, inverters and control systems, charging systems, hybrid and electric powertrains and HVAC systems specific to high-voltage vehicles.

“The face of automotive technology is constantly changing,” said Kristy Hurley, Program Manager at the Marshall School of Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship at Mohawk College. “It’s evolving rapidly now with the introduction of electric and hybrid vehicles, hydrogen technology and alternative fuels.” 

All the work underway on the electric vehicle (EV) front supports Mohawk College’s strategic commitment to make a measurable impact on 
climate change. 

“We are focused on greening the trades,” says Isowa. “That can only happen through the intersection of technology and the people who will work in the industry.”

Hurley says future micro-credentials are being created in hydrogen fuel cells, battery repair, EV diagnostics, wind turbine, and advanced driver assistance systems, among others. There are also plans for consumer-facing EV micro-credentials.

“That is alongside a comprehensive upgrade to the Automotive Service Technician curriculum to embed EV and hybrid technology into the education and training of postsecondary students and apprentices.” 

There are also enormous opportunities in rolling out EV training in Mohawk College’s Truck and Coach Technician program and plans are also underway for a space dedicated to applied research in battery 
research and repair. 

Electrification will impact all manner of mobility – vehicles, trains, boats, farm and construction equipment – but it also requires entirely new infrastructure to power it. 

“It will be nice to have a million EVs on the road, but how are we going to charge them and will the grid support them?” says Isowa. 

“We are also actively engaged in education and training for upskilling of tradespeople like electricians and others from the construction side. This is a monumental shift in the technology and the infrastructure needed to support it to make sure it’s successful. We are developing programs to lead to careers that don’t even exist yet.”

Significant infrastructure investment

Mohawk College has made a significant investment in its Electric Vehicle and Smart Mobility Lab, which includes vehicles, trainers, and specialized high-voltage EV tooling systems. 

“We have an enormous space for our lab,” says Chris Pinard, Program Coordinator and faculty member in the Automotive Service Technician program, and a developer of the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Service micro-credential. 

“We have four working bays with hoists and  lots of extra space to park vehicles as well as fully functional charging infrastructure. We also have a dynamometer on which we can drive an electric vehicle in class and scope and watch in  real-time what’s going on in the inverters.” 

Automotive Professor Bob Brown, and students Paul Vandervelde and Patrick Bareuther analyze live data from a vehicle on the lab's dynamometer.

There is also an embedded classroom in the middle of this entire shop, along with a bay dedicated to advanced driver assistance systems that include sensors and cameras. 

“The technology is new, but in many ways electric vehicles are less complex than an internal combustion engine vehicle, which is a huge bonus, but they are far more dangerous to work on in terms of working on high voltage. Automotive technicians have always worked on electrical systems, but now they’re working with 400 volts instead of 12 volts, so the safety component is critical.” 

Wearing special electric safety gloves, Licensed Automotive Service Technicians Zach Vermeer, Matt Pazzi and Tate Morgan work on a an EV battery under the watchful eye of Automotive Professor Chris Pinard.

With a focus on safety, the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Service micro-credential includes a six-hour module completed before coming to the lab for 30 hours of hands-on work. Pinard says discussions have begun around a second level EV micro-credential, which will focus on diagnostics, powertrain, and HVAC systems. 

There is some fear of the unknown among licensed automotive technicians when it comes to electric vehicles, says Cavan Cook, who worked with Pinard to co-develop the current micro-credential and helped with planning and implementation of the lab space.

That can easily be overcome with training, he says. “It’s no different than anything; as soon as you get comfortable with it, you realize there’s nothing magical when you open up the hood. It looks like a bunch of wizardry, but when you start to dissect it, piece by piece, it’s just a power here and a ground here. It’s no different than a 12-volt battery.”

Cook is the owner of Wired Auto Works in Smithville, a shop that handles EV diagnostics, repairs, and after-market module programming, along with traditional mechanical repairs.

“When it comes to EVs at our shop, it’s more just making customers know that these cars can be taken apart, and fixed, just like it was before.”

Licensed Automotive Service Technicians Matt Pazzi and Paul Vandervelde train on servicing an electric vehicle battery.

Ahead of the curve 

During this time of transition, there is also an aging of the existing workforce and a growing shortage of licensed automotive technicians.

Mohawk College is working to address that challenge with its Put Your Future in Motion program. The initiative, launched in spring 2023, is designed to introduce elementary and secondary school students to in-demand careers in automotive and smart mobility. 

The program was supported through funding from the provincial government through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network’s Regional Future Workforce Program.

Put Your Future in Motion, which connected with more than 1,000 students in its first nine months, included a summer camp for grades 7 to 9 students, and skills-building and awareness activities to help grades 5 to 12 students explore career opportunities in the automotive field.

The program also partnered with Techsploration, a Nova Scotia based not-for-profit that aims to connect young women and gender-diverse youth to opportunities to participate in life-changing career exploration programs that actively highlight employers committed to creating a more diverse, skilled workforce. A total of 70 grade 9 youth participated and were connected with role models and employers in the automotive skilled trades and technology industries for a week-long mentorship. 

“I think Mohawk College is ahead of the curve in electric vehicles,” says Mike Tipert, Service Manager at Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC. He sits on the program advisory committee for the college’s Motive Power Technician program, which he also graduated from. 

Tipert supports all efforts to draw more people into the automotive field. He has hosted a Put Your Future in Motion event along with partner dealerships and his shop currently employs seven co-op students from both school boards, including three going into a Level 1 Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program at Mohawk College.

Of the 13 technicians and five apprentices at Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC, five are EV- certified and three more will be by June.

“Technicians have to be critical thinkers now. They have to be hands-on with computers. All the diagnostics are done through computers. It’s different than it used to be, there are still the mechanical repairs that have to happen, but EVs require a different breed of technician.”

The change is like nothing the industry has seen before, says Tipert. “Drastic changes are coming at us very quickly and that’s where the technical training is so critical.” 

The Mohawk College difference 

Mohawk College will be contributing to research in batteries, battery storage and alternative fuels such as hydrogen and clean-burning fossil fuels, because there is no one single, worldwide solution to the climate change crisis, says David Santi, Dean, Marshall School of Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship.

Ultimately, Santi wants graduates of Mohawk College to stand out by how they think about climate change and the environment, how they think about equity, diversity, and inclusion, and how they think about Indigenous knowledge and how it can be used in the context of climate and environment.

“I want a waiting list of people committed to this who want to get into our school. And it doesn’t matter if you’re in the health sciences area, engineering, skilled trades, business… everything you do here will be built around this because this is a huge societal problem that we have and it will take all of us to get together to face it.”

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Civil Engineering Technology student, Frankie Colombe is completing his final semester at Mohawk College before moving to Queen’s University to complete his Engineering degree. 

Civil Engineering Technology student among first to take advantage of a new precedent- setting pathway between Mohawk College and Queen’s University 

For some students, their post-secondary journey is direct and simple. For others, it’s more of a journey and may involve multiple layers of study and credentials, perhaps even at different institutions. 

Pathways recognize, simplify, and enhance that winding road. 

Mohawk College has over 30 articulation agreements with Ontario institutions and more than 200 pathways overall, which allow students to transfer into programs at other post-secondary institutions – both domestic and international – and receive credit for courses completed at the College. 

Most programs offered at Mohawk College also have Internal Pathways, which show how the program can lead to future credential choices, including graduate and professional studies, without having to repeat prior learning. 

A total of 148 Mohawk College students utilized external pathways during the 2022-23 academic year, including Frankie Colombe, who is one of the first students taking advantage of a new precedent-setting diploma-to-degree pathway with Queen’s University. 

The new pathway, Engineering Bridge, sees graduates of Mohawk College’s Civil Engineering Technology program heading to Queen’s University, in the Department of Civil Engineering at Smith Engineering. The Kingston-based university’s engineering program is considered one of the best in Canada. 

“The concept around engineering technology diploma transfer to accredited engineering degrees has never been explored from a pathways perspective in Ontario, so this is ground-breaking,” says Janet Shuh, Dean, Continuing Education and Academic Development. She oversees the pathways portfolio and articulation agreements at the College. 

The bridge is open to Engineering Technology graduates or students who have completed three or more semesters of their program. 

Developing this multi-institution pathway not only involved much collaboration between Mohawk College, Queen’s University, and other provincial colleges, but also required the review and approval of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) who accredit professional engineering degrees in Canada.

Colombe is in the midst of completing his last semester of Civil Engineering Technology at Mohawk College, along with his second transition course through Queen’s, to get him ready for full-time degree studies. 

Once he’s finished in April, he will move to Kingston to start a full-course load in the summer on his way to a Queen’s degree. Altogether, he will earn an advanced diploma and a degree in five years. 

Colombe says when he learned about the types of jobs available to him in his field, he decided he wanted to expand his learning to advance his career options. His program coordinator, Rocco Carbone, suggested the bridge option. 

This pathway is attractive, says Colombe, because it will get him into a job faster. 

Colombe isn’t sure what he wants to do after graduation but he’s leaning towards infrastructure work at the government level. He hopes his degree from Queen’s will differentiate him as a job candidate. 

“The benefit to students is really huge, because they're entering into not only a highly reputable engineering school, but also a path to securing a professionally accredited degree,” says Shuh. “Then they can write their professional engineering exams after they've completed their studies and secured the professional experience necessary.” 

Part of Queen’s motivation in developing this pathway with Mohawk College is to provide increased access to underrepresented groups, including, but not limited to, Indigenous, mature, and first-generation post-secondary students, says Shuh. 

The development of this pathway was funded by the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) and Shuh says other colleges and universities are exploring engineering pathway agreements. 

“There are a lot of economies of scale and a lot more positive impacts on students, if it's happening at a sector-level versus one-off institutional agreements. ONCAT would like a future state where these pathways are available to all colleges and universities with specific programs to make that bridge province wide. So that's why this particular engineering pathways project has received quite a bit of funding from ONCAT, to facilitate that objective and open opportunities to more students.”

Smoothing the path 

Pathway agreements allow for a much smoother transition than if students were directly applying to a university for advanced standing themselves, says Pathways Coordinator Natasha Moledina. 

“Instead of having to collect course outlines, learning outcomes, and all their other information to then go to the university where they must assess every single credit transfer, with an established agreement, all of that is already sorted out. It’s already laid out how courses at Mohawk College will be applied toward their degree program.” 

In most cases, a pathway requires a minimum program average and some universities require a letter of recommendation for an applicant. 

Educational pathways allow students to complete a diploma and then degree in a condensed timeframe. In the case of two-plus-two agreements, students complete a Mohawk College diploma in two years and then enter the third year of a four-year degree program at a pathway partner institution. That saves money and lets students move to employment or further education in a faster timeframe. 

“It also allows students to get the best of both worlds—a college education and a university education. Specifically, students get the benefits of hands-on learning, placement or co-ops, and smaller class sizes before they head off to university,” says Shuh. 

The College continues to build new pathways, and has new ones in place with McMaster University, Laurier University, Brock University, and Queen’s University. 

It’s all governed by the Pathways & Credit Transfer department, which helps students understand the options available as they discover new interests and aspirations through their educational journey into, within, and beyond Mohawk College. 

The Pathways office also supports academic and program areas in developing pathways and participates in provincial-level transfer projects and initiatives to enhance student mobility between, and within, colleges and universities in Ontario, nationally, and abroad. 

In some cases, says Moledina, institutions approach Mohawk College with a proposed pathway and in others, the College pursues arrangements in highly sought-after programs or where there is an existing partnership with a university. 

“There's a real connectivity within the community of post-secondary institutions in Canada, I would say, particularly in Ontario, where there's lots of partnership opportunities and program opportunities for collaborations,” says Shuh. 

“We also work very collaboratively with Mohawk College International, where we are working with an international post-secondary partner.” 

Establishing pathways is an exacting, collaborative, and complex process that has to be aligned to the protocols and policies of both the sending and receiving institutions. Every course in the program has to be evaluated to confirm how they line up to the degree requirements of the university.

Students explore booths at Mohawk College's Educational Pathways Fair.

Educational Pathways Fair showcases breadth of options 

Each year in mid-January, Mohawk College hosts the Educational Pathways Fair, which features more than 35 institutions, from Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, and abroad. Students are able to get their questions answered regarding credit transfer, admissions, and deadlines. This year, more than 400 students attended. 

This annual pathways event is an important recruitment and marketing tool for various programs at Mohawk College as well as other post-secondary institutions, says Shuh. 

“Definitely students should take advantage of the Fair because they can make connections with many different institutions at one time. Further, students can access recruitment and pathway specialists who are prepared to answer questions they may have around program admissibility and admission.”

More than 400 students attended the fair which featured 35 different institutions.

Other pathway options

Other newer pathways include a bridge between Mohawk College’s Business Administration – Accounting or Business – Accounting programs and the accredited accounting program at Brock University. It was formally established in 2022. A student leaving Mohawk College with a two-year diploma is granted credit for one full year or two semesters at Brock, and a student leaving with a three-year diploma is granted one and a half years or three semesters. 

The accounting pathway allows students to choose a co-op option on their way to earning the credential necessary for a chartered professional accountant (CPA) designation. 

Another innovative pathway is that between Mohawk College, Laurier University and McMaster University that sees two-year General Arts and Science students advance to the third year of an Indigenous Studies degree at McMaster or Laurier. 

One of the longest standing pathways is the Mohawk College to McMaster University Bachelor of Technology partnership. The degree completion program provides an opportunity for students who have completed an advanced three-year Technology diploma with a minimum cumulative GPA of 75 per cent to then complete a degree in business management.

Degree completion requires finishing 24 courses, including seven management courses. All courses are offered during evenings and Saturdays at McMaster University or online.

There are also pathways that lead from the Biotechnology Advanced Diploma program at Mohawk College to enrollment in year three of the four-year Bachelor of Technology – Biotechnology program at McMaster, and from Mohawk College’s Child and Youth Care program (CYC) to advanced standing in the Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Studies program at Brock University.

Certain pathways also see Mohawk College acting as the receiving institution. For instance, Communications Studies students at Brock University can come to Mohawk College for its post-graduate certificate in Public Relations during their third year. Brock recognizes that year as part of a three-year degree.

“As the College expands our own degree offerings, then we'll want to be looking at new pathways, both internally and from other institutions into our degrees,” says Shuh.

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Instructor Darren Hyland (black shirt) along with Construction Engineering Technician – Building Renovation program students Jeron Melville, Jack Donald and Han Shao.

Students in Mohawk College’s Construction Engineering Technician – Building Renovation program have spent two semesters making two CityHousing Hamilton townhouses fit for new tenants. 

Mohawk College and CityHousing Hamilton have once again partnered on a project that is renovating city-owned units to allow for move in by people in need of affordable housing. 

The program’s students began work on two townhouse units on the west Mountain in the first week of October. 

Once complete, the newly remodeled units will see families on the CityHousing waiting list get the safe and affordable housing they need. 

The 65 students, in their final year of the Construction Engineering Technician – Building Renovation program, split their time between their shop and lab at the Marshall School of Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship at the Stoney Creek Campus for Skilled Trades. 

The students are required to finish 112 hours of hands-on work to complete their two-year program. 

These real-life projects give the students an opportunity to work in a environment where floors aren’t quite level, door frames are not straight and they have to work within a timeline and budget. 

“What better way is there to get them on the tools in a real-life situation?” says Mohawk College faculty member Darren Hyland, who teaches the third-semester Building and Renovation - Practical course. 

“They get all the experience of a job site and learn what it's  like dealing with clients.” 

The students have done everything from taking the lead on inspecting the property and assessing the work to be done to demolition of kitchens and bathrooms to installing flooring, drywall, baseboards and cabinets, and painting. 

Mohawk College received federal funding from the Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative and the Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) iHUB to support the partnership with CityHousing. The funds supply the students with CSA safety boots, high-visibility long-sleeve shirts, construction safety glasses, dexterity gloves, hearing protection, and N95 respirators. 

“There is a great feeling of satisfaction with this and the students understand it too,” says Hyland. “Families in need will live here soon.” 

Joewayne Watson is working in the three-bedroom unit. He had been working as a personal support worker when he decided to build on some experience in the renovation sector by returning to Mohawk College. 

Joewayne Watson, Student, repairs a damaged wall in one of the units.

Students complete a daily journal entry that includes before and after photos, how the team worked together, and what comes next. Instructors also evaluate specific tasks. 

Andres Orjuela is working at a four-bedroom unit a few doors down. 

He is an international student from Colombia who has a background in industrial design and was attracted by the structure of the program. 

Andres Orjuela, Student, prepares a to install hardware on a newly installed door.

“Seeing the final results here will be awesome. I know people who have lived in affordable housing, so it feels good to give good units to someone who really needs it.” 

CityHousing is the largest provider of social housing in Hamilton, managing 1,100 properties and 6,974 units that house more than 13,000 tenants across the city. 

There is a backlog  of vacant units in need of repair, says Brian Kinaschuk, head of the maintenance unit at CityHousing. Budget restrictions, the City’s procurement process, and the state of disrepair in some of the units makes it difficult to address the backlog even during a time when the wait list is thousands deep. 

The partnership with Mohawk College, and another with Habitat for Humanity that sees high school students working on units, allows CityHousing to get units back out for rent faster than it could otherwise, Kinaschuk says. 

“Mohawk College is an important part of the solution,” he says. “The partnership is valuable to our community because tenants can get into these units more quickly and also for the students because they get hands-on learning.” 

Since 2009, Building Renovation Program students have worked on projects with several local organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Indwell, Delta United Church, Christian Horizons, and Kiwanis. 

The CityHousing partnership comes out of CityLAB Hamilton, an innovation hub that brings together students and academic and civic leaders to co-create a better Hamilton. Mohawk College is a partner in CityLAB, along with the City of Hamilton, McMaster University, and Redeemer University. 

CityLAB matches students and faculty with City staff to develop innovative solutions to city-identified projects that align with the City’s strategic priorities. That includes transit, climate change, housing, cycling infrastructure and green spaces. 

Since it was founded in 2017, CityLAB has undertaken 220 projects, involving 3,122 students – including 1,449 students from Mohawk College. Those students have amassed more than 32,500 hours.  

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

In this first of a series, Momentum invites a Mohawk College alumnus to speak with a current student in the same program to share advice, wisdom, and understanding of how things change and how they stay the same. In this kickoff Q&A, and in celebration of 50 years of nursing at Mohawk College, 1970 Nursing graduate Jan Brimer speaks with Practical Nursing student Jess Mills, who finished her program in December. She has been hired at Joseph Brant Hospital to work in complex and palliative care.

What has been your path to nursing?

Jan Brimer: I graduated in 1970 from the Hamilton and District School of Nursing (HADSON). That was just before the colleges got involved and took over the nursing programs in 1973 and four local nursing schools became part of Mohawk. I was strongly influenced by my grandmother who was a nurse here in 1918, during the Spanish Flu epidemic. I was fascinated by her stories. I don’t remember deciding to go into nursing, I feel I was born to be a nurse. I worked for 20 years full time and part time at Joseph Brant Hospital before cutbacks came along and I shifted to home care. I retired about five years ago but I still carry my licence and I still do consultations and private visits for a local pharmacy.

Jess Mills: I am a mom of five and I live in Grimsby. I did a Pre-Health upgrade program in 2021 before going into Nursing. High school me said, ‘Who needs science?’ Turns out I did. I have wanted to be a nurse since I was 18 (my grandmother was also a nurse) but I started my family young and I wasn’t able to go back to school until now. I’m not sure how I did it, especially since I was studying online while trying to homeschool some of my kids during COVID, but I blinked and here I am. I just want to be a help to people.

Jess to Jan: When you first started out, what did a day in the life look like?

When I was really new, I was responsible for six or seven patients a day on the short-stay surgery ward. So many of those surgeries are day surgeries today. One of the big differences today is that drugs are administered through IV pumps. When I was starting out, nurses didn’t do intravenous, so we were giving analgesics intramuscularly (needles). It was time-consuming to deliver that way but I prided myself on the fact that patients didn’t feel it too much. Also, we worked eight-hour shifts, first seven days in a row, with two days off, and then five days in a row with four days off. We didn’t have 12-hours shifts like today.

Nurses are now thought of as part of the team but when I was starting out, there was a huge gap between doctors and nurses. Now nurses get the respect they deserve.

Jan to Jess: What has been your most challenging experience so far?

The confidence on placements to ask questions of the doctors and the seasoned nurses. They are rocking their jobs and it’s intimidating as a brand-new nursing student to talk to them. In school, it was the workload and the volume of material to cover in such a short time. Many times, I was up to 2 or 3 a.m. reading and trying to grasp the concepts.

Jess to Jan: When you were first going into nursing, what areas did you want to go into and were there any you never wanted to do?

I didn’t really know what I wanted to do coming out of training but I did know that I didn’t want to do psychiatric nursing. I wasn’t comfortable with that. I loved the surgical ward and the fast turnover there. I just always wanted to do hands-on care.

Jan to Jess: Where do you see your career in five to 10 years?

I know I have found my passion in complex and palliative care. There are so many options in nursing and I do also love mental health work. It’s a difficult but rewarding path there. I do know that I don’t want to be stagnant and stop learning. I see some people who are robots and don’t want to learn new ways of doing things.

Jess to Jan: What has been the hardest thing about nursing?

I never dreamed I would be laid off. It was sudden, devastating and very shocking. I had always been a nurse and I didn’t know what else I would do. I had a couple of odd jobs until a former co-worker got hired for home care and convinced me to apply. Home care staff don’t get enough pay or respect but I took every part-time course at Mohawk College about home care and I found I loved it. So, get experience in hospitals but look at other opportunities, too. There are so many things nurses can do.

Jess to Jan: In a career full of burnout, what’s your advice for a long-lasting career?

If you feel stuck or burned out, go somewhere different or go into something else. Look after yourself. Rely on your colleagues to help you through the tough times. Lean on each other. I still keep in touch with a lot of people I went to school with or who I nursed with early in my career. And make sure you take time to enjoy your family and your time off.

What inspires you about working with patients?

Jess: We see people on their worst day and when they feel their worst. But as a nurse, I am there for them and will do whatever I can to make them feel better. I just think of the patients and their perseverance and I know I can do whatever I have to do, too.

Jan: To see their appreciation at the end. They may not have always liked what you were doing at the time, but they know it was for the best. In palliative, I always just wanted to make it the best it could possibly be for the patient and for the families.

What advice would you give to others considering nursing?

Jess: There is no shame in asking for help when you need it. I was doing my placement at Brantford General Hospital and my child was sick. I had to ask for help. I had to ask for help when I needed a study group. We have to swallow our pride and ask for help. And also, when it’s your passion, you just keep going. I would tell myself it doesn’t matter how much I have to read or write, I’m going to get it done because this is what I want to do.

Jan: Don’t ever stop learning. When I moved to home care, I didn’t like it because I had to work on my own. But I took specialization courses in wound care and I really loved to see patients through their journey from pre-op to post-op and back home again. I did a lot of palliative care, too. And I found that very rewarding. But when I first studied wound care, I felt so intimidated. There was so much I didn’t know. Then I took an ostomy course and that was worse. At that time, I was working and dealing with my kids. But I got through somehow.

What sets a nurse apart in the health care system?

Jess: For me, I have a huge passion for advocating for my patients. Nurses have an ability and drive to advocate because they have the knowledge and spend the time with the patients. If we have to repeatedly go to a doctor or a manager, then we will.

Jan: I was also going to say advocating. In a home care setting, we are always trying to get more services and resources for patients and families at home. It’s always about getting your patients the care they need. If you have to step on some toes or tick someone off, so be it. You have to know how to get what the patient needs. Whether it’s 52 years ago when I graduated or this year when you are, the nurse is at the heart of the system.

50 years of Nursing at Mohawk College

The Mohawk College Nursing program began in 1973 when four schools of nursing – Brantford General School of Nursing, Hamilton Civic Hospitals School of Nursing, St. Joseph School of Nursing and the Hamilton and District School of Nursing (HADSON) – came under the College’s oversight.

That move, initiated across the province by the Ontario government, had the support of the College of Nurses. It reflected the growing belief that nurses would have more professional status and career opportunities with a post-secondary college education.

Those predecessor schools had been training nurses for more than 100 years. Three were directly attached to hospitals, while HADSON was an independent school sponsored by the Hamilton Health Association (formerly the Mountain TB Sanatorium) and was located on the Hamilton Mountain brow.

It was an enormous task to bring those four schools, still operating in their existing locations, into one program, says Rosemary Knechtel, who was teaching at the HADSON school at the time of the transition.

She went on to be Mohawk’s Dean of Health Sciences and Human Services and then Vice President Academic before retiring in 2010 after a 39-year career at the College.

“All of the schools had very good reputations. The programs were rigorous and nurses took a lot of pride in where they had gone to school, so there was a sense of loss and a grieving process at first. But bringing the programs together with Mohawk College meant building on all their strengths to create something new and highly successful.”

In 1978, a newly renovated HADSON facility became home to all of Mohawk College’s Hamilton-based nursing students and was named the Chedoke campus. The Brantford site continued until it was eventually closed.

Faculty and staff from all the predecessor nursing schools established careers at Mohawk College, says Knechtel.

She was a graduate of HADSON and took advantage of a “sandwich” program in which students went to Western University for a year, then to HADSON for two years and then back to Western for a final year. They earned a nursing diploma, along with a bachelor’s of science in nursing.

“It was a very innovative program and there were only a few of them in Ontario at the time,” says Knechtel, who went on to earn a master’s degree at McMaster University.

The merger of the four schools into Mohawk College built on their great programs and paved the way for what came later, including a problem-based curriculum, new programs in Practical Nursing and Personal Support Worker, a Practical Nursing partnership with Six Nations Polytechnic, and a great deal of global outreach to improve nursing programs.

It also laid the foundation for a partnership with McMaster University on a Nursing degree program – the first in Ontario – and a new joint facility in the Institute for Applied Health Sciences that is home to Mohawk’s nursing programs, says Knechtel.

“It has been a very deep and productive relationship between McMaster and Mohawk and it’s been a model for others,” she says.

“The Nursing programs at Mohawk College are well recognized and so respected for graduates who provide top-notch care because they were founded on these strong predecessor schools, the enthusiastic support of Mohawk College and later on the partnership with McMaster University in 2001.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Digital Health degree combines computer science, health care and business into one integrated discipline.

Oluwafemi Agbeye is among the first cohort of students in Mohawk College’s multidisciplinary Digital Health degree program, the College’s first standalone degree.

That group is now about half-way through the four-year program, while another cohort is finishing its first year. It combines computer science, health care and business and integrates research, applied learning and placements.

All those threads interest Agbeye.

He works as a support worker for people with developmental delays, sometimes working full-time hours. But he also loves to program and code and has his eye on one day managing a health care business that develops software.

Digital health is a broad field, encompassing everything from analyzing the data that helps clinicians make better treatment decisions to electronic health records to virtual patient visits to remote patient monitoring.

Right now, the concept of digital health and what those skills mean isn’t generally known but Agbeye is confident that his skillset will be in high demand.

Originally from Nigeria, Agbeye studied anatomical sciences and then computer science in Caracas for two years before deciding to move to Canada.

He started a personal support worker course in Toronto but then decided he should capitalize on his computer skills. He came to Mohawk College to study Software Development.

“When Digital Health was introduced, it really offered everything I was looking for, so I crossed over. I want a career that combines health care and IT.”

The program is challenging, says Agbeye, “but all of that comes with benefits. Knowledge comes from the challenge.”

Alongside courses in software development, mobile development and user interface design comes anatomy and physiology, patient safety and risk management, statistics, data analytics, telehealth, digital imaging, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship and project management.

“This is a demanding program with a robust workload,” says Varrasso. “It combines a higher-level theoretical understanding with the hands-on applied learning we’re known for at Mohawk College.”

“Student feedback is outstanding. They love the program.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Analytics for Business Decision Making, a one-year post-graduate certificate, helps mid-career professionals learn the tools and skills of data.

A second cohort of students is finishing a one-year post-graduate certificate focused on Analytics for Business Decision Making.

The certificate offers executive course delivery in afternoons and evenings, with a mix of face-to-face, self-directed, and live online courses.

It requires no prior programming or statistics experience and develops skills that are applicable to any industry.

Students work with real businesses individually and in teams to develop insights from their data.

Anand Nair says the program offers a solid grounding in industrial tools that aid in business decision-making through data modelling and structuring streams of data, along with how to communicate data analytics with colleagues and supervisors and the basics of programming in multiple languages.

He has a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA in finance and worked in mergers and acquisitions for three years in his native India.

“I decided that data analytics would be a good extension for me. Only a few colleges in Canada offer analytics for business decision-making programs like this one. I felt the faculty and the industry experience was great at Mohawk.”

His classmates come from diverse backgrounds, have a range of industry experience and come from around the world.

Mergers and acquisitions are all about numbers in balance sheets and profit and loss statements. Using data analytics adds a huge advantage.

“Predictive modelling is most fascinating for me. Using data to predict future trends is mind-boggling to me,” he says.

Nair anticipates he’ll work in finance but is also interested in marketing.

“Data can help us predict the human mindset.”

Anh Nguyen is in the program to build her skillset within her human resources field.

“I realized that data analytics is a necessary skill because HR policies need to be backed up with data so they are of the most benefit.”

Nguyen, who has worked in the banking field in her native Vietnam, says data has to be used to answer questions.

“Without answering questions, the data is useless. The first semester is about the technical tools and the second semester has a focus on answering business questions and how to tell the story of the data.”

Nguyen says she chose Mohawk’s graduate certification program because it’s highly practical, hands-on and project-based.

“It’s an intense workload but there so much demand for this knowledge in so many fields. It’s a perfect blend of technical, business and communication skills.”

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Cross-country runner Matias Tessel and basketball guard Stefan Anisko balanced varsity athletics with their studies in Aviation.

Two Aviation Maintenance students made big contributions this past season as Mohawk Mountaineers varsity athletes.

Cross-country athlete Matias Tessel has qualified two years in a row for the national championships and was named both seasons to the all-Ontario second team. In 2021, the team finished with a bronze in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and last year, finished fifth in the OCAA.

Tessel only began running cross-country three years ago when he decided in 2020 to transfer to Mohawk College. For the two previous years, he had been a sprinter at Wilfrid Laurier University.

“It is a different type of training to go from sprinting to cross-country. The transition was difficult at first and I got injured from over-training. I’m a very competitive person and I just went too hard.”

Tessel, who is from Guelph, says he had to adjust to committing more time to training each week.

“We run 8 kilometres. We do hills and forests, generally in a 2-kilometre loop. That requires building endurance and strength.”

It’s tough to balance varsity athletics with an intense, hands-on program, but Tessel says he managed through concentrating on time management. That included studying ahead, waking up early to run in the morning or squeezing a run in on his lunch break.

Tessel, who is captain of his team, is a “valuable teammate and a very important part of this department,” says Athletics Director Matt Ferreira.

The team of six men and four women trains year-round under coach David Hopton, who coaches triathletes at McMaster University. There is a new high-performance focus in an effort to become one of the elite cross-country schools in the country.

Stefan Anisko, a first-year Mountaineer basketball player, loves the hands-on work in Aviation Maintenance and the state-of-the-art facility at the Hamilton International Airport.

“It’s a great program and I’m really enjoying it. And we had a great season on the court, so it’s a win-win. My teammates are fantastic and I had a lot of fun.”

Anisko, who is at Mohawk College on a basketball scholarship, also had a great year. Men’s basketball finished the season with a 14-4 record, second-best in the OCAA West Division, and won the OCAA bronze medal. Anisko was awarded the OCAA Sixth Man of the Year award and was named to the OCAA All-Rookie Team after averaging 20 points per game (seventh-best in the OCAA). He also shot 40 per cent from three (eighth-best in the OCAA) and made 46 threes (seventh-best in the OCAA).

“Stefan had an incredible year and made a major impact as a rookie,” says Ferreira.

The team, coached for 16 years by Mohawk graduate and former Mountaineer varsity basketball player Brian Jonker, last won the CCAA national title in 2012.

Anisko’s schedule was intense. Classes run every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then he had 90-minute practice four days a week and a weekly workout in the weight room. And once, sometimes twice a week, there were away games, which can be hours away.

“As long as I stayed on top of things, I could manage it. My instructors were very helpful. They were always available and so were my coaches.”

Anisko, who lives in Caledonia, says he enjoyed the travel time to away games because it meant more bonding time with his teammates.

“We are more than a team. We are more like a family.”

Tessel graduates in May but has decided to come back in the fall in order to run another cross-country season.

The College supports its athletes in many ways, says Tessel, including buying professional software that tracks training and performance and providing access to a mental performance coach. He says having a smaller roster of sports at Mohawk College is a strength.

“It’s a small community and everyone knows each other. The high-performance focus means everyone is working together to win.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

It was a banner year for Mohawk’s Advertising students, who earned almost two dozen nods in national and global competitions.

The industry awards piled up for Advertising students at Mohawk College in 2022.

“I think the industry has a lot of respect for our students. Awards are a way of validating what we do at Mohawk,” says Professor Jef Petrossi.

Striving for awards changes the standard of student work, he says.

“They are always reaching for a better idea. It adds an extra level of competitive thinking. That’s great preparation for the industry. Awards prove that you think differently.”

In last year’s One Show student competition, Mohawk College had 11 finalists and Gold Pencil winners in third-year advertising students Catherine Looy and Jan Benavente. The school finished tied for 26th globally.

“Powerhouse ad schools from around the world enter,” says Petrossi.

In Canada’s biggest award show, the Ad and Design Club of Canada (ADCC), Mohawk College also came away with Gold Medal winners in Nick Kidd and Amaris Branco, along with four Silver and three Bronze winners.

In the Applied Arts awards, Mohawk amassed three wins and in the National Advertising Challenge, which asked students to develop concepts for the Toronto Zoo, Nichole Fazzari won Gold.

Kidd and Branco converted a win for their Sleep Country campaign at the ADCC awards into internships and a job offer to join a large agency in Toronto as a team.

“We were over the moon to be named as finalists and to get to go to the awards show. It was so cool to get to see amazing industry work,” says Kidd. “When they announced we had won, we thought we had misheard. We were in shock.”

They got to accept their award on stage and Branco shouted, “Take that, imposter syndrome!”

“It was a fate-changing moment for the both of us,” she says. “I still struggle with imposter syndrome but winning that award definitely helped. I’m here for a reason.”

The College is choosy about the awards programs it enters into, says Petrossi.

“We really focus on the awards that will get us eyeballs in the industry.”

What sets advertising apart is that its awards programs bring industry and student awards together. It is a tremendous opportunity for students to make connections with potential employers, says Petrossi.

Petrossi, who has taught at Mohawk for 15 years, says the college encourages its students to build portfolios that show a diversity of ideas, sectors, brands and platforms.

“Advertising is a thing without a right answer. Portfolios are often received differently by different people. But if something has won an award, people will look at that work differently, even if they didn’t like it, because they know a team of judges has liked it.”

Anisa Rouhani has earned five awards in industry competitions, along with a faculty award. Her honours include a win at the 2022 Applied Arts Awards for a Grey Poupon campaign called “Hip Hop’s Favourite Condiment.” She also earned two Silvers in the ADCC awards in 2022.

Now in her last year, Rouhani is serving as junior art director at an agency in downtown Toronto.

While Rouhani appreciates the awards, it is her instructors who stress that they will open doors in the field.

“It’s great to get the recognition that what I’m doing is good.”

Both Kidd and Branco have high praise for Mohawk’s program, which is split into two streams: creative and business/strategy. Students have a common curriculum in first year and choose their stream for years two and three.

“I feel lucky to have enrolled in the best Advertising program in Canada that anyone can find,” says Kidd.

“For an exceptional advertising education and portfolio building experience, I highly recommend Mohawk College,” says Branco. 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine. 

A new Bachelor of Business Administration-Trades Management is a three-way collaboration between Mohawk, George Brown and Algonquin colleges.

Mladen Ivankovic learned about Mohawk College’s new Bachelor of Business Administration-Trades Management program through a LinkedIn post. He was immediately intrigued and contacted a dean at Mohawk. He was granted entry into the fourth semester in September 2022 based on his previous diploma.

BBA-Trades is a degree completion program in collaboration with George Brown, Algonquin and Mohawk colleges. Those with apprenticeship/journeyperson training, or trade-related diploma programs are eligible for advanced standing.

“It is exactly what I was looking for. I’m looking at expanding my career development into project management and handling budgets and timelines and I want to know more about the corporate finance and accounting side so that I can get into management.”

The program focuses on the business administration, managerial, accounting, project management, leadership, communication, application of data to make decisions and applied research competencies needed by people working in or with the skilled trades to grow their own businesses, take on greater responsibilities in their current work environments, or pursue management careers.

“It’s a great program. The advantages of having three colleges involved is that there is a broader spectrum of instructors who are involved. These are experts in their fields.”

Ivankovic says the program is demanding but practical.

“We came to Canada as refugees from Serbia. I learned a lot from my parents about perseverance. They had to rebuild their lives in a new country with two young children.”

His father was an assembly line worker at Ford in Oakville and his mother – a nurse in Serbia – studied at Mohawk College to become an RN in Canada.

“She balanced it all, so I know I can. My parents are my mentors and my idols. I have so many opportunities in front of me because of them.”

Ivankovic was working at Ford when he quit to go to Mohawk for Electrical Engineering Technology. He graduated in 2018 before working for an electrical company in Chatham and then as an engineering services technician at Burlington Hydro in 2020.

“With a full-time job, it’s a challenging workload. Time management is critical. You have to stay on top of things. You can’t fall behind. It’s achievable if I set time aside for studying.”

That means waking up at about 4 a.m. and working well past dinner to fit it all in. He also studies hard on weekends.

Ivankovic has his eyes set on doing an accelerated Masters of Business Administration at McMaster.

“This program is giving me the education background that will grow my career.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine. 

Through innovations in teaching and learning and a priority placed on learner choice, Mohawk College is changing the landscape of its program offerings. 

Learners have individual needs, depending on their educational and employment background and goals. A range of credentials, from micro-credentials, continuing and professional education courses, certificates and programs, to more traditional post-secondary diplomas, advanced diplomas, degrees and post-graduate certificates, provides options to suit any learner. 

Today, the life cycle of learning is broad and continuous. Mohawk’s new Digital Learning Strategy and its growing delivery options will ensure the college meets all types of learners where they are, says Janet Shuh, Dean of Continuing Education and Academic Development. 

“Whether it’s a student coming directly from high school into a diploma or degree program or a mid-career professional seeking upskilling, reskilling or co-skilling through a short-cycle micro-credential, we offer an agile, flexible and comprehensive credential landscape across the life cycle of learning.” 

Optimal flexibility 

Mohawk recognizes that learners have demanding schedules and different learning styles. Some prefer the experience of in-person learning, while others want or require fully online curriculum delivery. Still others prefer a hybrid approach. 

A new HyFlex academic delivery modality provides choice of how a learner wants to learn and where. Mohawk has equipped its first three classrooms to offer all three modalities in a course or program at once: face to face (on campus), synchronous (live real-time) online, and asynchronous (at the learner’s own pace) online. 

A learner can choose one modality throughout the credential’s duration or choose different ones each day or week to suit their work and personal schedules. 

“This requires more equipped classrooms and some training for faculty in moderating delivery in this way. Faculty may also need to re-think how hands-on activities and assessments are administered in a HyFlex environment.” 

HyFlex uses classroom technology, such as Zoom rooms, tracking cameras, high quality speakers, and large monitors to facilitate interaction between faculty, students learning virtually, and those face-to-face in the classroom. 
 

This delivery modality also leverages the college’s robust Learning Management System (LMS) to provide an asynchronous (at their own time) learning experience for students who prefer or need to learn outside of scheduled class times. 

About six Mohawk programs—including Civil Engineering Technology – Transportation and Urban and Regional Planning – Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—are delivered in high-flex mode, says Shuh, but that will grow.

This innovative teaching approach enables out-of-region and out-of-province students to enroll in programs that have traditionally been in-person. That is proving to be popular.

With minimal promotion, Urban and Regional Planning – Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has already attracted 24 registrants in the new online intake for the current fall 2022 semester, in addition to the 27 students in the traditional in-person intake.

Many of these students were from areas far outside of Mohawk College’s geographic catchment. 

Micro-credentials: short-burst learning 

A growing field of learning is micro-credentials that deliver learning in shorter durations than traditional post-secondary programs, often in less than 12 weeks. The college works with industry partners to identify, develop and implement micro-credentials that meet employer needs. 

“They are short-burst, targeted learning programs to meet specific training and skills needs. They are delivered in flexible delivery modes to suit the needs of our learners.” 

They are often delivered online, but may involve experiential on-campus learning components. Many are developed asynchronously (no live classes) so learners can learn when and how they want. 

Some micro-credentials are one-off, while others are designed in “stacks” that combine into a larger credential and digital badges that can be added to a 
LinkedIn profile or curriculum vitae. For the stacked micro-credentials, students are awarded a “milestone” badge to show stacked program completion. 

Mohawk College offers stacked credentials that have been built by industry, including IBM, as well as those that have been designed, developed and delivered directly by the college in human services, technology, manufacturing, business and other areas of specialization. 

“The engagement of industry ensures micro-credentials deliver highly targeted and relevant skills training that meet the emerging and future needs of the workforce,” says Shuh. 

A great example is a new 3D Visualization for the Built Environment micro-credential that develops skills in building information modeling (BIM), 3D rendering tools, GIS and CAD techniques, digital twins and virtual reality/3D printing applications for design, presentation, construction and ongoing operations and maintenance of buildings and spaces. 

“Our industry partner worked closely with us to identify key competencies needed in the building field and to develop the curriculum needed to support those in-demand skills in construction and trades, city planning, facilities management and architecture,” says Shuh. 

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, 3D models and VR/AR is the next step in the architectural, engineering and construction industry,” says Tage Crooks, lead developer of the micro-credential and a zoning examiner with the City of Mississauga. 

“Interest groups, politicians, residents and other stakeholders do not want to read page after page of policy on a particular development - they want to know how that development will impact their lives through the visualization of the project. Mohawk’s new micro-credential in 3D visualization is a game-changer in teaching industry professionals how to create stunning 3D models to convey design intent for their projects in the real world,” says Crooks, who is a part-time professor with the Urban and Regional Planning Technician – GIS program and one of the expert facilitators for the new micro-credential. 

Strategic digital direction 

On the other end of the spectrum, Mohawk College offers two standalone degrees in Digital Health and Business Administration (Trades Management). A Bachelor of Analytics and Data Management (Honours) will launch in fall 2023. 

The college intends to develop more career-ready degrees over the coming years, says Shuh. 

All program development will be guided by a new Digital Learning Strategy that accounts for all the shifts and pivots that came out of the pandemic. 
“We know that the needs and wants of students have changed. While some students still want the traditional on campus learning experience, others have a desire for more flexible learning options,” says Shuh. 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

A new Bachelor of Analytics and Data Management (Honours) is the latest iteration of Mohawk College’s well-established expertise in data analytics

Offered within the McKeil School of Business, the four-year degree will launch in September 2023. It will be the second standalone degree offered by the college

The degree complements and builds on the track record Mohawk has established in its graduate certificate in Analytics for Business Decision Making. Mohawk also runs the HEAD Competition (Higher Education Analytics Data) for colleges and universities

Combining general business fundamentals, programming, analytics, mathematics and statistics with storytelling, the new degree will educate a new generation of data experts

“You can have all kinds of data scientists who can crunch numbers but what has been missing is the ability to communicate that analysis to key decision-makers, customers and clients,” says Dr. Steven Way, Professor and Coordinator of the Analytics and Data Management Degree

“This is evidence-based decision-making for business,” says Andrew McTear, Associate Dean of the McKeil School of Business and the School of Creative Industries, Liberal Studies & Communication. “If you have someone who can organize and analyze the data and use it to tell a clear story, you help organizations focus on problem solutions or areas of opportunity and that really is the future of business.

The new degree program will feature online and face-to-face classes, 420 hours of work-integrated learning experiences, small class sizes compared to typical university programs and faculty who work in the industry, says McTear

Between September 2021 and August 2022, research prepared by Workforce Planning Hamilton and the City of Hamilton’s Economic Development Office indicates there were more than 3,100 job postings in Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Brant in the data analytics field. The majority of postings were found in six major occupation groups: finance and insurance; professional, scientific and technical services; manufacturing; educational services; public administration; and health care and social assistance

“I get asked all the time: Where will students find work?” says McTear. “The short answer is everywhere. The financial sector was a pioneer of using data analysis for areas like fraud detection. Manufacturing uses data to increase production output and cut costs. Supply chain optimizes shipping routes. Even streaming services like Netflix uses artificial intelligence to show you want you want to watch. The opportunities are literally everywhere.”
 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine. 

Mohawk College’s new Game – Design advanced diploma launching in September 2023 will break down barriers with the idea that a more diverse industry will be a better place to work and will produce content that better reflects society. 

The three-year advanced diploma program will cover multiple aspects of the industry – design, technical and artistic skills, along with ethics and psychology. 

“The program will model rather than mirror the gaming industry,” says Dr. Angela Stukator, who joined Mohawk as a special advisory in June and has joined a team of female academics driving the development of this program. 

“We don’t want to do just more of the same. This is a model of game design and the gaming workforce that takes a leadership role from the get-go.” 

Ethics and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) will underscore all aspects of the program, including recruiting of students and faculty, the substance of the courses and how the program is marketed. Students will study games created by women and racialized groups. 

“EDI is the elephant in the room. The fact is that the industry is dominated by mostly white men. But it just takes a commitment to reflecting diversity because gaming doesn’t have to be that way. Games don’t have to reinforce misogynistic or racist views of the world. They can confront them.” 

Violent shooting games are only a small part of the industry, says Dr. Lisa Funnell, Associate Dean of Creative Industries. The program will cover board games, too, and the gamification of things like education, social and political activities, consumer interfaces and training. 

The game design program will draw on other Mohawk programs, including virtual reality, animation, music, and graphic design. 

“Video games and games in general are played by every kind of person in the world so it’s important to create content that is as open and inclusive. It also just makes business sense,” says Funnell. 

The gaming market is large and growing rapidly. A recent analysis found the digital gaming market is projected to grow to $160 billion by the end of 2026, up from $104 billion estimated for the end of this year. 

To compare, the global movie industry is pegged at about $77 billion. 

As the gaming culture has shifted from the fringe entirely into the mainstream, now is the time to fully address what holds the industry back, Funnell says. Embedding EDI with intentionality from the outset will make this program one of a kind. 

“There is great responsibility in being a creator. The conversations we are having in game design will be happening across the range of our creative programs.” 

Funnell, whose academic background is in EDI and representation in film, says in addition to examining gaming content through a diversity lens, students will learn to work on teams with people of different cultures, races and belief systems. 

“Students will develop that global competency. It’s in those spaces of diversity and equity that the greatest creativity emerges.” 

The game industry should be as varied as the people who play, says Cathy Feraday Miller, co-founder and art director at Rocket 5 Studios, a micro game studio in Toronto. 

“The greater the diversity of game makers, the more games will reflect our actual human experience, and the better the games will be,” she says. 

“Mohawk College’s Game- Design program map is excellent. There is a strong focus on ethical game design practices and critical thinking. There are some very exciting leaders in current game design theory involved.” 

And the College has a strong connection to industry leaders, including at Ubisoft, Hamilton’s animation studio Pipeline and to small indie developers. 

Hamilton is perfectly poised for a game design program, says Stukator. 

“The city is emerging as a cultural and technology hub. This program will feed that. Small and medium companies are the pulse of the industry.” 
 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

The Centre for Aviation Technology at Hamilton International Airport (YHM) has already established a reputation for excellence in its facilities, equipment and faculty knowledge less than two years after its opening. 

Built in conjunction with KF Aerospace’s expansion of its Hamilton maintenance, repair and operations, the state-of-the-art facility is home for Mohawk College's Aviation Technician programs in maintenance, structures and avionics and has airside access at one of the country’s most active airports. 

The new centre, which has airside access at one of the country’s most active airports, has allowed the College to double enrolment in its aviation program to 350 students. 
All three streams of Mohawk College’s Aviation program are in growth mode. 

“We have grown to be the fifth-largest aviation school in the country and we have our eye on going higher,” says George Miltenburg, Associate Dean, School of Engineering Technology and Aviation. 

The 75,000-square-foot complex, which opened in February 2021, is a critical piece of that ambition. It features modern labs, shops, classrooms, and a large hangar space where students work on nearly 20 aircraft. 

“It is a fantastic, purpose-built facility that offers airside access at the airport. It allows us to give our students more hands-on time in the labs and in the hangar working on real aircraft. Our students will emerge even more prepared for the workforce and the word is already out among employers. Our graduates will be more highly sought after than ever before.” 

The program has a range of aircraft that have been donated by industry partners, including a fully operational Boeing 727-200, an Ornge Sikorski helicopter, and a Falcon corporate jet. 

The three streams have a shared core first year, which means graduates of one stream can finish another in a year. They each combine theory and hands-on practice using cutting-edge training equipment and aircraft. 

Students get between 12 and 18 months credit toward their practical work experience required for licence certification through Transport Canada. 

Being located right at the airport offers an unparalleled real-world experience to students and offers ready access to the aviation program’s 30 faculty. 

“Many of our part-time instructors are working at maintenance, repair and overhaul companies right at the airport. They walk over to teach,” says Miltenburg. “They come from all over the world and are experienced on all types of aircraft.” 

Mohawk is the only school in Canada with the Boeing 737 NG virtual maintenance trainer and is the only college in North America with more than a few software seats. Mohawk has 11 seats of the expensive software that is used by Boeing itself to train and type certify its technicians to work on the world’s most common aircraft. 

“It has been an incredible windfall for the program that is paying dividends for our maintenance and avionics students,” says Miltenburg. 

Mohawk maintenance and avionics students graduate with 100 hours of training on the virtual trainer. Faculty set up a “snag” scenario that students have to investigate and solve. 
“They have to logically move through all the aircraft systems and understanding the FIM (fault isolation manuals) to find the cause and address it,” says Shawn Hoyle, an aviation professor and the person responsible for training through Transport Canada. 

“That teaches them the methodology and they are evaluated on that. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Unlike other programs, our students develop very strong troubleshooting skills.” 

In the avionics stream, students work on a glass cockpit conversion in which they replace a late 1980s cockpit on a donated King Air aircraft with modern Garmin flat screens. Students handle everything, from electrical drawings to vendor selection to project management. 

“We couldn’t do this without the support of industry partners who donate equipment but also ensure we are teaching the very latest in skills,” says Miltenburg. 

Mohawk College aviation graduates are snapped up by employers across Canada and around the world in an industry facing huge talent shortages. 

For instance, KF Aerospace – Canada’s largest MRO operator – offered jobs to every Structures graduate earlier this year. 

“Industry is knocking down our door and visiting our classrooms to talk to our students. That includes the Canadian Armed Forces, which is offering incentive packages. Some companies are offering $10,000 signing bonuses,” says Hoyle. 

Mohawk is targeting growth for its aviation through both domestic and international enrolment. 

“The Canadian licence is well-recognized around the world, so that is very helpful to us. Students can very easily return home or go elsewhere in the world to find work.” 

For more than 60 years, Halifax-based IMP Aerospace and Defence has offered maintenance, modification and repair services to military, government and commercial operators. 

IMP, which also operates in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and British Columbia, delivers major modification and maintenance programs for Canadian military planes and helicopters and for the U.S. Marine Corps. It also takes care of the Snowbirds’ CT 114 Tutor aircraft. 

The landing of new contracts means the company is in a recruiting drive, says Neil Harding, Director of Aircraft Production and IMP’s person responsible for maintenance through Transport Canada. 

“We have a huge need for talent right now. As we bid on modification programs, we continue to need new people.” 

He has visited the Mohawk Centre for Aviation Technology to meet with students. He says the sector offers exciting, well-paying jobs and the opportunity to earn extra qualifications that lead to higher salaries. 

The company employs about 1,000 people. Its staffing in Halifax will grow by about 20 per cent over the next year. 

Harding says he began in the industry as an avionics technician 16 years ago. He now leads a team of 250 technicians working on multiple maintenance programs. 

“It has been a great career path for me. We offer many opportunities for anyone who wants to learn and grow. No one is limited to turning tools.” 

Harding says IMP is excited about its growing partnership with Mohawk. 

“The College is very open to feedback and working with us to meet our needs. The new facility is really, really impressive. I have visited many different schools and Mohawk’s facility is second to none.” 

Denis Ranque completed the Aircraft Maintenance program in 2018 and has now returned to Mohawk for a year to complete the Avionics program. 

He has been employed by Lake Central Air Services in Gravenhurst, which specializes in repairs, maintenance and modifications to survey aircraft. Ranque, who has his commercial pilot’s licence, wants to broaden his skill set to allow him to work on electronics systems. 

He came to Canada from his home in Bolivia in order to follow his passion for aviation at Mohawk. He says he’s driven by the processes and procedures that ensure safety of aircraft. 

“I felt very well-prepared by my time at Mohawk. The faculty is so up to date in the industry and they always go above and beyond for their students. They’re really there for us.” 

He says he was awed by the new facility when he returned in September. 

“I feel so fortunate to learn in such an environment. It is state-of-the-art.” 
 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine. 

Targeted, rapid on-demand training for health care workers through Mohawk College’s new Centre for Professional Advancement (CPA) is helping hospitals locally, provincially and nationally cope with ongoing staff shortages and care backlogs amid pandemic recovery. 

The CPA is the formalized structure that has resulted from dozens of training partnerships with health organizations over the last several years. 

Project by project since the COVID-19 crisis began, the CPA within the School of Health and Community Services has worked to close skills gaps and increase capacity in the workforce through a new model of on-the-job training that prioritizes innovative, responsive, accelerated and specialized instruction to address fast-emerging and future employer needs. 

“This came out of a desire to respond to an acute situation in our community. We needed solutions and this was an innovative way to help solve problems,” says Wendy Lawson, Dean of the School of Health and Community Services. 

“We recognized that there are challenges facing our community in health care that cannot be ignored. This was catalyzed by the pandemic but not caused by it. The crisis forced everyone to be innovative.” 

The CPA provides flexible, high-quality learning solutions online, in-person, or using a blended approach with a mix of self-study and facilitated instruction. In collaboration with employer partners, Mohawk’s team of curriculum developers and subject matter experts develop and deliver customized training solutions designed to address specific competencies and desired learning outcomes. 

Mohawk College faculty then support the delivery of clinical training by clinical educators and mentors at the learner’s home site. 

“What makes this approach transformative is that it is a real partnership with the hospitals and clinical employers to create something specifically for them that answers their needs,” says Associate Dean Nicole Barron. 

Training has been delivered to cohorts as small as five and as large as 138. The team at the CPA continues to work with partners and governments to identify labour gaps that can be addressed through laddered training, extended roles, skills specializations and bridging. 

“This is a sustainable and scalable model of training that contributes to a highly skilled and agile workforce. Our partners are committed to this and the successes of this approach are clear,” says Lawson. 

“The need has been most acute in health care, but this model can be applied in any sector with human resources challenges. Mohawk College and its executive team has been universally supportive of this vision.” 

The model is now gaining attention from health care providers across Canada. 

“It helps employers create a culture of learning and career progression,” says Barron. 

Training can be delivered in a full-time or part-time model. In some cases, learners get a leave and are paid to take the training. 

“That really removes the barriers to ongoing training for many employees. The earn-while-you-learn model is a best practice that we recommend to our partners.” 

The partnership with the CPA has helped HHS take a logical approach to filling areas of need, says Leslie Gauthier, Vice President of Clinical Support Services and Surgery. 

“In the case of MRI technicians, a radiology tech has had to take a year off work to get the training that will give them an extra couple of dollars an hour. It didn’t make sense.” 

Ten HHS employees took the MRI training – paid for by the hospital – that finished in late spring. 

Gauthier says there are needs in many areas, including anaesthesia assistant and pharmacy technician, that can be addressed through the approach at the CPA. 

“We are learning as we go and correcting course where we need to but this is a great partnership that will help us address our needs.” 
The strengths of the approach are that Mohawk can work with a partner anywhere at any time, can offer the accelerated training to multiple organizations at once, and it addresses both immediate needs and long-term human resources planning. 

The Operating Room Assistant (ORA) clinical training was delivered simultaneously in five labs over two Saturdays to staff from six different hospitals. It is a common role in the United States but it is a pilot in Ontario. 

OR Assistants are not intended to replace RNs or RPNs during surgery but by playing a supporting role and acting as an additional resource in the OR, including setting up the operating room for the patient, ensuring all the tools are sterile and in place and handing tools to the doctor during the surgery, they are able to increase the capacity of the RNs to do the highly skilled and regulated nursing work. 

Kate Cook and Dulce Isorena from the Greater Niagara General Hospital were among the ORA trainees. Both worked in the hospital’s medical device processing department that handles sterilization of instruments used in the OR. 

They each jumped at the chance to add to their skills and take on a new challenge. It was an intense, exhausting experience. 

Over 10 weeks, they took nine courses and had to achieve a minimum of 80 per cent in order to get the ORA job. They studied 14 to 16 hours a day at least six days a week and they still study each surgery the night before. But it’s worth it. 

“It was exhilarating to be in the OR for the first time,” says Cook. 

“I really love doing this,” says Isorena, even though she worried she couldn’t stomach being in a surgery. “Instead, I was intrigued and curious.” 

OR manager Jen Law says 50 per cent of the OR staff at Niagara Health’s three sites are eligible for retirement within the next five years. 

CPA training won’t fill the gap on its own but it will allow more flexibility in handling human resources challenges. 

“This is such a great collaboration between Mohawk, HHS and us. Everyone is committed to facing down the challenges and doing what is needed and doing it quickly.” 

The pandemic deepened an existing talent crisis in health care, says Jen Plant, Director, Professional Practice and Ambulatory Care at Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. Critical care nursing has been particularly hard hit. 

Mohawk’s accelerated critical care nursing program is designed for RNs looking to prepare for a career in a critical care setting or those currently employed in a critical care setting who wish to improve their knowledge and skills. This 300-hour program aligns with specifications of the Critical Care Services Ontario and will also prepare nurses to challenge the Canadian Nurses Association national certification exam in critical care. 

“Queenston Carleton Hospital has worked in partnership with Mohawk College to leverage the flexible, hybrid model to combine didactic learning with clinical mentorship to provide a wonderful foundation to nurses working as part of a skilled critical care team. The innovative design of this program integrates the online course and clinical experience through self-directed, asynchronous virtual learning, allowing students to integrate new knowledge into their practice on an ongoing basis.” 

The hospital has a seven-point plan to stabilize its workforce through recruitment and retention, says Plant. 

“Increasing opportunities for mentorship and professional development is key to our strategy. The accelerate critical care program will provide learners with the advanced knowledge, specialized skills and abilities to practice competently and safely within a fantastic team.”  

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

When the leaders at Branthaven Homes decided about a year ago they had to confront their labour shortage challenge head on, they turned to Mohawk College. 

The construction industry pays well and offers great career advancement opportunities, says Andrea Peckart, Vice President of Homeowner Relations. 

But it’s a day-to-day struggle to get workers on sites. Subtrades are dealing with their own staffing challenges and it’s not uncommon to hire a labourer who only shows up for a couple of days. 

The industry faces waves of retirement at a time when not enough young people are choosing trades, making this partnership critical in the short term and long term, says Peckart. 

The strategic collaboration with the Burlington-based homebuilder has multiple components, beginning with a survey of needs and challenges within the industry and then a workshop to explore potential solutions for recruitment and retention. 

Now an action plan is being formulated to connect and engage with future and prospective employees through open houses and job fairs and for a full review of all construction curriculum at the college. 

“We’ve been impressed with how engaged and receptive Mohawk is to working with us on workforce development and to making sure they are teaching what students need right now in the industry,” says Peckart, who is daughter of Branthaven founders Al and Judy Stipsits. 

“Branthaven knows the entire sector needs support and they are willing to be a leader in finding solutions alongside Mohawk College,” says Samara Young, Associate Dean of Building Systems and Sustainability. That portfolio covers 17 programs at the Marshall School of Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship in Stoney Creek. 

“We are being responsive to the sector by taking a bigger, broader look at customized partnerships. We can do so much more when we work together.” 

A priority is to break negative perceptions of trades among educators, guidance counsellors and parents. 

“We have to change the stigma. Skilled trades shouldn’t be a fallback position but rather a goal,” says Sean Wadsworth, Branthaven’s Vice President of Homebuilder Operations. 

It’s critical to attract women. 

“Fifty per cent of the population aren’t really in the trades. Bringing the proportion of women up to the proportion of men in the industry would solve this problem in a broad stroke. Of course, that’s going to take time.” 

About half of the managers at Branthaven are women and the company is focused on spreading the message that construction is a welcoming place for women at all levels, says Peckart. 

Young says employers need support to adjust their recruitment and hiring operations to attract women, newcomers, international students and other equity-deserving groups. 

“Employers want to learn about equity, diversity and inclusion. They understand they are part of the solution. We can help them drill down to the students’ perspective, ask the tough questions and look clearly at the barriers that are in place. That is where we will get results.” 

Branthaven has already been working with City School by Mohawk on short-term training for those from underserved and marginalized groups to put them on a path to post-secondary education, apprenticeship or meaningful employment. 

Deepening relationships between employers and the College improves hiring outcomes and the Branthaven-Mohawk partnership will serve as a model for other employers facing talent shortages, says Young. 
“When employers come to our campus, spend time in our shops, talk to our faculty and spend time with students, that connection is invaluable.” 

At 51 years in business, Branthaven employs about 110 people and is building single-family homes, townhouses, condos and apartments from Markham to Niagara Falls to Cambridge. When subtrades are taken into account, Branthaven projects employ thousands, says Peckart. 

“We all need to work together to get the word out about jobs in the construction industry. It covers so many things, like sales, design, architecture, all the skilled trades on a job site. Construction is a big driver of jobs.” 
 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Part-time Mohawk College instructor Harb Singh is an in-demand TV director with a long demo reel in the business covering sports, game shows, lifestyle, live events and reality TV. 

Singh’s fall schedule includes three days shooting four episodes daily of Family Feud Canada and two days on a new show called Cross Country Cake Off that will air on CTV this winter. He’s recently finished the latest season of Canada’s Got Talent. 

“It’s really busy right now because of post- COVID and the time of year. But I love what I do. Yes, I work a lot but it’s not work to me. I love getting to the studio every day.” Singh has worked as a part-time professor at Mohawk for six years. He is an instructor teaching videography in the Creative Photography program. 

“I love my students. There are so many keeners and hard workers and they have great ideas.” 

He’s director for many productions including Family Feud Canada, Dragon’s Den, Canada’s Got Talent, Canada’s Ultimate Challenge, Cross Country Bake Off, Entertainment Tonight Canada, E-Talk, The Social, Wall of Chefs and CBC’s Olympics Games coverage in Pyeongchang, Tokyo and Beijing. 

“Olympics are exhausting and intense but such a great experience,” he says. “On live TV, you can’t make a mistake. Mistakes are evident. Preparation is so key. There is no re-doing it or editing it. But it’s a team effort and if you have a good crew—producers, camera operators and the tech team—you win as a team.” 

He says the director has to manage both the big picture but also the details, while managing a behind-the-scenes team of about 25 to 30 people on any given production. 

Singh says his success comes down to hard work, dedication, never giving up and always being eager to learn. 

His students soak up his real-world stories of the business. “I show them my shooting schedule and tell them that sometimes I only sleep a couple of hours between two productions. This is not a Monday to Friday, nine to five type of job. There are a lot of weekends and nights and you have to be ready for that,” he says. 

“But I’m lucky to have all these opportunities. I take it as a blessing every day.”  
 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.