Academic Partnerships Receives $500 Grant From National Orientation Directors Association

Algonquin College’s Academic Partnerships has received a $500 grant from the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) to build a framework of research around the Dual Credit program.

Funded by the School/College/Work Initiative (SCWI), the Dual Credit program is a joint effort between the Ministry of Colleges, Training & Universities and the Ministry of Education. It allows high school students in Grade 11 or 12 to take a college course or level 1 apprenticeship and obtain both a college and high school credit. Algonquin’s Dual Credit program enrolment has grown from 15 students in 2004 to over 900 in 2011. Provincially, there will be more than 20,000 students in 2012/13.

Preliminary research has shown that dual credit initiatives can be used by institutions to support high school students in their career clarity, transition to post-secondary, and success/retention in post-secondary programs. Currently, there is no detailed Canadian research available to help measure the program’s success. This grant will help establish a research base and knowledge bank in support of student transitions and success. The goal is to establish parameters by which to measure the program’s success, identify linkages between other transition initiatives and dual credits, and provide resources and data that can help other institutions establish or measure their dual credit programs.

Alumni score big with celiac friendly cake

July 03, 2012

Two NAIT Culinary Arts alumni recently represented Alberta at the national Mission ImPULSEible food development competition and won second place.

Mallory Bowes and Elizabeth Dowdell developed a dry cake mix made with garbanzo and fava bean flours, which they call BE Lite (BE stands for Bowes and Elizabeth). The angel food cake mix won first place at the provincial competition, held March 19 at NAIT, earning the pair a place at the national competition held on June 27th in in Montreal.

“Of course we would have like to have won first,” said Dowell, “but the experience of competing at that level was invaluable. We got great feedback and generated a lot of interest from industry members. It’s all a bit surreal.”

The dry cake mix developed by Bowes and Dowdell is free of gluten, wheat, nuts and dairy. It’s very easy to prepare. The user only has to combine the dry ingredients with water, mix for one minute, pour the batter into a pan and bake.

“Everyone at NAIT was really supportive,” continued Dowell. “We had access to world-class kitchens and were supplied with all the ingredients. The instructors were really encouraging and gave us lots of great advice.”

The provincial Mission ImPULSEible student food product development competition is offered by Alberta Pulse Growers and Pulse Canada to showcase the versatility of whole pulses and pulse ingredients, including dried peas, chickpeas, beans, fava beans, and lentils.

“This year the competition was elevated as 6 teams were being judged on their creativity, taste and business case for new pulse food products,” said Leanne Fischbuch, executive director of Alberta Pulse Growers. “Mallory and Elizabeth did a superb presentation and their product was well received by the judges and conference participants.”

“Alberta Pulse Growers Commission are so pleased to be supporting these emerging leaders in developing new food products for the market. Be*Lite angel food cake mix is a fantastic invention and we hope to continue to work with its creators to see how far into commercialization we can take the product. It is a real winner!”

“The level of quality entries at this year’s competition was better than we have ever seen it. The students did a fantastic job in creating innovative and flavorful products,” said Perry Michetti, associate dean at NAIT’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts, as well as a judge in the provincial competition. “We are very proud of our BE Lite NAIT team and their accomplishment. They worked very hard in creating a winner.”

To download photos to accompany this story, visit NAIT’s Flickr page at www.flickr.com/nait

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About NAIT
NAIT is one of Canada’s leading polytechnics, with almost 80,000 registrations worldwide in key areas including science, technology and the environment, business, health care and trades. Known for real-world education and student success, NAIT also engages with business and industry in applied research and innovation and provides corporate training around the world. NAIT enrolled its first students - 29 communication electrician apprentices - in 1962 and this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.

For more information, please contact:

Ruth Juliebo
NAIT Media Relations
P 780.378.2815 C 780.916.8307 E ruthj@nait.ca

Wendy Benson
Food and Nutrition Consultant
Alberta Pulse Growers
P 403.275.5330 E wbenson@pulse.ab.ca