LATEST NEWS
at George Brown College

Toronto Arts Council
For Immediate Release: August 12, 2010

TAF ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR 2010 AWARDS

The shortlist for the 2010 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards, celebrating artists, cultural professionals and arts supporters who have made outstanding contributions to Toronto’s artistic and cultural life, were announced today.

2010 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards finalists are:

Between May 10, 2010 and July 13, 2010 more than 2,000 Canadian individuals and organizations registered to share their ideas and submissions to the Federal Government’s national consultation on the Digital Economy.  George Brown College’s response to the national consultation was submitted by a team of administrators, faculty and specialists representing a cross-section of departments and academic divisions. The response focuses on the key theme of “Building Digital Skills for Tomorrow”  

[Visit http://de-en.gc.ca/news/ for more information.]

Luigi Ferrara, Director of the Centre for Arts and Design, was recently awarded with an Excellence in Education Award by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Ontario Research and Information Transfer team.

[Read more...]

Grad Photo’s for the 2010 Convocation can be viewed and ordered at:
www.gradimages.ca
or call 800.372.3686
or contact by email at service@gradimages.com

A toast to success: Yes Chef! fundraising campaign leaders unveil a donor wall celebrating $5.1 million raised for George Brown’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. From left to right: dean John Walker, campaign manager Linda Dunn, president Anne Sado, chef and restaurateur Donna Dooher, George Brown executive chef John Higgins and hospitality executive Michael Beckley. [Read more...]

Two George Brown students came back from the Skills Canada 2010 finals in Kitchener-Waterloo recently with some extra hardware. Eric Ganton (left) won a Silver Medal for Ontario in the architectural computer aided drafting and design category and Shayne Claringbold won a gold medal in the sheet metal category. Both earned their spots on the provincial team by winning gold medals in an earlier provincial competition that saw five other George Brown students earn silver medals and six other students earn bronze medals. Students won medals in computer aided manufacturing, refrigeration, precision machining, industrial millwright, mechantronics, heating systems and plumbing categories. [More news from Centre for Construction & Engineering Technologies...]

The 2010/11 Continuing Education course calendar information is now available! You can now view and register on-line in classes offered from now until August 2011.

Now you can watch George Brown’s construction crew work on our new waterfront campus via a web-linked webcam. Go to www.georgebrown.ca/waterfront  to see daily progress on the site on Queen’s Quay East near Sherbourne Street. Crews have completed the foundation walls and are now digging out soil and rock from the site.

Emerging talent on the runway: Graduating Fashion Techniques and Design student Justin Singh (below left with model) is making a splash on runways this spring that may make him a name to watch. [Read more...]

Laura Laxson is a long way from the hallways and classrooms of George Brown College but she’s having the learning experience of a lifetime. Laura, completing her graduate certificate in the International Fashion Development and Management program, is one of 12 GBC students currently taking part in the Ontario Global Edge program. Global Edge, supported by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade’s Entrepreneurship Branch, provides grants to enterprising and entrepreneurial students like Laura who are looking to apply their classroom learning in an international setting. [Read more...]

Generation Y & employers give city low marks on employment for immigrants, economic potential, science and innovation and fixing skills shortage

Toronto employers, their youngest workers and post-secondary students believe the city is behind on a series of critical social and economic issues compared with other international and Canadian cities, and are pessimistic the city will be any better in 10 years. [Read the press release...]

From his headquarters in France Christian Dior ruled the emerging global fashion world from 1947 to 1957 with influential couture garments and innovative business practices. Watch this two-minute illustrated talk about Dior by Dr. Alexandra Palmer, Sr. Curator, Textiles and Costume from the ROM, which is excerpted from her George Brown 2009 Dean’s Lecture: DIOR: Fashion, Technology and Business www.georgebrown.ca/fashionstudies/showcase.aspx

On March 3, 2010, the Dean’s Recognition Ambassadors of the Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts raised over $9,000 for immediate and long-term relief for Haiti. Below is the video from the fundraiser.

Watch the video for this event.

Toronto, April 15, 2010 - Certified General Accountants of Ontario, George Brown’s Centre for Business and its students celebrate the new accreditation of the bachelor of applied business degree, financial services, accounting program which provides George Brown graduates with the requirements necessary for direct entry into the CGA program of studies at the certification level. Students in this applied degree program are now on the fast-track to a CGA designation while still in school. [More...]

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty (left) gets a first-hand look at the progress being made on George Brown’s new waterfront campus with George Brown President Anne Sado (right). McGuinty and Sado walked half way around the perimeter of the lakefront building, south of Queen’s Quay East near the foot of Sherbourne St. Workers have finished constructing below ground retaining walls and are now excavating soil and rock from the site. Once that is done foundations will be created and construction of the building proper will begin.

Current and future George Brown hospitality students have one thing to say to Compass Group Canada: Thanks a million!

A recent $1 million donation from the food services company has enabled the college to upgrade its facilities and train more people to meet the demand for employees in Canada’s growing hospitality industry.

The donation is the largest to date in the George Brown’s Yes Chef! fundraising campaign and  one of the largest private sector monetary donations in the college’s history. The Compass donation brings the campaign close to reaching its goal of $5 million. [More...]

George Brown is harnessing the non-polluting sources of energy, such as these wind turbines near the shore of Lake Huron in Ravenswood, Ontario, to supply electricity for its building at 215 King St. E, which houses classrooms and the The Chefs’ House, George Brown’s training restaurant. [More...]

Famed Canadian fashion designer Linda Lundstrom interacts with George Brown Fashion Management program students as she shows off her new look – as a part-time teacher of a course about fashion manufacturing. The fashion entrepreneur says she loves passing along her expertise in fashion manufacturing developed in more than three decades in the industry to students. Lundstrom is an advocate of for keeping clothing manufacturing in Canada, where she says advantages offset off-shore production.

George Brown can now boast it has an Iron Chef School.

Brian Cheng assisted by three other George Brown Chef School students, Jex Paisley, Rene Tungul and Michael Arokium,  recently emerged victorious in the iron chef-style open kitchen competition with competitors from Ontario colleges.

Brian Cheng earned his victory by wowing diners – who served as judges - with their entrée of Steamed Sea Bream with Smoked Scallop and Savoy Cabbage, Seared Evrangi Mushroom, Pickled Kombu and a Miso Dashi Broth. [More...]

George Brown has been recognized as one of the nation’s best diversity and family-friendly employers. It was selected from among thousands of private and public sector organizations to be recognized as one of Canada’s top 45 diversity employers as well top 25 family-friendly employers.

It is the only college on either list.

George Brown has also been recognized as one of Canada’s top 100 employers and one of Toronto’s top 75 employers.

For the diversity award, announced in March, the college was selected from among 2,600 public and private sector applicants by editors at contest organizer Toronto-based publishing firm Mediacorp Canada Inc. They cited college initiatives such as sign language interpreting services for employees and the installation of telephone/computer communication devices along the reasons for George Brown’s inclusion on the list.

“The finalists chosen represent the most progressive and forward-thinking employers in their field, says Mediacorp managing editor Richard Yerema.

Now entering its third year, the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition examines a range of diversity initiatives covering women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered/transsexual (LGBT) people.

George Brown was chosen to be included in the list of Canada’s 25 most family-friendly employers by Mediacorp editors after examining how the college’s practices and policies affected family life – particularly for families with young children. Editors were impressed by the array of benefits available to employees including maternity and parental leave top-ups, flexible work options, and the extension of tuition subsidies to the children of employees.

This is the second year in a row that employment experts took a look at college organizational practices and policies and ranked it among the best places in the nation to work.

Canada’s Top 100 Employers and subsidiary contests for Toronto, diversity and family-friendly employers are organized sponsored by Eluta.ca - a job search website.

More information on the contests and reasons for George Brown’s selection visit the Eluta.ca website .

SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) – SIFE George Brown placed first at the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) Central-Regional Exposition on March 8th.  Their “Solid Ground” presentation in the 2010 HSBC Financial Education Challenge earned them a place at the ACE National Exposition being held in Calgary, May 10, 11 & 12, 2010.  They will be competing against; College of the North Atlantic-St. John’s, Memorial University, Okanagan College, Thompson Rivers University, Ryerson University. [Read more...]

Please be advised that, as of March 19, 2010, George Brown College announced its fee structure for International Post Secondary and ESL students for the academic year beginning in Fall  2010.

Fee changes and effective dates:

The fee changes will take effect for all new and returning students for the Intensive English Program (ESL) beginning August 30, 2010 and for all new and returning Post Secondary students beginning September 7, 2010. 

Note:  Some specialized programs have higher tuition fees which will be specified on official College invoices.  Tuition fees do not include additional fees for student ID, Administration, and Health Insurance.  Please note that program materials, books, uniforms, equipment/tools are also not included in the tuition fees.

A George Brown Chef School graduate is the best junior chef on earth.

Trevor Ritchie, 24, received that title in February after a culinary competition in Chile where he spent a tense five and-a-half hours creating a world-beating menu of sea bass and beef and then topped it off with a chocolate pistachio dessert. [More...]

George Brown’s new waterfront campus is going to be the hottest - and coolest - place in the new East Bayfront neighbourhood.

In fact, the campus will be the source of heat and cooling for many nearby buildings, including office buildings and luxury condominiums. Underground pipes will carry super heated or cooled water from a plant located in the campus’ underground parking lot to the buildings where it will provide heat in cool months and air-conditioning in hot ones.

The District Energy Centre, as the plant is called, eliminates the need for independent heating and cooling in each building and eliminates unsightly rooftop heating and cooling machinery. It also saves energy and gives architects more freedom in designing buildings.

The District Energy Centre will be owned by Waterfront Toronto and is being constructed with support from the City of Toronto and the cooperation of George Brown. When it comes online, the new District Energy Centre will replace the temporary facility that is currently located in front of Corus Quay on Queen’s Quay East.

For more information about the District Energy Centre go to www.waterfrontoronto.ca and click on sustainability.

Career Advisor David Hurlburt looks over a resume with Human Resources student Bethel Nessia in the newly opened Career Centre at St. James Campus. In addition to one-on-one sessions with career advisors, the Centre offers resources and workshops in job search techniques as well as student success strategies. The Centre is located on the lower level of 200 King St. E. and is part of the Student Service Centre.

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Construction has started on George Brown’s new Waterfront Campus.

Workers will spend the next six months preparing the site on Queen’s Quay East for the college’s new Health Sciences building. They’re building a giant underground wall to keep out water from Lake Ontario and digging the four-storey deep hole that will contain the foundations of the building.

When completed the building will house 3,500 students enrolled in Health Sciences programs and the campus is forecast to be a global showcase for interprofessional learning.

They kicked off the project on the morning of Monday Nov. 23 by drilling a giant hole 15 metres deep - two-metres into the shale bedrock – then inserting a steel I-beam and filling the hole with concrete. This underground column – called a caisson - was the first of almost 400 that will eventually line the outside perimeter of the 50 by 100 metre site – making it impervious to water. “It was a very exciting moment for the project team’ says Terry Comeau, Executive Director of Waterfront Campus Development. [More...]

Innovative joint partnership to address urban healthcare in Ontario

"Get the Job You Want From Employers Who Want You"

Check out our free, interactive 20-minute webcasts that provide valuable information for potential, accepted and current students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and employers.

Live Remote Captioning is provided.

[Visit GBTV.ca now to register for the webcasts]