rch 12

by Aphra Hughes

The. interview that you are
about to read today is the first
in a series that will last for the
rest of this year and probably
all of the next.

Every student notices the
professors, but how many of
us ever notice the many other
educated, intelligent people
making our education possi-
ble? | set out to interview
some of these people -
UNBC’s hidden heroes. My
first hidden hero: Jim Bell,
Ph.D., coordinator of the
Learning Skills Centre.

The first misconception that
Dr. Bell would like to clear up
is the idea that the Learning
Skills Centre is just for stu-
dents who are failing or those
in first year. He showed me
the results of a study of the
GPAs of the students who
visited the LSC as compared
to those who didn’t. The

students visiting had an aver-
age GPA of 2.61 and those
who did not had an average
GPA of 2.69, which means
that there is no statistical sig-
nificance. The LSC served
students from all undergradu-
ate levels evenly and also
served some graduate stu-
dents. In other words, it is for
everybody. The Learning
Skills Centre currently has
fourteen tutors and three
areas of operation: study
skills, writing, and math/stats.

The Learning Skills Centre is
classified as a support staff
operation, which puts their
coordinator at the bottom of
the University hierarchy, but
Dr. Bell actually has more
qualifications than some of
the people teaching your
courses. Dr. Bell took a bach-
elor’s in Education at the
University of Alberta, followed
by teaching for some years.
He taught children from grade
five to grade eleven as well as
adult education. He then
went back to the University of
Alberta and took a M.A. in
English Literature, studying

ver T P. Z

Out of the spotlight

A look at the people behind the scenes

mainly modern Canadian
Literature.

After teaching in colleges in
Alberta for a few years, he
and his wife built a wooden
roof rack for their little Honda
and set out for the University
of Texas at Austin. They
nearly didn’t get there. The
border guard stopped them
and asked about their plans,
so they told him they were
both heading for graduate
studies in Texas. He asked
for their visas, which they
showed him, and then asked
for the papers for their car.
This is when they found out
that taking a car into the U.S.
for over a year requires a
special permit - which they
hadn’t known to apply for.
The guard turned them back.
Two shocked Bells sat in love-
ly Milk River, AB (near the US
border) drinking coffee and
trying to decide what to do
when Dr. Bell had a sudden
idea. He proposed waiting for
the evening - and the shift
change at U.S. Customs.
Sure enough, they came
back to the border and found
a new guard on duty. As Dr.
Bell says virtuously, “I told
him the truth. | just worded it
very differently.” He told the
guard that his wife would be
staying in the U.S. and he
would be driving straight
home. Since she started
classes that month and he
had another two months
before his classes started,
this was perfectly true, and
the new guard was happy to
let them through.

This demonstration of the
importance of careful wording
was a fitting start to a doctor-
ate focused on written com-
position. Dr. Bell had chosen
University of Texas at Austin
because of the school’s
strength in rhetoric and writ-
ing composition and_ its
strong emphasis on adult
education. After two years in
Texas, the Bells headed north
to Ottawa, where the hospital
was at the time one of the
best places in Canada for his

wife’s specialty of pharmacy,
and where Dr. Bell could do
Canadian research for his
doctorate thesis, Tutoring in a
Writing Center. Five years in
Calgary followed, where Dr.
Bell worked at the University
of Calgary, at Mount Royal
College, and as an educa-
tional consultant. He came to
UNBC in 1994, when the uni-
versity was still legally a con-
struction zone and he had to
wear a hard hat to work every
day.

Dr. Bell enjoys his job, espe-
cially working with the tutors
and tutoring students. He
does have a few frustrations:
one is that his job is by its
nature a dead-end job, as he
is at the top of the ladder in
the LSC. He also finds his job
can be professionally lonely,
because the closest people
doing the same work are at
Simon Fraser University and
University of Calgary. The
chance to go for coffee and
talk shop with colleagues
doing the same work just
doesn’t come up, although he
says there is a coordinators’
e-mail list, which is well used.
A limitation of his position is
that he is classified as a staff
member, rather than a faculty
member. This is a somewhat
arbitrary classification as an
American survey of coordina-
tors found that half were clas-
sified as staff and half as fac-
ulty. Not being a faculty
member limits what he can
do in the way of outreach and
keeps him out of the group
with all the power. Other
coordinators who are classi-
fied as faculty, such as those
at Simon’ Fraser = and
University of Calgary, can
teach courses such as
UNBC’s University 101 or
technical writing courses. Dr.
Bell also says of his job that
he has to “work to make it ful-
filling”, because it could easi-
ly become routine paper-
shuffling if he didn’t challenge
himself. | got the impression
that colleagues who are clas-
sified as faculty find it easier
to stay challenged.

One part of the Learning
Skills Centre’s operation that
Dr. Bell is determined to keep
unchanged is the wide-open
hiring process. The LSC
hires students every year,
and any student with more
than 60 credit hours and a B
or better average will be con-
sidered. There is absolutely
no favoritism. Until this year,
Dr. Bell even made returning
tutors re-apply for their posi-
tions. This year, however,

admitting that experienced

tutors are noticeably better,
he has relented. He will

still need to hire at least
seven or eight tutors for next
year, though, so feel free to
submit your resume to the
Learning Skills Centre. Dr.
Bell claims that tutoring offers
many benefits: pay, obviously,
but also people skills, training
in teaching and _ tutoring
strategies, improvement of
your own~ writing or
math/stats skills, and helpful

letters of reference. He feels
that tutors learn as much as
students from tutoring.

Even students who visit the
Learning Skills Centre regu-
larly may never meet Jim
Bell, but all of them will be
affected by his work for us.
Dr. Bell hires and trains the
tutors, organizes the centre’s
workload, and delivers work-
shops. When his tutors were
asked to fill out anonymous
evaluations last year, they
described him as a “great
person to work for’, knowl-
edgeable, and supportive.
Students visiting the centre
consistently rated their expe-
rience as satisfying and use-
ful. The learning skills centre
is here for you, and Jim Bell
hopes you will drop by.

Comm Grads Take Initiative To Create Program
Yearbook

The currently pristine upper Goat River Watershed, currently

by Andrew Starkes

Daniel, Angie and Taireez are
three eager students who felt it
was necessary to create a year-

book for their fellow graduates.
So far the response has been
great, and it is expected to be a
great sucess. Good luck guys!

proposed for logging, will be central to discussion at the GOAT
RIVER TALK (March 22, 6:30- 9:30pm room 7-238) AND
WALK (March 25, 7:00 am- 7:00 pm) held by the UNBC
Interior Rainforest Club in the month of March (see Society
calender events for more details)