Over The Edge Page 2 NEWS March 24, 1998
Director of Communications leaves for Athabasca University

by Darla Dickenson

Clive Keen, UNBC’s Director of
Communications will be leaving
UNBC on April 30, 1998. After
six years, Clive has become one
of the longest standing employ-
ees at UNBC.

Clive’s hard work and determi-
nation has played an important
role in getting UNBC known by
many people throughout the
world. Clive Keen's job involves
a combination of public relations
and marketing with both internal
and external communications.
Some of the things he is involved
in as UNBC’s Director of
Communications is the internet,
pamphlets, speech writing, orga-
nizing various events, publica-
tions, newsletters, and media
relations. —

A few of the major responsibili-
ties, and contributions Clive

made to UNBC, before it was
officially opened, were getting
people to realize what UNBC
was about, and the fact that it
was a real university.

Clive worked hard in his pursuit
of community
support, and
spent two and a
half years mak-

“It has been a mem-
orable six years at

which was done in an successful
effort to start the University off
with a splash.

Clive Keen has wrote numerous
books on promoting higher edu-
cation. He has also achieved
numerous
awards for his
various accom-
plishments.

ing sure pe UNBC...” ia ‘¥ <r
su or Z contributed to
somdaedt an “It will be a heck of a UNBC, and/or
example of this wrench to leave.” the community
is the 12,000 of Prince
UNBC. T-shirts Clive Keen George through
sold to repre- Director of his other pur-

sent the com-
munity's sup-
port for UNBC.
Clive was also closely involved
with the Queen of England being
present for the grand opening,

Communications

suits. Examples
of these pursuits
are the fact that
he is the founder, and current
secretary of the UNBC Caving
Club, President of the Prince

George Concert Association,
and the chair of the CBC FM
stereo society.

Clive will be leaving UNBC to
be the Director of
Communications for Athabasca
University. The move will be a
career advancement for Clive,
and he is looking forward to the
challenges that his new job will
offer him.

Clive will miss UNBC, but he
has seen UNBC through, and
has helped to make it the suc-
cessful University it is today.
Clive Keen states that “It has
been a memorable six years at
UNBC. There has been so many
high spots - The Queen, Jesus
Christ Superstar, the 12,000 t-
shirts, the Caving Club, and the
Radio station. It will be a heck of
a wrench to leave.”

Clive Keen
Director of Communications

Submitted photo

Getting a nursing degree in the north is getting
more difficult

By Nicole Larson

On March ninth it was
announced that starting next
September there will be a three
year moratorium placed on
admission into the post RN
diploma Bachelor of Nursing at
UNBC. This means that regis-
tered nurses who would like to
get more education, which
would help them further their
careers, are going to find it
more difficult.

UNBC currently has two dif-
ferent Nursing programs, the
post RN diploma Bachelor of
Nursing, and a collaborative
degree in Nursing with the
College of New Caledonia
(CNC). When the collaborative
degree was introduced it was
agreed that should there ever
be a financial problem the col-
laborative degree would take
precedence over the post RN
diploma Bachelor of Nursing.
There was a financial difficulty-
with this plan. The cost for the
post RN diploma Bachelor of
Nursing is between $350,000
and $400,000 and with the lim-
ited resources available to
UNBC there just was not
enough money to commit to
both degrees in the coming
year. A committee .composed
of Deborah Poff, Vice President

Academic, Alex Reed,
Associate Vice President
Student Services/University

Registrar and Secretary of
Senate, Robin Fisher Dean of

the College of Arts, Social.and
Health Sciences and Glenda
Prkachin, _ Associate
Psychology Professor, were
assigned the task of deciding
what to do about the financial
problems associated with the
Nursing program. They con-
cluded that, although there is a
large demand for this program,
UNBC could not continue both
programs and that something
had to be done. The three year
moratorium was their solution.
The moratorium is an option
which does not make Nursing
students and faculty happy but
is better than any of the other
alternatives, such as shutting
down the program entirely or a
longer term moratorium. “It’s for
three years and that’s much
better than it could have been,”
said Martha MacLoed, Chair of
the Nursing program.

This program cut does not
mean that students who want
to. become nurses will not get
that chance. It does mean that
people who have been working
as nurses, and who would like
to further their knowledge and
understanding may not get the
chance’ to do that in Prince
George, :where a special. inter-
est is taken in nursing in north-
ern communities. This special
interest in nursing is what
saved the. program from a fate
worse than a moratorium, a
complete shut down. “So many

people in the North, so many
nurses, so many hospitals, so
many healthcare units want a
degree. There was a notice of
motion that was put towards
Senate a few months ago that
proposed” eliminating the
degree,” said Deborah Poff,
“So many people were upset
that we didn’t want to just elim-
inate a program that so many
people wanted.”

There are other options that
the are being looked into by

UNBC. One option, a certificate
in advanced Nursing could be
an economically feasible solu-
tion to the problem. It would
not be as extensive as the cur-
rent degree but it would also
not be as expensive. “We'll look
at all options including a certifi-
cate, that wouldn't be as exten-
sive,” explained Deborah Poff,
when asked about the fate of
the Nursing program after the
moratorium, “We'll explore all
of the options and hopefully

We use, recommend

and REFILL

come up with something that
will work.”

Next September, there will not
be any students admitted to the
post RN diploma Bachelor of
Nursing Program at UNBC, but
that does not mean it could not
happen in the future. There has
to be an option that allows local
nurses to get the education
they want without going to
Vancouver or Victoria to get it.

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