A career advisor at Durham College has been named recipient of prestigious award honouring research into community college education. Anna De Grauwe, a career advisor and contract faculty member at Durham, will receive the CMU/OCASA Award for Outstanding Research at a professional development conference in June.

The CMU/OCASA award is sponsored jointly by Central Michigan University (CMU) and Ontario College Administrative Staff Association (OCASA) to recognize the high quality of research being conducted in Ontario by CMU graduate students that impact the development of the colleges. For more information and to view past recipients click here.

Ms De Grauweís capstone paper College Facultyís Perceptions of Career Information was submitted as part of studies in her Masterís degree program through Central Michigan University. The CMU program specializes in community college education.

Ms. De Grauwe joined Durham College in 2003 as support staff in a career advisory role. She graduated from the Fleming College Career and Work Counsellor diploma program after completing her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology at Trent University.
Her capstone paper studied the formal and informal methods used by faculty to deliver career information to students by faculty members outside of class, and analyzes how such efforts could be better supported.

Other nominees for the award were Courtney Trott, a professor of Pre-Health Science at Georgian College for a paper entitled The Effectiveness of Early Alert Systems on Student Retention; and Jules Lewis, of Program Coordinator in the School of Apprenticeship & Skilled Trades Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies at George Brown College for a paper, Strategies to Improve the Participation of Female Students in College Level Non-traditional Trades Training.

The award will be presented at the Leaders & Innovators Conference June 22 at the Kingbridge Conference Centre & Institute in King City.