Each quarter Bellevue College has a day dedicated to special seminars and talks from guest speakers for teachers and staff members, called College Issues Day. During this day, teachers are able to go and learn about how to handle various scenarios that could potentially happen in the classroom or on campus. This year College Issues Day fell on Wednesday, October 22. The theme for this year’s event was “wellness.”
Mark Storey, a philosophy professor who attended this last week’s College Issues Day, explained: “Because the faculty has a required amount of ‘on campus’ days to fill in, this gives us an opportunity to come together and talk about different ideas on how to deal with various situations that may occur during the quarter, like if a student stood up in class and was shouting. College Issues Day also gives faculty members a chance to come together and get to know one another.”
Based off employee survey feedback, taken in 2013, “wellness” was the most popular topic. Staff members were encouraged to take part in this year’s College Issues Day. The BC Wellness Center designed a fitness sampler that was meant be both physically and mentally stimulating for the staff, with members spending time during the day doing fitness actives like yoga and Zumba.
When speaking to Professor Patricia Terhune Inverso, who teaches Astronomy at Bellevue College, she explained, “For this year, some faculty are expected to attend while others it’s a work at home day.” Staff members will have a full year until the next College Issues Day in 2015.