Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
EN-8: Staff Professional Development

NAIT's Organizational Development hosts the annual Professional Development (PD) Day, available for all staff to register for and attend. PD Day takes place over two days, with the program being the same each day to accommodate for the operational and instructional needs of diverse areas. Each year PD Day has breakout sessions that feature sustainability presentations and workshops. Examples of sessions held on PD Day 2014 included:
- VERMICOMPOSTING: Worms can eat your garbage and produce great compost while they’re at it. Explore their fascinating world. Participants will help start a worm composting bin and examine semi-finished worm compost.
- PURCHASING LOCAL FOOD: Purchasing local foods is not a trend but a shifting economic focus that continues to grow and change. Come learn which initiatives NAIT is pursuing and the challenges we face sourcing local food suppliers.
- THAT’S NOT GARBAGE: How can we minimize what goes into our landfills? Learn about composting, grass cycling, and recycling at home and at work. Discuss Eco Stations, our unique Reuse Centre, and the world-famous Edmonton Waste Management Centre. Learn how we’re about to turn your household waste into methanol.
- ABORIGINAL 101: Learn the facts and fictions about Aboriginal people. Examine complex traditional understanding and examples of successful service delivery aimed at assisting Aboriginal students find success within environments built predominantly on western models. Discuss examples of how Aboriginals bridge gaps and achieve success and do so while honouring and nurturing who they are.
- CREATING SAFE SPACES FOR LGBTQ STUDENTS – AN INTRODUCTION: Safe Spaces is an initiative to mark safe, inclusive spaces for students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ). Staff members wishing to support LGBTQ students are invited to a training workshop to explore relevant terminology, understand the realities of sexual and gender minority students, and identify strategies for creating safe and inclusive learning and working environments.
- CREATING RESPECTFUL, INCLUSIVE WORK AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: This workshop provides an overview of the Alberta Human Rights Legislation and its application in the workplace and the post-secondary environment. The presenter will discuss the need to create respectful, inclusive workplaces and schools and will share practical strategies to achieve these objectives.
- INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS 101: Discuss the importance of finding cultural similarities without minimizing differences. Talking about culture helps us learn where we come from and how we can adapt to the worksite/classroom without losing cultural and language identity. In this interactive workshop, participants will be led through several lesson ideas which help explain 1) concept of time, 2) communication styles, and 3) hierarchy.
- CHANGE BEFORE OUR EYES: EDMONTON’S RAPIDLY INCREASING CULTURAL DIVERSITY: This presentation highlights recent immigration trends in Edmonton as well as some of the factors fueling our current immigration boom. Edmonton’s changing demographics will pose new challenges for post-secondary institutions as more newcomers view education as key to their successful settlement in Canada.
- VALUING DIVERSITY: Discuss diversity and share personal experiences in an attempt to recognize our own attitudes, prejudices, biases, and assumptions as we interact with one another. Examine the layers of diversity to gain further insights into your own and others' cultures in order to increase cultural awareness.
- RESILIENCY – THE COURAGEOUS CHOICE: You can choose to live with more laughter, more joy, more focus, more success, and less stress no matter what cards you’ve been dealt! Who in their right mind wouldn’t choose this? Life is too short not to! Resilient people laugh and last. They are a life pleasure and an organizational treasure because the resilient person calls up the very same spirit in others.