Innovative SAIT maintains its entrepreneurial spirit

In normal times, Carrie Petri’s role as a donor relations officer with the Southern Alberta Institute for Technology (SAIT) is intensely interactive.

In addition to working with the team on events for SAIT donors and alumni, Petri could often be found volunteering at student orientation booths or giving new instructors campus tours. Indulging her personal passion for singing, she even auditioned the students who sang “O Canada” at annual convocation ceremonies.

The pandemic changed all that. For the past 18 months, Petri has worked remotely out of the former crafts room in the basement of her Calgary home. The last time she was on campus, at a point when students were still taking most of their classes virtually, Petri had an epiphany about what made her job so special.

“I realized that it’s mostly about the energy the students, faculty and staff bring to campus,” she says. “I really look forward to getting back to that.”

For SAIT, a polytechnic post-secondary institution with a proud, century-long tradition of applied, hands-on learning, the pandemic posed a significant learning curve. Yet within a week of the March 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, SAIT had successfully shifted the vast majority of classes – including for automotive technicians, respiratory therapists and the culinary arts – to virtual delivery.

Starting this fall, most classes resumed in-person, though many support staff continued to work remotely.

“I can’t begin to express how proud I am of how this organization has responded,” says Greg Juliano, associate vice president, employee services. “It’s a great example of seeing SAIT’s values in action.”

Those values include collaboration, accountability, excellence and a focus on student-first service.

“The collaboration piece has been huge,” says Juliano. “We’ve seen all departments and all aspects of our organization come together to ensure that we continued to deliver on our academic mission, which is to offer students the opportunity to improve their education and contribute to society.”

The innovation and ingenuity of individual instructors was critical to that effort.

“Some of them have gone out and engaged with virtual and augmented reality tools that have transformed the way our courses can be delivered,” says Juliano. “This will allow us to continue to offer learnings in a more flexible way going forward.”

That innovative streak is reflective of the entrepreneurial spirit that attracted Juliano to SAIT in the first place.

“Post-secondary institutions often have a reputation of being old, stodgy and resistant to change,” he says. “But that’s not SAIT at all. This is a dynamic place that draws on the best traditions of both the academic world and the private sector. We’ve forged strong connections with industry which help us deliver for our students and our community.”

A prime example is SAIT’s recently launched School for Advanced Digital Technology (SADT), which aims to produce work-ready graduates for Alberta’s rapidly evolving digital economy.

Petri, who joined SAIT 12 years ago as an administrative assistant, credits the institution with nurturing her career and allowing her to advance to her current position with donor and alumni relations.

“I’ve always worked as part of a very supportive team,” she says. “No matter what your job title is, you are always encouraged to be a voice around the table and you are surrounded by people who strive to bring out the best in you.”

There is also a sense of common purpose.

“Whatever our role is, we are all working together for the same reason,” says Petri. “We all want our students to succeed and have the best experience possible.”

 

 

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Alberta’s Top Employers winners, published January 25, 2022 in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.