Fitness and health department students have been hard at work in co-operation with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario on a project helping overweight children and their families.

With the departure of former Carleton president David Atkinson, a new joint sports administration program between Carleton and Algonquin is now assured.

Atkinson’s successor, Dr. Samy Mahmoud, was unavailable for comment, however, during an interview that appeared Jan. 11 in the Ottawa Citizen, Mahmoud said that the proposed was moving through Carleton’s approval process without delay.

Mahmoud takes over as the president of Carleton University after Atkinson resigned after only 15 months of a six-year contract. Mahmoud, who was the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design, will be the interim president for at least the next 18 months.

In the interview with the Citizen, Mahmoud said a five-year plan to be developed by a committee chaired by Atkinson had been stalled, threatening a delay for the proposed program.

Currently, Algonquin already has a collaborative program with Carleton. The Bachelor of Information Technology (B.I.T.) is a four-year program where students go between Algonquin and Carleton day-to-day.

“In a year, the students will do three classes here and two at Carleton.” said Claude Brulé, academic chair of computer studies at Algonquin, “They have the choice of electing to stay in residence here or at Carleton.”

Dr. Dorina Petriu, the director of the School of Information Technology at Carleton, says there is no risk of anything happening to the programs that are already in place.

“It’s [the program] is going well, and it’s going ahead.” said Petriu, “There’s nothing to change, no effect with the change.”

Relations between the two schools are quite successful in regards to the B.I.T. program, with the first class to be graduating this June.

“Now we are working on details about convocation and how we are going to invite the Algonquin professors who are teaching in B.I.T.,” said Petriu, “It’s going to, in a way, tighten our relationship.”

Brulé couldn’t agree more. “Like any relationship you have to make sure you communicate well,” he said.

“We have a joint council that’s made up of the professorship, as well as student representatives. We meet on a regular basis to address any issue that comes up so that, in fact, you don’t have any issues that go unresolved.”