When Svetlana Miftahov-Rapoport came to Bow Valley College as an international student in 2014, her intention was to find a new career path in Canada that would build on her existing experience. It’s opportunities like this that she now imparts on her own students as a faculty member in the Chiu School of Business.

"I strongly believe that Bow Valley College provides students with incredible opportunities and support to realize their great potential and to find their ‘why,’” she says.  “And I know it from a personal experience as both a student and a faculty member.”

Already having post-secondary education and many years of professional experience, Svetlana was planning to take one quick year of a certificate program. “I was going to be ready for the real world,” she says. “I soon realized that my real world was here at Bow Valley College. When I tell this story to my students, I often joke that since then, I just refused to leave this place, so they had to hire me. But jokes aside, my love, commitment, and dedication to Bow Valley College are based on this strong foundation of support and opportunities I received at the College as BVC truly lives and breathes its mission of its ‘Open Doors - Open Minds” strategy.”

As a proud Chiu School of Business graduate and valedictorian, and an employee of the College since 2016, Svetlana says holds Bow Valley College in a very special place in her heart. Her relationship with the College is what inspires her to tell the world about the great things happening here. While completing her Master's in Adult Education, Svetlana was working on a book chapter on Hybrid Teaching and Learning featuring the Modern Classroom Experience at Bow Valley College, which was published.

The book Hybrid-Flexible Course Design by Dr. Brian Beatty from San Francisco State University includes various Case Reports from post-secondary institutions worldwide. They were looking for authors to write a chapter on their institution's hybrid course experience. Svetlana contacted the author, and they were interested in her proposal.

"Bow Valley College is leading the way with ed-tech and the Modern Classroom," Svetlana shares. "It is so fulfilling to be able to share with the broader academic community what I have learned in the past three years and all the awesome things we do at Bow Valley College to enhance our HyFlex teaching and learning practices and create transformational learning experiences for our students. I hope this chapter will help us share what we do and inspire many!"

If you are interested in learning more, you can find the chapter here: https://edtechbooks.org/hyflex/bow_valley_college

Svetlana wants to give BVC students and alumni advice with the quote by Oscar Wilde: 

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."