By CLAYTON PARK

The Maple Leaf Community Council's executive committee recently elected Janice Camp to a one-year term as president - the first time the council has had one in years.

Camp said the executive committee decided to elect a president because of a growing need for a single person who could speak on behalf of the Maple Leaf community in dealings with the City and other groups and who could see to it that information was properly disseminated back to the community council.

The executive committee chose Camp to be that person, in part because of her having served the past several years as community council secretary, as well as her experience in leadership roles. Camp, a senior lecturer at the University of Washington who teaches graduate and undergraduate-level classes on occupational health and safety, also manages a field-based research group and is a past-president of the Pacific Northwest Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and Washington State Association of Occupational Health Nurses, and a past-chairman of the American Board for Occupational Health Nurses and American Board of Nursing Specialties.

Prior to embarking on her current career as an educator, Camp worked as a critical care nurse in a hospital emergency room/intensive care unit before switching to become an occupational health nurse and industrial hygienist.

"I think it's very important for people to participate in their community," said Camp. The council recently sent a letter to the City to express its position on the Northgate South Lot (it supports daylighting of Thornton Creek, but doesn't want other issues to be overlooked, such as the need for traffic mitigation, and siting of the proposed community center and library).

Camp and her husband, Steven Gilbert, who works as a toxicologist with the Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders, have been Maple Leaf residents since 1986. Their daughter, Sarah, is a medical student at the University of Washington. For more information about the Maple Leaf Community Council, contact Janice Camp at 527-0926.