AWSN Mentors of the Millennium are Woman of Vision 2006-2007 recipients in the category of Science, Technology and Environment. Congratulations all!

There are three Women of Vision this year who have been AWSN Mentors of the Millennium: Dr. Gillian Kydd, founder of the Open Minds School Program & AWSN nominee (June 2006), Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, Dean, Schulich Faculty of Engineering, University of Calgary (October 2007 ) and Kathy Sendall P.Eng., Senior Vice President, Petro-Canada (December 2006). Dr. Cannon was also the recipient of the AWSN Minerva Mentoring Award in 2003.

Each year AWSN sponsors students to attend the Woman of Vision luncheons to be inspired by the stories and lives of the honorees.  For tickets or more information, please call Susan Costello, 403-235-7714 or email: womanofvision@globaltv.com.  The address is Suite #349, 305 - 4625 Varsity Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta T3A 0Z9 .   For more information on Woman of Vision, please see www.womanofvision.ca.

Speech given by Joyce Luethy at the Global Television Woman of Vision Awards Celebration, March 8, 2001.

Joyce was the June 2000, recipient of an award in the Science and Environment category

"Support and encourage her interest as early as possible Girls have a right to choose their destiny! If your daughter or granddaughter asks for a tool kit at the age of 4 celebrate! She needs the experience with tools that is usually reserved for males. Continue to support and encourage her interest in science at all educational stages and eventually at the professional level. Persuade her to become involved in networking with like-minded girls and women. Encourage her to be self-confident, to question the status quo and attempts to steer her towards traditional female careers. Encourage her to be comfortable with her interest in science, Information Technology and mathematics and to refuse to be made to feel as if she doesn't belong.

Help her to recognize that the life of a scientist is exciting and rewarding - both financially and intellectually at all levels of training: B.Sc., M.Sc. or technical diploma. She needs to know that it is a collegial - not an isolated endeavor And above all - it is gender neutral.

Introduce her to women of science who balance S&T careers with their personal lives and are enthusiastic about their work. Involve her in job-shadowing, work experience and "take your daughter to work" programs where she can meet mentors and role models. A day in the life of her mentor should leave her with some sense of the lifestyle and work of a S&T professional. Ideally during these programs she will learn about her mentor's educational background, have hands-on experiences to obtain a better sense of what the work is about and find out how her mentor has dealt with obstacles such as peer and social pressure to reach her career goals.

The author of a recent evaluation of Operation Minerva states: "Conflicts about how to integrate professional and personal priorities act as a deterrent to deciding a science career path for many girls". Respondent comments indicated that positive influences for science courses and career choices were parents and Operation Minerva. Social support for women in science and technology at present, according to the evaluation, lies somewhere between neutral and positive. History has shown us, however, that when there is no scarcity of trained professionals, positive support for women in science decreases.

Which means, of course, that we can "Never give up"!

I would like to thank the following people :

Lisa Carter Ph.D., my nominator, AWSN colleague and Chair of AWSN
Glenna Jefferies P.Eng., co-founder of the AWSN

Speech given by Joyce Luethy at the Global Television Woman of Vision Awards Celebration, March 8, 2001. Joyce was the June 2000, recipient of an award in the Science and Environment category