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Breaking barriers: Canadian senator to lead discussion on women in STEM

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Breaking barriers: Canadian senator to lead discussion on women in STEM

TORONTO, October 24, 2019 – When Rosa Galvez entered the field of environmental engineering, girls and women weren’t always encouraged to consider STEM professions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Senator Rosa Galvez to discuss women in STEM

Rosa Galvez is now an Independent senator for Quebec and a leading expert on the effects of pollution on human health. She will join York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton on Monday, October 28, for an Armchair Discussion on Women in STEM.

Galvez and Lenton will be speaking with Lassonde School of Engineering students in a conversation about gender inequality and the barriers that women face in the field of STEM.

Galvez will share her lived experiences, including how her leadership style has been shaped by being a woman in engineering, an immigrant from Peru, and a woman of colour. She has advised international government bodies on the protection of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and studied the catastrophic oil spill at Lac-Mégantic.

The event moderator is Jane Goodyer, dean of Lassonde and an advocate of the advancement of women in engineering. Goodyer created a national humanitarian engineering outreach program for 10- to 14-year-old girls. Her experiences as a woman engineer are also featured in the e-book Rising to the Top: Global Women Engineering Leaders Share Their Journeys to Professional Success, released earlier this month.

WHO: Senator Rosa Galvez to discuss women in STEM

WHEN: Monday, October 28, from 2 p.m. to 3:10 p.m., including audience questions

WHERE: The Eatery, Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence at York’s Keele Campus (see #81 on this Map).

NOTE: Members of the public are required to RSVP. Members of the media should RSVP to the contact below.

York University champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. York students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. York U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, York is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

York U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Vanessa Thompson, York University Media Relations, 647-654-9452, vthomps@yorku.ca