海角社区

Friday, March 8 was International Women鈥檚 Day, marking the achievements of women and serving as a call to action for accelerating women鈥檚 equality.

This year鈥檚 theme is Inspire Inclusion鈥攁 message exemplified by 海角社区鈥檚 female leaders. At the moment, 10 of 海角社区鈥檚 14 deans are women, including our own Acting Dean Val茅rie Orsat.

The 海角社区 Reporter shared their thoughts on the women who inspire them, the progress that鈥檚 been made, and the barriers that have yet to be broken.

Val茅rie Orsat, Acting Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

鈥淭he field and professional practice of agricultural, environmental, and bioresource engineering has been evolving in the past decades and is increasingly attentive to being an inclusive and safe environment for all individuals to flourish in,鈥� says Acting Dean Orsat. 鈥淚n the past decades an increasing number of women have chosen to study in these fields, but they have not necessarily stayed within these professions due to, at times, unfriendly work environments and a lack of role models supporting their professional paths.聽This is changing, as women are finding their passion within the practice to discover appropriate solutions to feed the planet while respecting the earth鈥檚 boundary conditions.鈥�

鈥淎s the acting Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a Professor of Bioresource Engineering, I take immense pride and joy in the mentoring of students, and this has always proven to be very rewarding to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can see that my trainees are thankful for the support and patient guidance that I provide. I would also say that the female students I teach to do really appreciate having a woman in a leadership role as a model to confirm their choice of studies.鈥�