Int'l Women's Day celebrates women of the past and present at Mount A

International Women’s Day 2008 will see the return of several young, successful alumnae to the Mount A campus on Saturday, March 8.

Mount Allison is known as a Canadian leader in women’s education, as the first university to confer a bachelor’s degree to a woman in the British Commonwealth, Grace Annie Lockhart in 1875.

The University will be celebrating its rich past in women’s education and some of its recent graduates and current women’s studies students during a panel discussion to take place on campus in Crabtree Auditorium on March 8 between 2 and 6 p.m.

A reception will follow the panel discussion at the President’s Cottage (University Club), beginning at 6 p.m. and will mark the official launch of the online publication, We Were Here: Exploratory Essays on Women’s History at Mount Allison University.

Everyone is welcome to attend these events and there is no admission charge.

International Women’s Day panelists include past students in women’s studies at Mount Allison

• Sarah LeBlanc (’06) — Sarah is a legislative assistant for Senator Roméo Dallaire in Ottawa.

• Frances Ross (’06) — Frances is a teacher in Nunavut.

• Katherine Austin-Evelyn (’07) — Katherine is currently working as an intern at Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership in Calgary, and has just received a Rotary Scholarship to attend the London School of Economics in the fall.

• Roberta MacLean (’07) — Roberta has just returned to Canada from working on an economic development project for young women in Ethiopia over the past six months.

Several current women’s studies students will also present as part of the panel discussion including:

• Bridget Arsenault (’08) — Bridget is completing her honours English degree with a minor in women’s studies.

• Jessica Chapman (’08) — Jessica will graduate this spring with a degree in honours psychology and women’s studies.

• Julie O’Brien (’08) — Julie is a Canadian Studies major, with three minors in history, English and women’s studies.

The first student essays of We Were Here: Exploratory Essays on Women’s History were originally published in 2006, with support of the Purdy Crawford Teaching Centre.