Canadian National Women’s Week concluded Sunday, March 8 with the celebration of International Women’s Day. What better time for us to recognize and celebrate the achievements of our women students, graduates, faculty and academic leaders?

From the earliest days there were trail blazers within our Faculty, courageous and intelligent women pursuing their passion for Engineering. Role models include Hildegarde E. Scott, our first female BASc (1T2); our remarkable Elsie MacGill (BASc 2T7), who is profiled in this issue; and University Professor Emeritus Ursula Franklin, also profiled in this issue, who was the first woman University Professor at U of T.

As the largest and highest-ranked Engineering school in Canada, we have a responsibility to provide leadership in changing the culture of our institutions to enable women to participate fully as engineers, faculty and students. This, in turn, will enhance the talent pool of engineers and leaders in Canada by making the most of the talents of our entire population. It also brings a diversity of views that enriches the nature of intellectual discourse within our Faculty, as well as within the Engineering community, and may lead to fundamental changes and advances in Engineering as a discipline.

Our Faculty’s commitment to increasing diversity has been unwavering and over half of the 25 outstanding scholars and engineers appointed to faculty positions in the last two years are women (see our Academic Appointments 2007-2009 brochure.) As a result, over 32 per cent of our assistant professors are now women – double the national and provincial averages (charts and statistics). Such vibrant, diverse representation among our junior faculty provides role models for students and women contemplating careers in Engineering and academia.

This issue profiles some of our Faculty’s extraordinary women and their achievements. While our work continues and more needs to be done, we have much to celebrate this March.

Cristina Amon
Dean

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