Join us on March 14 and 15th at Mount St. Vincent University for a series of events aimed at inclusive mentorship for youths and professionals.

Thursday March 14th, 5:30pm – 9:00pm AST

Opening Session : Inclusive Mentorship Networking Event 

An evening for allies, mentors, faculty, and teachers to explore inclusive mentorship best practices and to network.

•  5:30pm.  Dinner 
• 6:30pm – 7:30pm. Keynote talk with Q&A: Working Towards Inclusive Mentorship – Dr. Jennifer Adams, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair of Creativity and Science, Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. This talk will also be streamed online.
• Dr Adams’ scholarship “…[does not] dwell on deficits but aims to uncover frameworks of success and survivance; further, it will provide guidance to post-secondary institutions for transforming exclusive cultures and offering meaningful support to students who have been historically marginalized.” Click here to read more.
• 7:30pm – 9:00pm. Networking

Friday March 15th

9:15am – 3:00pm AST

Morning Session: Mentorship success for Students

An opportunity for Black-identifying high school students to engage with Black-identifying mentors in STEM fields through an inspirational talk and during mentorship rotations.

• 9:15 – 10:15. Arrival and remarks
• 10:15am – 11:15am. Keynote talk with Q&A. Inspirational Careers in STEM – Dr. Eugenia Addy, CEO of Visions of Science, PhD in Chemistry from the University of Toronto. This talk will be on Zoom and streamed for students at Mt. St. Vincent University.
• 11:15 am – 3:00pm. Mentoring rotations & lunch

Afternoon Session: Mentoring Leaders

3:30pm – 5:30pm

Closing workshop: Mentoring Leaders

This workshop will  provide a opportunity for frank conversations about professional development and success for Black-identifying emerging leaders from across sectors.

3:30pm – 4:30pm Keynote talk with Q&A. Paving a Path to Leadership.  Dr. Maydianne Andrade, University Professor and Biologist at the University of Toronto Scarborough, President and co-Founder of the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN), and Founder and co-Chair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity & Equity (TIDE).

4:30pm – 5:15pm. Facilitated discussion

5:15pm – 6:00pm. Closing remarks.

Overview: Many people, particularly in STEM fields, describe how they ‘ended up’ in leadership roles despite not having any training to prepare them to be a good leader. However, deconstructing the career paths of successful leaders often reveals commonalities in the acquisition of skills and knowledge that reflect the literature on leadership development across sectors (business, academia, government). Join Professor Maydianne Andrade for an overview of ways to think about paving your own path to leadership, including a broad consideration of acquiring and demonstrating leadership competencies, tips on the ‘nitty gritty’ of the day-to-day approaches of an effective leader, and the realities of Leading While Black. Leadership takes many different forms and manifests at different scales, so everyone can benefit from understanding the ‘unwritten rules’ for success. Whether you know you are interested in leadership, or whether you would just like to keep your options open, feel free to join this free workshop.

Funding for this event is provided by the Nancy Chair’s Fund at Mount St. Vincent University.