DEARBORN – Four women leaders will serve on a panel at Henry Ford Community College’s 39th Annual Women’s Recognition Luncheon, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 23 at the Student and Culinary Arts Center on the main campus.
A silent auction and raffle will begin at 11 a.m. The luncheon and program will begin at noon.
Tickets are $40.
The four panel members are women who achieved equality and success in the science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing fields. The title of their presentation is “Women Paving the Way for Women Who Pursue Education and Leadership in S.T.E.M. Careers.”
The speakers are:
• Gail Mee: HFCC’s first female president, Mee has worked throughout her career in higher education to remove obstacles for women striving for educational and career success in the areas of mathematics, science and technology. Prior to assuming positions of leadership in higher education, she taught Mathematics for eight years.
• Stevie Cote: The first female information technology manager at Ford Motor Co., Cote has mentored women in the IT field at Ford, which was primarily dominated by men.
• Christine Bass: Bass is the director of the Women in Science and Engineering Program at the University of Michigan. WISE’s mission is to increase the number of women pursuing careers in the S.T.E.M. fields.
• Cheryl Bowman: A NASA research scientist since 1988, Bowman has performed research in development and structural characterization of metallics and intermetallics for a variety of aerospace applications.
The luncheon raises money to support Dreamkeepers, a national program coordinated by Scholarship American and established by the Lumina Foundation for Education, which provides financial assistance to HFCC students with emergency needs to help them stay in school.
For HFCC, the Kresge Foundation, the philanthropic organization based in Troy, is the funding source and will donate 50 cents for every dollar raised. The goal this year is to reach $20,000, said John Lewandowski, HFCC executive director of Development, resulting in a $10,000 Kresge matching grant.
Brenda Hildreth, HFCC coordinator of Student Outreach and Support Services, coordinates the administration of Dreamkeepers and said that it has had a profound impact on students.
“Since the program was initiated in February 2010, more than 90 students have received assistance from Dreamkeepers,” Hildreth said. “These students received financial help with such items as housing, utilities, meals, transportation/auto repairs and child care. Without this help, many of them would not have been able to continue their studies.”
For more information, call Lewandowski at 313-317-1700 or go to http://www.hfcc.edu/womensrecognitionluncheon/.