Outstanding leadership award given to Northwest Education Administrator

Northwest Community College President Stephanie Forsyth, has been honoured with the “Today’s Woman in Leadership’ award for 2007, sponsored by Dean Mason & Company Chartered Accountants the award is designed to recognize outstanding women from across Northern British Columbia.

Ms. Forsythe, who watches over the entire Northwest Community college system from her base in Terrace, was recognized for a number of initiatives that she has launched during her time at the helm of the College.

The Daily News featured some background the awards and on her accomplishments as part of the Friday paper.

College president is singled out for top accolade
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Friday, October 12, 2007
Pages one and three

It is always a testament to the talent and expertise harboured within our community when professionals in Prince Rupert are given recognition for their achievements.

Such is the case for Northwest Community College President Stephanie Forsyth, who has been awarded the 'Today's Woman in Leadership' award through the Today's Woman Awards program.

Put on by Dean Mason & Company Chartered Accountants, the program is held annually in Prince George and was founded to recognize exceptional women from across Northern British Columbia.

"I was really honoured to win, there were a number of really great candidates," said Forsyth.
"So I felt quite honoured to be the one that they ultimately chose."

The Leadership award is given to a woman who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in her field or organization, and taken advantage of strategic growth opportunities for the organization and people, including expansion, mentorship, advancement and development.

Forsyth has been at the head of numerous programs that have benefitted the college and the people in surrounding communities, and it was for some of those that she was originally nominated. She helped establish the Freida Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, which is the first of its kind in Canada.

"The school was started to recognize the legacy of Frieda Diesing and to help in the revitalization and reclamation of art in the Northwest," said Forsyth.

"It's been a fairly significant initiative, and though it's based in Terrace, it has partnerships in New Zealand and Australia, with students and artists going on exchange programs back and forth."

Forsyth was also responsible for starting up the school of exploration and mining in 2005. It includes a program that provides mining knowledge and education training for people in the North. The school is run in partnership with the Smithers Exploration Group and with funding from the Ministry of Energy and Mines and has been a hugely successful program for providing people in Northwest communities with employment opportunities, particularly the Aboriginal students who make up 70 per cent of students in the program.

"It's been great, because as mining and exploration has opened the economy, we were concerned we wouldn't see the employment opportunities going to our Aboriginal communities, which really need a boost," said Forsyth. "But it has been a great success for that."

In addition to her long list of recent accomplishments, Forsyth was to be the first speaker at a NWCC-organized conference that began Thursday and continued today in Terrace entitled Challenging the Paradigm: Decolonizing Post-Secondary Education.

Yesterday, she gave an opening talk that set the tone of the conference, before other keynote speakers presented and attendees were then given the opportunity to explore and engage in workshops that challenge the current post-secondary education paradigm.

"It's a really important meeting to discuss the challenges that post-secondary institutions face in becoming more receptive to Aboriginal students. It's pretty well-known that Aboriginal students have not been succeeding at a pace that is really acceptable," said Forsyth.

"We're trying to be honest about the severe impact that colonization has had on these individuals, and what we should be doing in post-secondary education to address those issues."