Diversity in ASHRAE (ie. Women in ASHRAE) is planning a couple fun activities between now and April. The first will be an online class in mixology, hopefully in time to learn a new drink for Valentine’s Day. The second will, I am confident, be an in person event outside in the Spring. Everyone is invited. I hope you will be able to join at least one. Look for the invites in your inbox!

Dana Heller & Carli Brockway - Diversity in ASHRAE Co-Chairs

Please welcome Carli Brockway and Dana Heller as this year’s co-chairs. We can’t wait to see the exciting event they will plan for us this year, so stay tuned!

We are excited to share with you that we have partnered with the Northern Alberta Chapter for a free webinar discussing Building Information Modeling (BIM) & Digital Project Delivery on May 6th. Please see below for the registration details. This upcoming fall/winter will be one with a celebratory outing for Diversity in ASHRAE! We won’t give any spoilers away but look forward to making our 2021/22 affair family inclusive and safe for everyone.

Diversity in ASHRAE is currently opening a co-chair position for anyone hoping to bring life to next year’s event! Please contact me at lauren.neves@smithandandersen.com if you or anyone you know wants to be a part of the ASHRAE committee and has a knack for event coordination!

Register - Diversity in ASHRAE - BIM & Digital Project Delivery

Lauren Neves – Diversity in ASHRAE

Welcome back everyone!

This year will look a little different from the previous years, but we are remaining hopeful that we’ll soon get into the groove of our new “normal”.

We aim to host our next annual Women In ASHRAE event in spring 2021, provided that it will be safe to do so. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on what we have in store!

Lauren Neves - WIA Chair

Thank you all to those who sponsored, volunteered and participated in this year’s Women in ASHRAE event. Having Sheila, ASHRAE’s president of 2018-19, here to give us her inspiration and expertise was a memorable experience. As this season comes to an end, there will be no further events next year, but we wish you all the very best during this time for our industry and look forward to seeing your familiar faces come September!

Lauren Neves, E.I.T.

Women In ASHRAE Chair

On the evening of February 11th, we will be gathering for Women In ASHRAE’s annual social for drinks and hors d’œuvres (location TBD). We welcome Sheila Hayter, ASHRAE’s president of 2018-2019, for a Q&A session during this event. This social is open to sponsors and tickets will be on sale via our website prior to the end of the month, so stay tuned!”

Lauren Neves – Women in ASHRAE Chair

This year we are planning on hosting ASHRAE Society’s Past President Sheila Hayder in February.

Further details on our Women in ASHRAE event will be posted closer to the event.

The very first annual Women In ASHRAE social event is now available for registration! Women and men alike are welcome to join us for a night of wine and cheese at Co-op in Oakridge, where we will be tasting an assortment of six very diverse wines as well as trying our luck and testing our taste buds at “Guessing the Expensive Wine”. Each ticket to the event includes a raffle ticket to be entered for a variety of door prizes. We are limited to a number of 40 guests, so be sure to pick up your ticket before it’s too late!

A special thank you to our corporate sponsors, Smith + Andersen, Engineered Air, Johnson Controls, Midwest Engineering & Merlin Instrumentation for their support and generous donations.

Lauren Neves - WIA Chair

As announced at our last lunch meeting, Women in ASHRAE is hosting its very own wine tasting event this spring, on April 4th, 2019. In the hopes of getting as many women in the industry to partake in this annual networking event, we would like to call forth all potential sponsors. We would like to thank our Gold and Silver sponsors, Engineered Air and Midwest Engineering, for a current commitment of $500! Companies looking to further sponsor our event are welcome to reach out to our coordinator, Lauren Neves at lauren.neves@smithandandersen.com or click here to make an immediate sponsor donation. We also welcome contributions for door prizes. Simply contact Lauren for further details on how make or send in your contribution. Thank you for your support of ASHRAE and for making this first event a success and please come join us on April 4th!

Thanks to Lauren Neves, our chapter’s first WIA event will be held in the spring!

To encourage diversity in our ASHRAE chapter, and give more women members an opportunity to socialize with each other, we have decided to hold a wine tasting event at a local tasting room. This will not be an event exclusive to women, but if you have women in your firm who are reluctant to come to monthly meetings, this might be the ticket for them. Look for more details to come out in the next newsletter.

If you would like to be a sponsor, please contact Lauren.

Lauren.Neves@smithandandersen.com

SAC now has a new committee titled Women in Engineering. Next year it will be chaired by Lauren Neves. Here is a little info about it and what our chapter has done so far.

Mission Statement: The focus of the Women in Engineering group within ASHRAE is to facilitate the retention of women working in the built environment by encouraging opportunities for professional development, expanding leadership skills, and creating a network of women supporting women. We strive to unite women from various occupations including engineering, construction, project management, property development & ownership, equipment sales & manufacturing, architecture and more. We hope to foster mentoring relationships among these professionals to create a network of women supporting women in the South Alberta Chapter.

We had the pleasure of volunteering with Making Changes at their mock interview activity organized for the students currently enrolled in their Employment and Life Skills program.  We conducted a mock interview and got to share our insights and tips with the ladies entering the work force. Thank you to Saron Zerai, Dana Heller, Katelynn Saville, and Lauren Neves, for joining me and making this event fun and memorable. 

Stay tuned for more events next year.

A little about the Making Changes Program:

The Employment and Life Skills Program (ELS) is Making Changes Association’s foundational program. At its essence, this program is an empowerment process for immigrant women; increasing their personal power through participation so that they can take action to improve their circumstances. The program offers a series of workshops that help immigrant women plan and prepare for their future in Canada. The training provided builds confidence and skills in the areas of career planning, communication, assertiveness, Canadian business culture, and accessing community resources.