Lakeland College and Women Building Futures (WBF) are partnering to give diversity a boost in power engineering.

Lakeland College and Women Building Futures campaign graphic With Lakeland's support, WBF's Power Engineer Career Accelerator program will increase the career readiness of women and Indigenous women in the region. Lakeland and WBF outlined the partnership in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that came into effect in April. WBF will contribute financially to the arrangement with the support of program sponsors, Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline

“We look forward to working with WBF to expand the number of women who come into our heavy oil power engineering (HOPE) program,” Brad Onofrychuk, ​dean of ​energy at Lakeland College, says. “A diverse workforce is something industry wants and needs. This program will give women the tools they need to succeed in HOPE and help industry find the best candidates for the job.”

Lakeland will provide training space at the Lloydminster campus this summer and qualified instructors to help prepare participants for the HOPE program in the areas of math and other skills. Women who are successful candidates for the WBF Accelerator program will apply for HOPE and Lakeland will hold seats for them in the fall intake, pending their successful application. Students will complete the three-week power engineer career accelerator program this summer prior to starting the first year of HOPE Aug​. 27, 2021.

“We're thrilled to be partnering with the team at Lakeland College to help increase women's participation in power engineering. Our program sponsors, Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline, are committed to providing unique paid learning opportunities for students of the Power Engineer Career Accelerator program. We look forward to working with Lakeland College to deliver an exciting program with great opportunity for employment,” says Jess Thomson, director of stakeholder & government relations with WBF.

Through the HOPE program, successful students are guaranteed two practicum placements with industry partners. Applications are still open until June 7 for the WBF accelerator program and more info can be found at womenbuildingfutures.com The WBF accelerator program is scheduled to begin Aug. 5, with the next HOPE intake for fall 2021.