With Canada Day quickly approaching, I am beyond proud to share what a privilege, honour and personal milestone it was for me to represent Canada and Carleton University at the 2024 Scholars at Risk (SAR) Congress, held this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.
My mission while in attendance was to learn from global SAR programs and to share the accomplishments achieved and lives changed through SAR Carleton’s initiatives since our program’s inception in 2014.
Together with University of British Columbia Professor Lisa Sundstrom and Carleton Professor Melanie Adrian, we secured a timely meeting with Canadian Ambassador, Jeanette Sautner and Counsellor Agnes Pust to update them on our Canadian programs and Carleton’s leadership in this area. Their interest and encouragement were truly heartening!
I will share more in the coming days about the conference, including some excellent models focused on both helping at-risk scholars, and protecting and fostering knowledge networks.
I’m so proud of our Canadian efforts and I am now even more so energized and informed to help advance the leadership of the Scholars at Risk programs at Carleton and across Canada.
Happy Canada Day Weekend!
-Norah Vollmer, SAR Carleton Co-Chair, SAR Canada Steering Committee