Dr. Connie Korpan (photo courtesy of the City of Grande Prairie)

By Emily Keller

women of influence

Women of Influence Awards to feature GPRC professor and researcher as keynote speaker

Feb 27, 2020 | 5:57 AM

The City will be hosting the Women of Influence Awards on March 6 at the Teresa Sargent Hall.

The awards recognize local women who promote equality and provide opportunity for women in the community.

The reception, which will go from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will feature a keynote speech from Dr. Connie Korpan.

Dr. Korpan is the Professor of Psychology and a researcher at the Grande Prairie Regional College.

She is also member of GPRC’s Board of Governors, and a longtime member of the Sunrise Rotary Club of Grande Prairie. Dr. Korpan also serves on several community boards, including PACE , the Suicide Prevention and Resource Centre and the Community Foundation’s Vital Signs leadership committee.

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She says when studying sciences in University, she felt women were still looked over compared to men in the same field, and that there were only a few other women in her program.

“That was in the early 80’s, and that surprised me, I thought we were beyond that. And those female students really ended up dropping out of the program because of that.”

Dr. Korpan says she hopes to highlight how education can help to further equity, in her speech and her work.

“What I know about how education dismantles rules that keep people down, whether it’s a man or a woman or people of different races. How education parts knowledge, and it builds skills so people can actually contribute to the economy as a paid employee, how they can influence a society through leadership.”

She adds that events and awards like these are an important way to formally recognize women, and help to work towards equality.

“I keep being surprised to be reminded of how we’ve gone far, but we haven’t gone as far as you think, or, we need to go even further. And so I think to help with moving further, in terms of attaining equity, is to celebrate women’s achievements.”

The reception goes from 11:30 to 1:30, and tickets cost $35. Tickets can be purchased here.