A woman that the University of Saskatchewan named as one of its top 100 alumni is coming back to the province for a visit this fall.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell, who in 1992 became executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, will be in Regina as keynote speaker for a home economists conference. In her career she also worked for the Saskatchewan government as human rights ombudsman and education consultant and worked on environment issues for the federal government.
She began by taking a home economics degree at the U of S and served as first president of the Saskatchewan Home Economic Teachers Association. SHETA is celebrating its 40th anniversary and is holding a conference with its sister group, the 50-year-old Association of Saskatchewan Home Economists Oct. 2-4 in Regina.
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One of the conference organizers, Annalee Fuhr, a home ec teacher in Kamsack, Sask., said up to 120 people are expected to attend, the majority of them graduates of the U of S home economics program. That degree no longer exists at the U of S other than if an education student wants to become a home ec teacher. The home ec college was phased out at the U of S in 1990 but degrees are still granted at the universities of Manitoba or Alberta.
Fuhr said while the majority of home economists are women there are some men, most of whom tend to teach commercial cooking as a trade.
She said home economics is often an optional course in Saskatchewan high schools but it is becoming popular among teenagers.
“Kids realize they need skills for when they leave home, particularly nutrition …. It’s becoming in, again.”
Members of the public can attend the conference. For more information, phone Wendy Lutz at 306-896-2605.
