Dr. Tasneem Khaleel Award for Mentoring Young Professional Women
Dr. Elaine Westbrook
Assistant Professor, Educational Theory and Practice, COE
Dr. Westbrook has been active in mentoring future education leaders since she arrived at MSU Billings. She focuses on making connections between students and faculty in new ways, using science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a pathway. She is a former Girl Scouts leader and understands what it means to make meaningful connections.
鈥淎s a woman in STEM, she undertook projects that would advance, nourish, and support young women in the community to understand their potential and the affordances that a career in STEM could ultimately provide them,鈥� one nominator wrote. 鈥淭hrough offering programs and supporting students on campus (giving them a truly transformative experience), she ushered forth a vision for a promising future for these young women.鈥�
Another nominator wrote that as liaison for the sciences, Dr. Westbrook leads by example for young women. She has provided summer camps dedicated to STEM topics and has recruited undergraduate students to be involved in the Montana Space Grant Consortium. 鈥淒r. Westbrook facilitates meaningful engagements so as to support our young professional women who will one day flourish as a direct result and byproduct of her practices,鈥� he wrote.