3 minute read
MSVU welcome
We are so inspired by the positive feedback and engagement we have received after establishing the Black Student Awards Fund at MSVU.
While this is an encouraging start, there is so much more we can accomplish - together.
As a Black woman and former Black Student Support Centre Assistant at MSVU, Temilola Olowookere has seen first-hand the obstacles that Black students face on their paths to success. “The reality is that many Black students encounter significant barriers to post-secondary education, including financial barriers. As a result, some Black students never make it to university while others are forced to drop out due to lack of funds.”
Together, we can help build strong futures for so many.
Donate Today!
ONLINE: MSVU.CA/DONATE BY PHONE: 902-457-6470 BY MAIL: MSVU, 166 Bedford Hwy, Bedford NS B3M 2J6
Temilola Olowookere MSVU Student
Thank you to all who have donated and offered support so far. We are so very grateful.
The empowerment of education
Jill Provoe (BPR ’98, MEd ’01, MHE ’01) is a firm believer in the power – and the empowerment – of education. As a young single mother of three, Provoe earned three degrees from MSVU and has spent the last 15 years working at the Nova Scotia Community College. Recently, she assumed the role as the inaugural director of the College’s Centre for the Advancement of Educational Equity and Belonging.
The newly launched centre is the only one of its kind in Canada housed within an academic department. “My focus and the focus of the centre is on ensuring students from equity groups have opportunities to excel,” says Provoe.
For Provoe, originally from Cape Breton, that focus is both laser sharp and ingrained. Indeed, she says, “it was the Mount’s emphasis on inclusivity for women that drew me to the university.”
“My understanding of culturally empowered and anti-racist spaces began at the Mount,” she adds.
While at MSVU, Provoe earned her Master of Education, Master of Human Ecology, and Bachelor of Public Relations. She also had her three children. “I remember being pregnant and walking up the hill, that big hill,” says Provoe with a laugh. “I also remember breastfeeding in class.” (There may also have been a paper dropped off late one evening while she was en route to the hospital to deliver.)
Raising a growing young family and tackling demanding studies wasn’t easy, Provoe stresses, but it was critical. “Education was the only way out.”
Helping to ensure students from equity groups have opportunities to excel is a starting point for advancement and inclusion, she notes, but much more needs to be done. “It’s about student access, experience, and outcomes. We want to create a genuine sense of belonging.”
“We’re gaining a better understanding of this need,” Provoe adds. “As educational professionals, we’re leaning into this more deeply.”
Prior to stepping into the ground-breaking role as director of NSCC’s Centre for the Advancement of Educational Equity and Belonging, Provoe, a bi-racial woman, served as senior advisor to the vice-president on educational equity, dean for the School of Access, and she helped to develop the college’s educational equity policy – the first for a post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada. “Now the centre brings that policy to life,” says Provoe.
New memories of MSVU are now being made by Provoe’s son Shey, who is working towards his degree in business administration. “As a young Black Nova Scotian, now he’s walking the hills of the Mount,” says Provoe. “I couldn’t be prouder.” FM
