A Nanaimo woman is leading the Canadian Federation of University Women into the future.
Susan Murphy was elected as president of the federation during the organization’s annual general meeting in Victoria June 21-24. She’ll serve as president from 2012-14.
“I am very honoured to be the president of the CFUW,” said Murphy, who served the past four years as vice-president for the B.C. CFUW board of directors and president of the B.C. council.
“We are very pleased that Susan’s skills and abilities will be shared with our national organization. Her local voluntary contributions are well known,” said Roberta Veenstra, CFUW Nanaimo branch president.
Murphy moved to Nanaimo from Winnipeg in 2000 and has been involved with various organizations in the community. She’s been chairwoman of task groups which focused on communication and raising money for the federation.
She has been an active volunteer, serving as chairwoman and board member for organizations such as United Way of Central Vancouver Island and Nanaimo Haven Society.
Murphy said every president adopts a theme for their three years in office, but instead, she choose three words – action, advocacy and education – to focus on.
The CFUW does a lot of advocacy work in conjunction with other women’s groups, and provides support to women looking to further their education.
“Our No. 1 goal is human rights and justice for women and girls,” said Murphy. “Education has made a huge difference in many women’s lives. It opens doors to better income.”
She said education can help women escape from poverty by finding higher paying jobs and allow them to save more for retirement.
The federation was founded in 1919 and is a national non-profit organization. There are 112 clubs across Canada with nearly 10,000 graduate women and student members.
For more information, please go to www.cfuw.org.