Campus News

UK to host Young Women LEAD conference for high school students

A panel of women in STEM professions will be part of the Young Women LEAD Conference hosted by UK STEM Education and presented by Toyota on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the Singletary Center on campus.
A panel of women in STEM professions will be part of the Young Women LEAD Conference hosted by UK STEM Education and presented by Toyota on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the Singletary Center on campus.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2022) — The University of Kentucky’s Department of STEM Education will host the Young Women LEAD (YWL) conference, presented by Toyota, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the Singletary Center for the Arts on campus.

“In addition to being an awesome space to highlight careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), this free event will help participants to feel empowered to pursue their goals while being leaders in their schools today,” said Jonathan Thomas, chair of the Department of STEM Education in the UK College of Education.

The Young Women LEAD conference is for high school students and focuses on Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD). The all-day conference features award-winning keynote presenter and author Julie Carrier, along with a powerhouse panel of women representing STEM careers. Women from the UK STEM education faculty will be part of the panel. The sessions will teach important skills needed to be successful in the workforce, particularly in STEM careers, and ways to develop their leadership potential in any field.

The free event is open to female high school students and will include lunch. Those interested in attending can register by visiting https://youngwomenlead.com/events-calendar/young-women-lead-conference-at-the-university-of-kentucky/. Registration is first-come, first-served and is limited to 700 registrants.

Young Women LEAD seeks to provide life-changing and experiential leadership events for high school young women that take place online and on the campus of colleges and university partners. With a 14-year history including 52 live events impacting 40,000 girls, Young Women LEAD is driving a national movement to create confident females who are provided tools to control their experience and their futures.

“I believe in this program because I have seen the impact on the thousands of girls who have attended over the past 12 years,” said Kimberly Code, executive director of Young Women LEAD. “If we can help even just one girl be a confident leader today, provide her hope to be something that she never thought possible and vision herself in a future career she didn’t think possible, then we have accomplished our goal for the conference.”

YWL is sponsored by Toyota and UK's Department of STEM Education.

For more information, contact Faith McNabb in the Department of STEM Education at famc225@uky.edu or 859-257-4235.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.