Rooted in Listening, Growing Through WIL: Building Manitoba’s Workforce for Tomorrow – Janet Westbury-Swain, CEWIL CANADA

Janet Westbury-Swain has built her career in academia with close to 30 years of undergraduate and graduate course design, delivery, and logistics. While teaching at a university in Ontario Janet always blended theory and practical application through experiential and work-integrated learning in each of her courses. With her commitment to students applying their theory into real world experiences and her extensive community partnerships, Janet transitioned into a staff role that focused on developing experiential learning within health sciences at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Here she worked closely with students, constantly collaborated with faculty and colleagues across the institution, while building community connections locally and globally.

Currently, Janet is Central Canada’s Regional Associate Director for CEWIL Canada. Supporting post-secondary institutes, students, and industry in Ontario and Manitoba to deliver quality work-integrated learning. She is truly honoured to work with CEWIL as it constantly is striving to reduce barriers for students engaged in work-integrated learning.

Janet’s leadership roles have ranged from President of a non-profit Board of Directors to Executive in multiple organizations servicing individuals with a wide range of ages and abilities. She has been a lead planner of 11 major events at the local, regional, and national levels.

Her international work began as a contributing author for an Education project in Dubai. She has been instrumental in leading an intensive WIL experience to South Africa and Namibia. Through Academics Without Borders, Janet has collaborated with the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda to help design an excellence centre focusing on teaching and learning.

All of these experiences culminated in Janet being selected for the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. After an intensive work-study experience in the Northwest Territories she and her team returned to Ottawa to present their findings to, Her Excellency, Mary Simon, Canada’s Governor General in 2022.

Janet truly believes that with leadership comes the responsibility to take action that will create positive change.