Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire is a Canadian engineer born in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
in 1941.
The first woman to earn a degree in civil engineering, she was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2003, and made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2005. She has been chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation of
École Polytechnique de Montréal
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* Éco ...
since 2013.
Biography
Early life and education
Michèle Thibodeau was the eldest of a family of four children.
She received her diploma from Sacred Heart Convent in 1957. When she was 17, her father, an architect, encouraged her to enroll at
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
of Montréal.
In 1963 she was the first woman to earn a degree in civil engineering.
Also that year, she married Pierre-André DeGuire.
(The honour of the first woman to graduate from the Polytechnique belongs to Gabrielle Bodis, Diplôme en mécanique–électricité, in 1959.)
Career
Thibodeau-DeGuire worked for nearly 20 years as a structural engineer, starting in 1963 with Lalonde Girouard Letendre. In 1975, she became a consulting engineer at Francis Boulva and Associates.
She built several bridges and worked in particular on the construction of the walls of the
Décarie Expressway
Autoroute 15 is a highway in western Quebec, Canada. It is also called the Décarie Expressway (English) or (French) between the Turcot and Décarie Interchanges in Montreal and the Laurentian Autoroute (English) or (French) north of Auto ...
.
From 1982 to 1984, Thibodeau-DeGuire served as General Delegate of Québec in Boston,
maintaining relations with multiple levels of government in six states in the northeastern United States.
In 1985, Thibodeau-DeGuire joined the staff of École Polytechnique of Montréal, first as assistant to the president. In 1986, she became director of public relations.
In December 1989, she was responsible for the institution's communication during and after the
École Polytechnique massacre
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* Éco ...
.
The school president and director were in Europe.
Thibodeau-DeGuire showed admirable leadership throughout the crisis and in the organization of commemorative events and outreach which followed.
From April 1991 to 31 December 2012, Thibodeau-DeGuire was president and CEO of
Centraide
United Way Centraide Canada () is the national organization for the autonomous, volunteer-based United Ways and Centraides across Canada.
The United Way Movement in Canada is a federated network of local United Way offices serving more than 5,000 ...
(English: The United Way) of Greater Montréal.
She was at the origin of project "1, 2, 3, Go" which helped children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Under her leadership, fundraising increased from $23 million to $58.7 million, mainly through increasing major donors from 3,000 to 8,000.
In January 2013, Thibodeau-DeGuire succeeded
Bernard Lamarre as Chairman of the Board of the Corporation of the École Polytechnique of Montréal with a five-year term.
In 2014, Thibodeau-DeGuire agreed to chair the selection committee for the Order of the White Rose, a $30,000 national scholarship for a female engineering graduate students. It was established in memory of the victims of the massacre 25 years earlier.
In 2013 Centraide launched the Michèle-Thibodeau-DeGuire Award,
which annually recognizes an outstanding volunteer of the charity.
Awards
*Member of the
Canadian Academy of Engineering The Canadian Academy of Engineering () is a national academy of distinguished professional engineers in fields of engineering, who are elected on the basis of "their distinguished service and contribution to society, to the country and to the profes ...
(1991)
*Merit Award from the Alumni Association of École Polytechnique de Montréal (1994)
*Builder of the Month, ''Revue Commerce'' (1994)
*Order of Merit of the Alumni Association of the Université de Montréal (1995)
*Grand Prix of Excellence of the Order of Engineers of Quebec (1995)
*Award from the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (1995)
*Personality of the Year, Richelieu International (1999)
*Personality of the Year, ''
Les Affaires'' (1999)
*McGill Management Achievement Award (2001)
*Grands Montrélais of the Académie des Grands Montrélais (2001)
*Member of the Order of Canada (2003)
*Award from the John Molson School of Business at
Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
(2003)
*Knight of the National Order of Quebec (2005)
*Honorary Doctorate of the University of Montréal (HEC)(2005)
*Honorary Doctorate from Concordia University (2006)
*Honorary Doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2007)
*Honorary Doctorate from
McGill University
McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
(2008)
*Fellow of Engineers Canada (2011)
*Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...
(2012)
Board of directors
*1965–1978: Association of graduates of the École Polytechnique de Montréal
*1993–1999: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
*1998–2004: Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN)
*2007–present: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
*2013–present: Corporation of the École Polytechnique de Montréal
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thibodeau-DeGuire, Michèle
1941 births
Living people
Canadian engineers
Engineers from Montreal