Skule™ alumna Nancy Hill (CivE 8T1) may work in intellectual property law but she is very much an engineer at heart.
As a patent agent, trademark agent, lawyer and founding member of the patent and trademark agency firm Hill & Schumacher, Hill manages international portfolios of patents, trademarks and design works for clients ranging from start-up businesses to universities. She regularly draws upon her engineering background while drafting patents in a wide variety of areas including robotics, mechanical devices, software, chemical processes, microfluidics and electromagnetic devices.
Hill also contributes her time to the engineering community in many significant ways, including as a member of the Engineering Alumni Association (EAA) Honours and Awards Committee at U of T, a warden of Camp 1 for the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer and as a long-standing volunteer for a variety of committees at Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO)—an organization she is currently in the running to lead as president.
U of T Engineering’s Jamie Hunter recently spoke to Hill about her law career, volunteerism and her accomplishments at PEO.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in law instead of engineering?
The career I’ve chosen is very much a combination of the two. I’m very much a part of the knowledge-based economy so the majority of my clients are engineers. On a daily basis, I try to figure out how new inventions work so I can describe them and claim them in words. I feel very much like I am building on my engineering background, while combining it with the law.
Was that your career plan all along?
When I went into engineering, I explored other things and talked to other people, including a few lawyers. My dad was an adjunct professor at U of T in the Faculty of Medicine and had worked with engineers. He had a fellowship student who had been a mechanical engineer, so Dad hoped that I would go from engineering into medicine as opposed to engineering into law.
After graduating from U of T Engineering, I worked as an engineering consultant for two years before going to law school. I think the reality was that I had more schooling in me and was generally interested in the law. I think it’s a good fit for me. I like the language and I’m intrigued by it. Being in patent law is the perfect fit.
What is the most important thing you took away from your engineering degree?
Ultimately, it’s the ability to figure things out and the confidence of knowing that I will be able to figure things out. I deal with a broad range of engineering disciplines, so when confronted with a new invention—although I may not know anything about the field—my engineering background gives me the self-confidence to know that I’ll be able to understand it as long as I’m given enough information.
Is there a U of T Engineering alumna/alumnus/professor that inspired you to stay involved with Skule™?
I served on a committee with Sonia De Buglio (ChemE 9T4) [Director of Alumni Relations at U of T Engineering] and she got me into volunteering more at U of T. I have served on some committees with Jane Phillips (ChemE 5T3) and Barbara McCann, who both inspired me. Early on in my career, I taught a course at U of T’s School of Continuing Studies on patenting and intellectual property. That influenced me to get involved as well.
As an alumna, what has been the most rewarding aspect of your involvement with U of T?
Seeing the young people. I was at the EAA Awards ceremony recently and I was sitting beside a young student, and he was so impressive and enthusiastic. For the past two years I’ve also attended the Entrepreneurship Hatchery’s Demo Day (Hill & Schumacher provides a bursary). I’m very impressed with The Hatchery initiative—it’s a great opportunity for students to explore their entrepreneurial mindset. I find that quite inspiring.
Since you became involved as a volunteer at U of T Engineering, have you seen an increase in the number of young alumni volunteering?
I think it’s wonderful that U of T Engineering is finding ways to attract young alumni to volunteer. I think it’s difficult for recent alumni to juggle young families and their careers and volunteer. But they do, and I think it speaks a lot about U of T Engineering that young alumni are willing to give their time back to the University.
Can you expand upon your volunteer role as chair of the Women in Engineering Advisory Committee at PEO?
I did that quite a while ago [1995-1998] but we had a very significant breakthrough when I was chair. We convinced PEO to amend the Professional Engineers Act to include harassment as a part of professional misconduct. In doing so, PEO was the first professional engineering organization in Canada to do that. We were seen very much as the leader, and it was great to be a part of that. But it was a challenge—it took us nearly 10 years. We did a national survey and we were able to demonstrate that both men and women thought it was important to include harassment, and that was critical in our being able to move forward. We also set up a Guideline on Human Rights in Professional Practice, which provided information for the engineering community in terms of how to handle equity and diversity issues. We felt it was important not only to have the act changed but to also provide tools.
Why are you deciding to run for president of PEO now?
I’m at a place where I’d like to take on a leadership role. I have recently been chair of the Complaints Committee and we made some significant changes in our processes, and I think I can build on that in the organization more broadly. I also co-authored a report for the Complaints and Discipline Process Task Force where we did a comprehensive review of the complaints and discipline process. I have a good understanding of the core functions of PEO and I feel that I could help bring positive change to the organization.
The other thing that I’m quite concerned about is that it seems that we have barriers to licensure. I’d like to get a better handle on this. When we talk about engineering, we emphasize transferable skills, but when we look at licensure it seems to me that we look at it very narrowly. If you’re doing any kind of engineering outside of design, I don’t think the pathway to licensure is as straightforward as it should be. I think this causes problems with relevancy, because a lot of kids may decide that they don’t need to be a part of PEO. It also causes problems from a labour market point of view. We know how many kids are graduating with engineering degrees, we know how many engineers are licensed, but we don’t really know how many people are working in engineering.
U of T Engineering celebrated a record-number of female first-year students this year. Can you comment on the importance of this milestone to the profession?
I think it’s important that we attract women to engineering. Having a female dean has made a huge difference and I think she’s really supported women within the Faculty, which is fabulous. I think women represent around 10 per cent [specifically 11.7 per cent according to Engineers Canada] of all licensed engineers—not very high when you consider that we represent approximately 50 per cent of the population. The universities are the pipeline to increasing the numbers of licensed female engineers.
George Comrie (IndE 7T0), Nancy Hill (CivE 8T1) and R. Anthony Warner are all running for the position of president-elect in the 2015 Council Elections at PEO. The Faculty is thrilled to have two of our esteemed alumni as candidates. Please be sure to cast your vote by Feb. 27, 2015.
— Jamie Hunter