Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour passed away peacefully on May 25, 2019, surrounded by loved ones and loved by so many around the world.
Margaret-Ann Armour was born in Scotland and was the first Associate Dean, Diversity, at the University of Alberta. She is best known for her expertise in developing guidelines for hazardous lab waste disposal and for being a vocal advocate for women in science. Armour championed the creation of the Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST) program. Among her many honours, she was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow (1996), a member of the Order of Canada (2006), and a Canada 150 ambassador (2017).
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Memories of Dr. Armour
Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour’s celebration of life was held June 12, 2019. Here is a link to the celebration, which also includes many photos at the end.
Margaret-Ann Armour’s obituary. Link
University mourns loss of passionate promoter of women in science and tech, University of Alberta, Link
Margaret Ann Armour – a remarkable life, ZZChick Blob, Link
Mentor, scientist, advocate and spunky fast walker: Margaret-Ann Armour, Edmonton Journal, Link
Margaret-Ann Armour, Wikipedia, Link
Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour: Her Vision, Leadership and Legacy, WinSETT Centre, Link
Paying tribute to the University of Alberta’s Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour, Honourable Paula Simons, Senator, Link
The wisest of words, a tribute to Margaret-Ann Armour, Hallie Brodie, Link
The CIC Board and Chemistry Education Division have approved creation of the Margaret-Ann Armour Early Career Chemistry Education Award, subject to establishment of a suitable endowment. This award will recognize an early career educator who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to undergraduate education at the post-secondary level in the chemical sciences and engineering technology.
Donations may be made through the Chemistry Education Fund webpage at https://www.cheminst.ca/about/about-cef/. Click on the blue "Donate" box, and then scroll to the bottom of the "Donation Information" page to find the Margaret-Ann Armour Early Career Chemistry Education Fund.
The champion
Margaret-Ann was a champion of equity, diversity, inclusion in science and engineering. She has been the University of Alberta’s Associate Dean of Science for diversity since 2005. Indeed, she has been Canada’s premier ambassador for equity in science for more than a quarter of a century. You can read more about her roles here: https://medium.com/ualberta2017/the-champion-9d9dadef47fd
WISEST
Margaret-Ann also championed the creation of WISEST: Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology, which focuses on creating effective programs to empower women and other underrepresented groups to pursue, impact, and succeed in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. https://www.ualberta.ca/services/wisest
Chair: Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades, and Technology
Photo credit: @WinSETTCentre
In 2009, Dr. Armour led a group of women to found the Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades and Technology (WinSETT Centre). WinSETT Centre takes a national focus on advocating for women’s full inclusion in science, engineering, trades and technology workplaces and fosters links between academic, industry, governments, associations, unions, and non-governmental organizations. Read more
Honorary degrees
On May 24, the day before she passed away, she received an honorary degree from the University of Concordia (Edmonton). While receiving this degree, she in particular wanted to connect with students and recorded a convocation message for them which was played for them along with a live chemistry demonstration (by Glen Loppnow).
Margaret-Ann received many honorary degrees, including Honorary Doctorate in Science degrees from the University of British Columbia (2008), University of Alberta (2013), Memorial University of Newfoundland (2015), the University of Edinburgh (2016, her alma mater), and an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Concordia University of Edmonton (2019). She received an Honorary B. Tech. Degree from NAIT in 2011.
Recognition for inspiring work
Dr. Armour has received many awards including the Order of Canada, a Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Person’s Case, the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Awards Foundation Special Award, and a 3M National Teaching Fellowship.
In 2003, Maclean’s Magazine named Dr. Armour one of Ten Canadians Making a Difference and she was twice named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network. During Edmonton's centenary celebrations, Dr. Armour was named one of the 100 Edmontonians of the Century.
Photo credit: zzchick blog post
Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour School
She also has a school in her name, the Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour School. Hear from Margaret-Ann and take a tour of the school in this video. You can also learn more about the school on their website or Facebook page.
Photo credit: Dr. Margaret-Ann Amour School Facebook page
Photo credit: @uAlbertaScience (Twitter)
Read more: http://margaretannarmour.epsb.ca/aboutourschool/schoolprofile/
“Dr. Margaret-Ann, you are so lucky to be named after a school.” —student at the Dr. Margaret-Ann School, who gave Dr. Margaret-Ann quite a chuckle.
CIC Award for Chemistry Education
Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour received the 2018 CIC Award for Chemistry Education. You can read more here: http://chemedcanada.com/newposts/2018/5/22/congratulations-to-cic-chemistry-education-award. Many friends and colleagues celebrated the award with her at the CSC’s annual conference.
She gave an amazing award presentation at the CSC conference, bringing us back for a walk through history, drawing our attention to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, empowering us with a call to action, and reminding us of the joys of chemistry with her demonstration.
Making Chemistry Inclusive
Dr. Armour authored the chapter: Academic Chemistry Disciplines Through a Gender Diversity Lens. This chapter draws on evidence to illustrate issues in gender diversity in chemistry, such as the discouraging statistics for faculty in chemistry departments across Canada (9.8% female), systemic biases, and important education transition points. She also describes two major initiatives to change the situation: WISEST and Project Catalyst.
Margaret-Ann did many things to support and mentor women and others toward making chemistry inclusive. Here she is at the LOGIC retreat in 2018. LOGIC = Leaders Overcoming Gender Inequality in Chemistry
Many dear friends in the chemistry education community
“Nothing beats Margaret-Ann’s curiosity”
When Keyano student Stella Dang was unable to attend the C3 conference to receive her 2000 C3 Student Scholarship I turned to Margaret-Ann and Norman Gee to make the presentation to her. Margaret-Ann went so far as to take Stella (then in second year) to lunch at the U of A Faculty Club and presented the scholarship to her there. —With thanks to Bill Blann for this submission.
