Sponsored by the friends and colleagues of Margaret–Ann Armour including the Chemical Education Fund, CSC Inorganic Division, CIC Macromolecular Science and Engineering Division, University of Alberta, Office of Science & Society at McGill University, University of Ottawa, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Brock University, and Wilfrid Laurier University. Donations to the Margaret-Ann Armour Award endowment may be made through the Chemical Education Fund.
This award is presented in memory of Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour as a mark of recognition to an early career educator who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to undergraduate education primarily at the post-secondary level in the chemical sciences, chemical engineering, or chemical technology.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
Deadline extended from Sept 1, 2024 to Sept 15, 2024
The 2024 winner of the Margaret-Ann Armour Award for Early Career Chemistry Education is:
Shannon Accettone, MCIC
Trent University
Shannon Accettone received her BSc in Chemistry and BEd in Intermediate/Senior Chemistry and Biology both from Ontario Tech University. She holds a PhD in analytical and materials chemistry from the University of Western Ontario. Shannon’s university teaching career began in 2016 with appointments in analytical and forensic chemistry at Trent University and general chemistry at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John. In 2020, she was appointed as the only teaching-intensive tenure-track instructor in Chemistry at Trent University where her teaching focus spans general, analytical, and forensic chemistry. She currently holds the two highest teaching honours available at Trent, The Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Decanal Award for Teaching Excellence in the Sciences.
Shannon’s curriculum development activities have included the updating of seven laboratory experiments across first-year chemistry, the development of five new experiments in forensic chemistry, as well as the expansion of the second-year analytical laboratory curriculum to 15 laboratory experiments from the previous four, emphasizing laboratory skills development and improvement of laboratory literacy. She is currently working on an ambitious redesign of the second-year analytical chemistry curriculum at Trent and a project to develop accessible and barrier-free laboratory education for differently abled students. Shannon’s approach to teaching centers around active and collaborative learning methods and includes elements of both mastery and specifications grading.
Shannon is an active member of the chemistry education community in Canada and is the current Vice-Chair of the CIC Chemistry Education Division. She has been involved in chairing and organizing various conferences and workshops in chemistry education and has presented and contributed to over two dozen talks and posters at national and international conferences describing her work in curriculum design and development as well as student support initiatives.