A new award, spawned by discussions with the late Margaret-Ann Armour, FCIC, now preserves her memory as a way for the CIC’s Chemical Education Fund to support educators in the chemical sciences. The suggestion for this award dates from 2017, when she expressed her enthusiasm for such an award.

“Fundraising was progressing last summer when Margaret-Ann passed, just a few weeks before the Canadian Chemistry Conference in Quebec City,” recalls Charles Lucy, FCIC, who was among the principal supporters of this initiative. “Given all that she had contributed to science education and her ardent support for this new award, it seemed appropriate to name the Early Career Chemistry Education Award after her.”

The process of naming the award is now complete and fundraising for it is still underway. The current endowment will launch the award and more is needed to ensure its ongoing success and ensure that recipients are provided with a meaningful prize. To help make that happen with your own tax deductible contribution, please press the blue “donate” button on the Chemical Education Fund portion of the CIC website.

You will find the terms of reference for the Margaret-Ann Armour Award for Early Career Chemistry Education on the recognition page of the CIC website. The nomination deadline for this inaugural award is September 1, 2020. This honour recognizes an early career educator who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to undergraduate education at the post-secondary level in the chemical sciences, chemical engineering, or chemical technology.

“This was a role that Margaret-Ann valued highly and demonstrated in everything she did,” explains Lucy, pointing to a memorial page on the Chemistry Education Division section of the CIC website that showcases her many contributions as well as the legion of friends and admirers she assembled during her lifetime.