Dr. Suzie Currie (’91) has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science at Acadia and will commence her six-year term on July 1, 2018.

Dr. Currie is currently a full professor and Head of the Department of Biology at Mount Allison University. She describes herself as “a proud Acadia alumna who was inspired by many Acadia faculty and staff.” She holds a BSc (Honours) from Acadia and an MSc as well as a PhD from Queen’s University supervised by Acadia alumnus, Dr. Bruce Tufts (’82). Shortly after completing her PhD, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, working with Dr. Robert Boutilier (’76, DSC ’96). Dr. Currie has been awarded over $1.5 million from NSERC, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, and the NB Environmental Trust Fund. She worked collaboratively with Advancement at MTA to use some of these funds to leverage a generous private donation from the Harold Crabtree Foundation to design and build the University’s Crabtree Aqualab Centre for Aquatic Sciences.

In addition to an exemplary teaching and research record, Dr. Currie has successfully held several university administrative/leadership roles, including member of the Board of Regents, President of the Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs, and President of the Canadian Society of Zoologists. Dr. Currie served as the Acting Dean of Science and Graduate Studies at Mount Allison University. Her involvement in committee works extends beyond the university to include leadership roles at NSERC, serving on the Executive Committee as one of the co-chairs of the Biological Systems and Functions Evaluation Group for two years.

In 2013, she was part of a 13-member national focus group on the Council of Canadian Academies’ roundtable on the allocation of the NSERC Discovery Grants budget. Representing the natural sciences and engineering research across Canada, this committee provided advice to NSERC’s Committee on Grants and Scholarships.