The Brandon University community is in grieving following the loss of a psychology professor. Dr. Tammy McKenzie is being remembered as a caring and thoughtful professor whose research into animal perception helped create interspecies empathy.
A double graduate of Brandon University, with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Zoology and Psychology, Dr. McKenzie completed a Master of Arts in Behavioral Neuroscience at Brock University before earning her Ph.D. in Psychology, specializing in animal cognition, from the University of Western Ontario. After working with a large number of different animal species, from rats and hamsters, to pigeons and songbirds, to squirrel monkeys, she focused her research on learning, perception, numerical processing, and memory in horses.
"For 20 years, Tammy was a thoughtful and dedicated instructor to the thousands of students she taught and mentored," recalled BU Dean of Science Dr. Christophe LeMoine.
After her initial appointment with BU as lecturer in Psychology in 2005 for a full-time term, Dr. McKenzie was quickly promoted to Assistant Professor and received a full-time appointment in 2007. She received tenure in late 2008, and served in the Department of Psychology ever since, including six years as Chair, as well as sitting on many committees.
"We will all miss Tammy as a friendly colleague, a dedicated instructor and researcher, and an active member of our faculty and campus community," Dr. LeMoine said. "Our thoughts are with Tammy's family and all of her friends in this difficult time."
Funeral arrangements are pending, following Dr. McKenzie's death on April 19. A service expected to be held in late May in Wawanesa. Brandon University will lower its flag to half-mast in her honour.
