Nancy Nelson

Nancy Nelson is truly one of the outstanding characters of the Biology Department. Her dedication to students and McGill is unparalleled. She has the crucial role of Undergraduate Advisor, and for many students, she is the face of the department and the person they turn to first whenever they need help or advice. She not only has an encyclopedic knowledge of courses and programs, but is also unfailingly helpful and cheerful. Our undergraduate program offers a very wide range of opportunities for different kinds of learning, and it is correspondingly complex. In addition, many interdepartmental programs are housed in Biology. Nancy is a vital element for these programs, rendering them easily accessible to undergraduates who are otherwise faced with a bewildering variety of choices. It would not operate nearly as effectively without her continual guidance.
She is held in high regard by all the professors in the Biology Department. Nancy has never been known to say, “That’s not my job.” She will respond to students in crisis, often after hours. The students, professors and staff just love her. Students refer to her as a life-saver and the biologists want to clone her! In her free time (when she manages to find some) she is a competitive swimmer and has entered many national and international competitions. She is a member of the Board for Westmount Sports and Recreation, and in recent years, was the recipient of the Westmount Volunteer Award for work she did for various organizations, such as Roslyn School, Westmount School, the TAG Teen Center and Garderie Narnia. She also attends all the convocations and volunteers there so she can see “her students” graduate and personally congratulate them.

Nominated by a colleague at the Faculty of Science