For Immediate Release: June 28, 2013

SACKVILLE, NB — Recent Mount Allison University grads Margaret (Meggie) MacMichael (’12) and Helen Tucker (’13), have each received a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, valued at $17,500 to pursue their master’s degrees through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The announcement was made as part of a national event by SSHRC earlier this summer.

Helen Tucker, a resident of Sackville, NB will begin her Master’s in Music (concentration in organ performance) at McGill University this fall. “My studies over the two-year program will examine North German organ music of the 16th and 17th centuries —the music of composers leading up to J.S. Bach,” she says. “This will be combined with recital and performance work, as well as courses and graduate studies in music history. I’m really excited for this next step.”

The daughter of two music educators, Tucker plans to pursue a career in both academia and performance following her Master’s. Playing organ for only five years, Tucker was also involved in several initiatives throughout her time at Mount Allison, including the Elliott Chorale and serving as a collaborative pianist. She was also Director of Music at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, taught piano lessons privately, and worked for the local Sackville Music Festival.

Prior to McGill, Tucker travelled to England this summer, working at the Aldeburgh Music Festival, which this year marks the centenary of British composer Benjamin Britten, on whom she completed a research project this past summer.

Debert, NS resident, Margaret (Meggie) MacMichael, who completed her BA, honours in geography in only three years following an International Baccalaureate (IB) program in high school, will be attending Dalhousie University. MacMichael will be studying the sustainability of rural communities in the Maritimes and local efforts and best planning practices that can or are working to create resilient and vibrant communities in the region.

“I will be looking specifically at the relatively recent adoption of Integrated Community Sustainability Plans and the effectiveness they have had in leading communities towards more sustainable processes,” she says. “The bulk of my research will be based on a number of case studies conducted in communities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI.”

While at Mount Allison, MacMichael was involved in many activities and received several awards including being named to the Dean’s List (all three years), the geography and environment departmental award, the William Tweedie Memorial medal, and the John Edgar Peters prize. She also played intramural sports, held various positions in her residence, and participated in Leadership Mount Allison, the Mount Allison Students’ Union, and Shinerama.

MacMichael, who is also the recipient of a Killam scholarship from Dalhousie, will be completing her research through the Master’s of environmental studies program and will be working with the rural research centre at the agricultural campus in Bible Hill.

About the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarships and SSHRC

The Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarships funding opportunity seeks to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students in the social sciences and humanities who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is the federal research funding agency that promotes and supports postsecondary-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences.