Have you met Dr. Anne McIntosh, Associate Dean of Teaching at Augustana, Associate Professor of Biology and Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences? Spend a few minutes getting to know her better.
What is your first U of A memory?
So many memories to choose from as firsts because I grew up in Edmonton. I remember enjoying fancy suppers as a kid at the faculty club with my mom who was a member while she was doing MRI research at the Cross Cancer Institute. My first memory as a (future) student was in fall 2007 — I remember walking into Ellen Macdonald’s office to talk about graduate studies. I went into her office thinking I was definitely not going back to school, but then walked out ready to join Renewable Resources to do my PhD, and I started a few weeks later. At Augustana during the interview for my faculty position in winter 2014, I vividly remember when I found out they needed the new hire to co-teach their Costa Rica field studies course. I have since gone to Costa Rica three times with the course — monkeys, toucans, sloth, sea turtles and so many more firsts for our students is pura vida!
What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?
I once competed to be Edmonton’s worst golfer! I made it to the bottom, or top three, depending on how you look at it. I was relieved not to win as the winner got a whole season of golf lessons and I am definitely a duffer who is not that committed to improving! (I am still a terrible golfer as my family can attest based on my scores at our annual family golf tournament at Double Dam each year.)
What’s your favourite distraction?
Walks and/or tea breaks with friends and family.
If you were enrolling in one course, program or degree right now, what would it be?
I do not want to take any more university-level courses! But I do have a guitar at home right now that is decorative, so a course on how to play it might mean it finally gets played.
What’s a weird pet peeve you have?
As an ecologist, I can’t help but correct people who call all conifer cones a pine cone. There are a lot of erroneously labeled spruce (and other species) cones out there (just ask my six-year-old and he will correct you!). I am forever channeling my dendrology professor and hoping my students won’t mix cones up after my plant biology class!
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
My mom. We lost her to a brain tumor 4.5 years ago. I wish that she was here to have another conversation over a container of ice cream. She was always my biggest champion and had such sage advice on so many things and she shared my sweet tooth, so she would approve of ice cream for dinner.
If you could see any live performance tomorrow, what would it be?
I was going to pick the Edmonton Oilers winning the Stanley Cup, but that’s not happening (sigh), so instead I would love to take my six-year-old and watch the Beauty and the Beast musical instead. We saw it live last year and loved it so much that I would love to take him again.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Be kind to yourself and cut yourself some slack. Don’t expect to have all of the answers at a young age, or really at any age, as you still won’t have all of the answers even when you are half a century old! Embrace life-work balance and remember that life comes first. Enjoy the journey, bumps and all, as they will all be worth it in the end.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
A few minutes before the rush of the day starts to drink my morning chai latte and do the daily Wordle.
What three words describe your U of A experience?
Inspiring, challenging and rewarding.
About Anne
Anne McIntosh is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Associate Dean of Teaching at the Augustana Campus. She teaches courses focused on ecology, plants and statistics (everybody’s favorite!) Anne studies plant community recovery after disturbance; her current research focuses on biodiversity recovery after forest harvest and reclamation of oil and gas wellsites.