Margaret MacVicar

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Margaret L.A. MacVicar
BornNovember 20, 1943
MIT

Margaret L.A. (Scotty) MacVicar (November 20, 1943 – September 30, 1991) was an American physicist and educator. In addition to serving as MIT's Dean of Undergraduate Education (1985–1990), MacVicar is credited with founding the now widely emulated Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in 1969.[1] MacVicar received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at MIT and joined the faculty, giving her the rare distinction of being a "MIT lifer."

Background

MacVicar was born on November 20, 1943, in Hamilton, Ontario to George and Elizabeth MacVicar. Her family relocated to Flint, Michigan in 1946 where she lived until she graduated from high school in 1961. Because she had been taking classes at a local junior college as a high school student, a local retired General Motors senior executive offered to help defray the costs of attending MIT.[1]

At MIT, she was one of the first residents of the

superconducting magnetometry.[1]

As dean for undergraduate education, she worked to recruit more women, minorities, and students of varied interests, implemented changes in the humanities and social science requirements, and publicly criticized a

ROTC programs.[7]

MacVicar was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from

The Winsor School, a girls' college prep school, from 1951 to 1963.[8]

She died on September 30, 1991, at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, a year after being diagnosed with cancer.[7]

UROP

MIT is deeply committed to the premise that undergraduates should inhabit a very special world-that of a moral and intellectual universe with certain fixed stars, but also with wide spaces in between where students can find room to wander and to make their own paths.

— Margaret MacVicar

MacVicar established the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in 1969 based upon a suggestion from Edwin H. Land.[9][10] The program allows undergraduates to gain hands-on research experience with faculty members around the university and provides the laboratories with the funds to employ the students. More than 3,000 undergraduates (75% of the undergraduate population) participate annually.[11] The program has since been cited as a model educational program by the Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and several private foundations.[1]

MacVicar Faculty Fellows

Each year, beginning in 1992, members of the faculty are selected as Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows "to recognize faculty members who have profoundly influenced our students through their sustained and significant contributions to teaching and curriculum development."[12] The fellows are appointed for a ten-year term and receive support from the Teaching and Learning Laboratory. The fellows are announced on "MacVicar Day" in early March with roundtable discussions and symposia centered on various facets of undergraduate education such as curriculum requirements, mentoring, classrooms, international exposure.[13]

Margaret L. A. MacVicar ’65, ScD ’67 Award

The MIT Alumni Association and MIT created the Margaret L. A. MacVicar ’65, ScD ’67 Award, and each year "is given in recognition of innovation, dedication and meaningful impact for the Alumni Association or the Institute in any area of volunteer activity, demonstrating strong potential for future volunteer leadership for the Alumni Association."[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Professor MacVicar Dies at 47". MIT News Office. October 2, 1991. Archived from the original on February 17, 2005. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  2. ^ "History – McCormick Hall". mccormick.scripts.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. ^ MIT SHASS (2012-11-14), Remembering Margaret MacVicar, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2018-11-20
  4. ISBN 9780262731577
    .
  5. ^ "Undergraduate dean MacVicar dies at 47 - The Tech". tech.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. ^ "Former MIT President Paul Gray dies at 85 after lifelong career of service and leadership at the Institute". MIT News. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. ^ a b Frank J. Prial (October 2, 1991). "Margaret MacVicar, M.I.T. Dean and School Innovator, Dies at 47". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  8. Boston Globe. p. 107. Archived from the original
    on June 29, 2011. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  9. JSTOR 3824908
    .
  10. ^ "MIT History | Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)". libraries.mit.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  11. ^ "UROP: Basic Information". Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  12. ^ "Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows Program". Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  13. ^ "MacVicar Day 2007". Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  14. ^ "Margaret L. A. MacVicar '65, ScD '67 Award". Retrieved 2021-11-12.

External links

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