Derick, Carrie

  • Wiki Biography:
    • Carrie Matilda Derick (January 14, 1862 – November 10, 1941) was a Canadian botanist and geneticist, the first woman professor in a Canadian university, and the founder of McGill University’s genetics department.
    • Born in the Eastern Townships in Clarenceville, Canada East (now Quebec) in 1862, Derick was educated at the Clarenceville Academy in Clarenceville, QC. She began teaching by the age of fifteen. Derick later received teacher training at the McGill Normal School, graduating in 1881 as a Prince of Wales Gold Medal winner. She then went on to become a school teacher in Clarenceville and Montreal, and later serving as a principal (at the age of nineteen) of the Clarenceville Academy.
    • Instead, Derick was officially appointed as professor of morphological botany by McGill University in 1912. This made Derick the first woman both at McGill University and in Canada to achieve university professorship. However, morphological botany was not Derick’s research expertise, and this new position did not come with a pay rise, or a seat on the faculty. Derick was told by the McGill University president that this was a ‘courtesy title’ and she was not actually a professor. Furthermore, the new botany department chair assigned Derick work suitable for a demonstrator, not a professor.
    • Derick continued to persevere in her role, and returned to teaching and research after a new demonstrator was hired. She later petitioned to have her title changed to professor of comparative morphology and genetics to be more representative of her expertise and research interests.
    • Derick founded McGill University’s genetics department. She created the Evolution and Genetics course (the first of its kind in Canada) and published a number of academic publications on botany. She was one of the few women to be listed in the American Men of Science (1910).
    • Due to poor health, Derick retired in 1929. McGill University awarded her the honorary title of “professor emerita,” making her the first woman professor emeritus in Canada.
  • Great Granddaughter to United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=2195
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185556649/carrie-matilda-derick