The University of Alberta banner is flying at half-mast from July 4-8, 2019 in remembrance of Rosalind A. Sydie, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology.
Photo: Michael Holly
Rosalind Ann Sydie
Rosalind 'Ros' A. Sydie, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology, died on June 10, 2019 in Edmonton, Alberta. Her impact on the University of Alberta was profound and lasting. She was instrumental in developing women's studies and in fighting for equity in the academy. A faculty member in the Department of Sociology from 1974 to 2006, she served as Chair from 2000 to 2006. After her retirement, she was a lively leader in the university's Festival of Ideas and United Way campaign.
Professor Sydie's research and teaching contributed to gender and social theory throughout her career. She was the author, among many other works, of the book Natural Women, Cultured Men, a Feminist Perspective on Sociological Theory in 1994. In 1970, she offered the university's first course in the area of women's studies, Sex Roles (later Sociology of Gender). As she wrote in the book Minds of Our Own (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008), the course had attracted over two hundred enrolled students by its second year.
Predeceased by her husband of 48 years, Campbell Sydie, she leaves behind two daughters, Annabelle Sydie-Smith (Kelly Smith) and Alexandra Sydie (Mark Davies) along with her adored grandchildren and her extended family of lifelong friends, neighbors and colleagues. In lieu of flowers the family ask that you please consider a donation in honour of Ros to the University of Alberta United Way campaign.
We will miss her wit, passion, drive, and generosity as a scholar and a friend.
- Sara Dorow, Professor & Chair, on behalf of the Department of Sociology
For information about lowering the University of Alberta banner, visit the In Memoriam webpage.In Memoriam webpage.