- AR-049
- Persona
- 1927-2008
Naomi Hersom was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1927 to Fred and Anna Hersom. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1947 before beginning a career in teaching. In 1969 she received her Ph.D. in education from the University of Alberta and was appointed associate professor in the University of Alberta’s department of education. Noticing the limited number of women in the faculty, she started an association for women at the University of Alberta.
In 1975, she was appointed head of elementary education at the University of British Columbia, where she met and worked with Dr. Margaret Fulton who was dean of women at UBC at the time. Dr. Fulton encouraged Dr. Hersom to apply for the president position at Mount Saint Vincent, where she became the seventh president from 1986 to 1991.
During her tenure she oversaw the building of the E. Margaret Communications Centre, the expansion of distance education learning and Open Learning Programs, and the Initiative for Women in Science, which established a chair for women in science at MSVU and a science centre with classrooms, offices, and research spaces for students and faculty in the sciences and mathematics departments.