Our Department would like to acknowledge the loss of our colleague Dr. Tammy McKenzie. Tammy’s calm presence, positive energy, and leadership is greatly missed.

Tammy was a Brandon University graduate and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 1997 and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1999. She then completed a Master of Arts in Behavioural Neuroscience at Brock University and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario. Tammy joined the Department of Psychology at Brandon University in 2005. She was actively involved in committee work, teaching, and research at BU. Specializing in animal cognition, Tammy studied learning and memory in horses and taught a variety of courses including Introduction to Psychology, Environmental Psychology, and Classical and Instrumental Conditioning.

Tammy taught hundreds of undergraduate students throughout her career and was a mentor to dozens of Psychology honours students. Through her teaching, her students could easily discern her enthusiasm for her discipline and for teaching them. Students also experienced her kindness, patience, and understanding if they were experiencing academic or personal difficulties as they worked towards completion of their degrees. She combined deep disciplinary knowledge with genuine compassion, and students valued and respected her for it.

In 2019 Tammy stepped into the role of Psychology Department Chair. She flourished in this role, providing calm, steady, and strong leadership. Tammy had the ability to listen and respond fairly and sincerely with encouragement to the ideas, requests, and concerns of those who sought her help. She was extremely organized and came prepared for meetings and tasks having done considerable behind-the-scenes work that made any subsequent work and decision-making flow easily.

Beyond her many roles at Brandon University, as colleagues we were lucky enough to get special glimpses of other passions: her family and her horses. We extend a heartfelt thank you to Tammy’s family for holding a funeral ceremony and giving us the opportunity to grieve together and celebrate her life. We also thank her family for supporting the many hours she put into her work.

There is no roadmap on how to acknowledge and recognize the loss of a colleague. But it is important that we convey how much we valued Tammy as our colleague and how grateful we are for the time we shared with her.

Sincerely,

Department of Psychology
January 2026