Luncheon to fund award in honour of kinesiology pioneer

A luncheon to celebrate the retirement of kinesiology professor Margery Holman will also help to endow a student award in her honour.

Dr. Holman was a member of the University of Windsor’s first class to graduate from the physical and health education program, and went on to teach in that program over a 42-year academic career that will close with her retirement at the end of August.

Colleagues in the Faculty of Human Kinetics have decided to create a fund to support an annual scholarship for a kinesiology student—the Margery Holman Legacy Award for Gender in Sport. Organizer Victoria Paraschak says it is an appropriate tribute.

“It will honour Marge’s outstanding efforts in creating a sport world that is positive and accessible to all,” she says. “Her work has extended beyond our walls to benefit sport across campus and externally from the local to the international level.”

She points to Holman’s record: serving 18 years as the first director of women’s sport at the University of Windsor; active in volleyball at the campus, local and national levels; and engaging in wide-ranging efforts to increase equity and to decrease harassment and abuse in sport.

Among Holman’s previous honours are selection as Windsor Woman of the Year, a builders award from the Windsor-Essex County Sports Persons of the Year, the University of Windsor President’s Employment Equity Award, and the Mary Lou Dietz Equity Leadership Award.

Friends and admirers will have an opportunity to contribute to the scholarship fund during a retirement party on Sunday, September 9, at the Penalty Box Too restaurant, located at 2151 Walker Road. The luncheon will run as an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. and tickets are $25, available from the human kinetics office at 519-253-3000, ext. 2429 or e-mail ddupuis@uwindsor.ca.

For more information or to make a donation, visit the “Tribute to Dr. Margery Holman” page on the kinesiology Web site.

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