Biological Sciences celebrates the retirement of Jenny Cory

On Friday September 15, Biological Sciences department members gathered to celebrate the career of Professor Emerita Jenny Cory, who retired at the end of August. Dr. Cory joined SFU in 2008 as the inaugural Thelma Finlayson Chair in Biological Control, and in 2010 became the Director of the department's Master of Pest Management program.

Professor Gerhard Gries shared highlights from Dr. Cory's career, below:

"Good morning everyone, and welcome to the retirement reception of Jenny Cory!

Tony cannot be here today and for that reason has asked me to say a few words. I see a celebratory cake, a beautiful bunch of flowers, a gift beneath the table, and an incredible spread of delicious goodies. To me though, it is a somewhat sad day. That’s the reason why I am wearing a black T-shirt today.

It is a sad day to me, because a very dear and accomplished colleague, and an honorary member of my lab, has decided to retire.

Let me reminisce a bit:

Jenny joined our Department of Biological Sciences in 2008 as the inaugural Thelma Finlayson Chair in Biological Control. In 2010, she became the Director of the MPM program.

Jenny has previously held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Molecular Ecology at Algoma University College. I am still amazed that we managed to lure Jenny here. It must have been a very potent pheromone produced by the chemical ecology research group that attracted her to our department. Regardless, it was an outstanding hire, and we all have been very fortunate that Jenny decided to join us as a colleague.

While at SFU, Jenny has supervised and graduated 11 Ph.D. students, 4 M.Sc. students, and 10 MPM students. Remarkably, 10 of her PhD students or postdocs now hold faculty positions literally around the globe, including the US, France, Great Britain, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

Jenny was dedicated to teaching. She has taught a variety of courses, including BISC 844 - Biological Controls; BISC 847 - Pest management in Practice; BISC 473/884 - Special topics in Pest Management: Disease Ecology; BISC 435 - Introduction to Pest Management, and BISC 204 - Introduction to Ecology.

Jenny has also provided significant community service. She has served on the Editorial Board of the ‘Journal of Invertebrate Pathology’ and ‘Insects’. From 2018 to Current, Jenny was a steering committee member of the BC Agricultural Climate Adaptation Research Network; from 2014 to Current, Jenny was a pest management committee member of Forest Genetics Council; and again from 2014 to Current, Jenny has served on the student awards committee of the Entomological Society of Canada.

Jenny will leave very big shoes to fill. Personally, I think she is really not replaceable.

Please join me in wishing Jenny a very happy, fulfilling, and well-deserved retirement."

Congratulations, Jenny!