Margaret Ogrodnick

Background

Margaret Ogrodnick was born on August 2, 1956 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Nicholas Ogrodnick and Katherine (Wolfcnber) Ogrodnick.

Education

In 1979, Margaret received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta and a Master of Arts degree in 1985 from the same university. She also received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from York University in 1992.

Career

Margaret worked for the Alberta Attorney General's Office and also for the Department of Federal and International Governmental Affairs. After graduating, she spent two years as a prestigious Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. From 1994 until 1997, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. In July of 1998, she was hired as a Probationary Member of the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba. She was promoted to the post of an Associate Professor in April of 2000; Margaret was granted tenure in July of 2002.

At the time of her death, Margaret was working on a follow-up book, entitled Political Ethics and Autobiographical Self-Narration: Simone de Beauvoir. Over the last few years, she presented draft chapters of this original and well-received work to audiences in, among other places, Monterey, Montreal, Newcastle and Toronto.

While Margaret certainly established herself as a serious, first-rate political theory researcher, clearly, her true passion was teaching. She taught courses in both the history of ideas and in contemporary political theory. Her courses - ranging in topics from the Enlightenment and its critics, feminism, autobiography and politics, and democratic theory - were universally well-received.

Achievements

• Margaret Ogrodnick was best known as a contributor to periodicals and author of such works, as Instinct and Intimacy: Political Philosophy and Autobiography in Rousseau and Philosophers and Autobiographers: The Self and Political Thought.
  
  Also, Margaret was a notable educator. In fact, in 2010, her considerable gifts for teaching were recognized via a Faculty of Arts Teaching Excellence Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Instinct and Intimacy: Political Philosophy and Autobiography in Rousseau

    (Drawing on his autobiographies, Margaret Ogrodnick analys...)

    1999

Views

Margaret Ogrodnick did her research on autobiography and political philosophy, democratic theory and feminist political theory. Her doctoral dissertation explored the connections and tensions between Jean-Jacques Rousseau's autobiographical writings and his political theory. In 1999, a revised version was published by the University of Toronto Press under the title Instinct and Intimacy: Political Philosophy and Autobiography in Rousseau. The book skillfully highlighted Rousseau's importance as a key theorist of the modern conception of identity and it traced some of the understudied implications of that conception for his view of politics. Margaret uncovered important, but at times hidden connections between personal and political morality and she forcefully expounded Rousseau's case for making the internal retrieval of instincts the psychological basis of a stable and just democratic republic. Ultimately, her book is a celebration of the importance of intimate relations and private sentiments in building community bonds.

Membership

Ogrodnick was a member of the Canadian Political Science Association, American Political Science Association and Rousseau Association.

Personality

During her time at the University of Manitoba, Margaret was an inspiration to both students and fellow colleagues - her energy, enthusiasm and commitment stimulated the most gifted students without leaving behind those, requiring a little more help. Her teaching evaluations (SEEQ) consistently ranked her among the University's best educators. Virtually all of the letters from department heads in her personnel file mention, that she was "superb," "outstanding," and "excellent." More than once was she called "a tribute to the department."

Margaret was extremely health-conscious. She was passionate about fitness, weight-lifting and yoga. Over the years, she developed her own style of healthy eating and became a very accomplished chef. She had incredibly diverse interests and commitments and was an outspoken critic of environmental damage, human rights abuses and the exploitation of primates. Margaret is remembered for her sparkling conversation, her focused attention on others and her insightful questions about lives of other people. She had an extraordinary way of articulating complex issues with epiphany-inducing clarity. She was a very caring and generous friend, as well as a gifted scholar, a passionate teacher, a devoted departmental citizen, and, ultimately, a wonderful human being.

Connections

Father:

Nicholas Ogrodnick

Mother:

Katherine (Wolfcnber) Ogrodnick

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series (Volume 198) brings researchers the most recent data on the world's most popular authors.
  2010