Pascale Sicotte

Meet the Dean

A Montreal native, Sicotte earned her BSc, MSc and PhD (1993) from Université de Montréal. She spent most of her career at the University of Calgary (1996-2020). An internationally-recognized primatologist specializing in the behaviour of mountain gorillas and colobus monkeys, Sicotte has published 50 peer-reviewed articles, mostly in high-impact international journals. Her research centers on group dynamics in wild primates, focusing on the impact of male reproductive competition on female behavior, and on female strategies against infanticide by males, work largely funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She has supervised over 25 graduate students, several of whom now occupy academic positions in Canada or abroad. Sicotte is a leader in experiential learning, having run an annual primatology field school in Ghana for close to 20 years.

At the University of Calgary, Sicotte served in a variety of leadership roles, including as vice-dean for the Faculty of Arts (2018-2020) and Head of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology (2014 to 2018). Before joining the University of Calgary’s faculty, Sicotte served as director of the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, established by Dian Fossey in 1967.