Dr. Phillip Currie, who was instrumental in the creation of the Royal Tyrrell Museum will be one of eight to be invested into the Alberta Order of Excellence.
Dr. Currie’s involvement in the valley predates the Tyrrell Museum. He was involved in the conceptual plans put forward to the Government of Alberta in 1981 for the Tyrrell Museum. When it opened in 1985, he became the Curator of Dinosaurs, a position that he held until 2005 when he departed to work as a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta. He is also currently a research associate at the Tyrrell.
“I still want to be a resource to the museum as much as I can be,” he told The Drumheller Mail in 2005. “It’s a great institution and the collection…we have all made contributions to it, and it is a world class collection. We’ll continue, all of us, no matter where we go, to always have roots there, and certainly all want to be resources for them.”
In addition to the reams of research he has completed in the badlands, he has led, or been a part of expeditions all over the globe including the Gobi Desert, China, Argentina and Antarctica.
His research interests focus on dinosaur palaeontology, with a particular interest for theropods.
Dr. Currie is being inducted along with many other notable Alberta personalities including former Premier Ralph Klein, artist Alex Janvier and Robert Steadward, founder of Landmark Homes.
The objective of the Order of Alberta as written in the legislation is to “accord recognition to those persons who have rendered service of the greatest distinction and of singular excellence for or on behalf of the residents of Alberta.”
It is the highest honour the province can bestow on a resident.
“One of the things I’ve always valued about the Alberta spirit is our ability to pioneer fresh approaches and different ways of thinking,” said the Honourable Norman Kwong, Lieutenant Governor and Chancellor of the Order. “These eight remarkable Albertans have all made very positive contributions to our province, and they have done so while forging a unique path and encouraging others to follow their lead.”
The new members will be invested in a ceremony on October 20, 2010