Marva Sweeney-Nixon: Following in her parents' footsteps in more ways than one
Long-time UPEI biology professor strives 'to get change, one person at a time'
CBC is highlighting Black people in Atlantic Canada who are giving back, inspiring others and helping to shape our future.
Last fall, members of the public submitted over 350 nominations for 161 Black leaders, teachers, entrepreneurs and artists from across the East Coast.
A panel of Black community members in Atlantic Canada selected 20 people to highlight for CBC Black Changemakers. This is Marva Sweeney-Nixon's story.
Marva Sweeney-Nixon says she wanted to be just like her dad.
Her father studied chemistry at Mount Allison and Dalhousie universities, and she used his academic career to pursue the same trajectory of her own.
"He came up and went to Mount A, I went to Mount A. He did his PhD at Dal, I did my PhD at Dal. He was a professor, I'm a professor," she said.
Her father's success in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — came against a backdrop of deep-rooted racism he observed and experienced in Halifax's Africville.
The predominantly Black neighbourhood, located on the northernmost tip of the Halifax peninsula, was Canada's oldest Black community with lineage tracing back to the 1700s. The area was subject to several forms of discrimination, including environmental racism, before its demolition in the mid-1960s.
Her father, of West Indian descent, and her mother, a Black Nova Scotian and a scientist herself, inspired Sweeney-Nixon to push past boundaries the way they had.
She has been a biology professor at the University of Prince Edward Island for 25 years. As of Jan. 1, she's the university's associate vice-president of research and dean of graduate studies.
'Open-door policy with students'
UPEI colleague Christian Lacroix, who has known Sweeney-Nixon for about 20 years, said he nominated her as a Black Changemaker because he's seen her be an inspiration to students of various backgrounds, putting equity at the forefront of her teaching.
"Her evaluations have always been consistently strong," he said. "Students mention that she's there for them. She has a kind of an open-door policy with students."
Sweeney-Nixon's influence is felt outside the lecture hall, too.
She's involved in several university committees, including the faculty association's diversity, equity and inclusion committee.
Hear people, validate people, try and get change one person at a time, one step at a time, one policy at a time.— Marva Sweeney-Nixon
She also shares her expertise with the Canadian Black Scientists Network, which seeks to celebrate and connect Black Canadians in STEM.
And she has lobbied the P.E.I. organization BIPOC-USHR — which stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Colour United for Strength, Home, Relationship — to expand its board of directors to further enhance its outreach and effectiveness.
"I like to do stuff that matters and I don't think we should sit back," she said. "Someone has to do it."
'You can't ... just be a bystander'
Sweeney-Nixon said her motivation to champion all students, not just those in STEM, is also rooted in her mother's relationship with science.
Her mother studied biology and chemistry at the University of the West Indies, having experienced racism in Nova Scotia.
In fact, her parents left Halifax for the Caribbean in part because her father saw how her mother was treated "as a second-class citizen," Sweeney-Nixon said.
"My mom is very much social justice. Like, you can't see something unjust and just be a bystander," she said.
Sweeney-Nixon said she wants to be known as a mentor by modelling kindness and demanding accountability.
"That's probably what I can do to make change — it's just to hear people, validate people, try and get change one person at a time, one step at a time, one policy at a time," she said.
When she's not doing advocacy work, she said she decompresses — through meditation, hiking and fitness groups, and speaking to friends and family.
"I externalize a lot of things; I don't internalize and stew. So I have a lot of ways to do self-care that don't rely on a lot of people," she said. "I'd rather be that person for someone else."
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With files from Natalie Dobbin and CBC Nova Scotia