Margaret Olsen

December 31, 1946 - August 17, 2012

Margaret McElhannon (Eidsen) Olsen was a Georgia educator for 42 years. She had a bachelor's of science degree in science education and a master's of science in secondary science education from West Georgia College, and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She worked toward a specialist of marine science education, curriculum, and instruction from Georgia State University.

​Margaret taught for the Douglas County Board of Education in Douglasville, for 23 years and Woodward Academy in College Park for 13 years. Throughout her classroom years, Margaret taught through experiential learning. She published a number of curricula based on earth, environmental, and marine sciences. Many were published by and are still available through the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Margaret retired from the University of Georgia after six years as the education specialist for the Southeast Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence in Savannah.

During her career, she was actively involved in numerous professional organizations and activities, and received numerous honors for her work in education. Among her honors she was president of the Georgia Science Teachers Association (GSTA), president of the Georgia Association of Marine Education (GAME) for several terms, recipient of the prestigious GSTA Dallas Stewart Award, NSTA Earth Science Teacher of the Year, Georgia Teacher of the Year, GAME Marine Educator of the Year and Millie Graham Awards, just to name a few. Margaret exemplified her leadership through a lifetime of encouragement to others to expand their experiences, knowledge, and skills. These acknowledgements only scrape the surface of the contributions made in the realm of education and leadership by Margaret Olsen.

• EEA Member
• Eugene Odum Lifetime Service Award