Muriel E. Poston, Ph.D., was named Dean
of the Faculty at Skidmore College in 2005. Before taking
this position, Dr. Poston was a faculty member in the Biology
Department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and a
deputy division director at the National Science Foundation.
She spent over twenty years teaching in the Department of
Biology/Botany at Howard, where she also served as curator
of the university herbarium. Her primary research interests
are in plant systematics, especially the evolutionary relationships
of neotropical plants. |
| More recently, she has pursued the field of
environmental law and policy. Dr. Poston received funding
awards from the National Science Foundation for curricular
initiatives and from the UNCF and NIEHS to explore issues
of environmental justice, and to assist faculty in the development
of interdisciplinary courses. She chaired Howard University's
Natural Science Division and Academic Policy and Standards
Committee. In addition, she served as chair of the Faculty
Senate, and two terms as undergraduate faculty trustee.
In 2002, Dr. Poston became a program director with the National
Science Foundation, and eighteen months later was named deputy
division director for the foundation's Division of Biological
Infrastructure. At the NSF she was responsible for programs
to enhance infrastructure for biological research collections,
research instrumentation, and field station facilities. In
addition, she worked on initiatives to broaden participation
of underrepresented groups in science and to bring more women
into the fields of science and engineering.
In 1996-97 Poston was a fellow with the American Council
on Education, a leadership development program that mentors
academic leaders. In 1982 and 1990, Poston was a Smithsonian
Institution research fellow at the National Museum of Natural
History in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Howard faculty
in 1980, she did postdoctoral work at the Missouri Botanical
Garden in St. Louis where she also served as an administrative
curator for the herbarium. Poston earned a B.A. degree from
Stanford University, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University
of California at Los Angeles, and a J.D. degree from the University
of Maryland. |
