
Dr. Lisa Gentile became Westminster's first female provost in March 2015. Previously, she was a faculty member primarily at undergraduate institutions from 1998 to 2013. In this time, she served as associate dean of Arts & Sciences, director of academic advising, director of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Award, and chair of the chemistry department at the university of Richmond. In July of 2013, she became Westminster's dean of Arts & Sciences until she was appointed provost. Lisa received her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Colgate University and completed her PhD in biochemistry at Brown University. She spent time in her postdoctoral work in biophysics, supported as a Jane Coffins Childs Postdoctoral Fellow, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.
In 2010, she received the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education. Her scholarship has concentrated on the structure, dynamics, and regulation of proteins involved in disease. She has published 28 peer-reviewed articles, the majority with undergraduate co-authors.
Among other things, Lisa is passionate about the liberal arts, interdisciplinary approaches to education, a focus on high-impact learning practices, issues of diversity and inclusion, and forming and maintaining communities. Her teaching has primarily focused on interdisciplinary approaches to STEM education. In addition to mentoring undergraduates, Lisa and her group have spent time working on independent research projects with local high school teachers and students. She has been externally supported for her research as well as her collaborative scholarship of learning activities in excess of $5.4 million by AAC&U/Helmsley (TIDES), HHMI; NSF-CAREER, RUI and MRI; NIH-AREA, and ACS-PRF.