Provost Joan Lorden is a 2014 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). During the organization’s recent annual meeting in Chicago, Lorden received a certificate and rosette pin as symbols of this honor.
According to the AAAS, Lorden was granted this distinction by peers in recognition of her significant career contributions to the field of neuroscience and to graduate education. The organization specifically cited Lorden’s efforts to increase the retention of women and underrepresented minorities in science and engineering.
An international nonprofit organization, the AAAS was formed in 1848 to “advance science, engineering and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of the people.”
Lorden joined UNC Charlotte in 2003 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she was associate provost for research and dean of the Graduate School. A graduate of the City College of New York, Lorden earned a doctorate in psychology from Yale University. She has published more than 70 papers and given numerous presentations on behavioral neuroscience topics, including learning and memory, obesity and diabetes and animal models of inherited movement disorders. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Strokes.
Committed to advancing the fields of science and engineering, Lorden served as the principal investigator for the University’s NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant, which was designed to increase the recruitment and retention of women faculty in STEM fields.