Mary Jane Saunders is an American academic who served as president of

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

from 2010 to 2013. She has a background in scientific research and administration, specializing in biology. Saunders is originally from

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. She completed a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in biology at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, and then pursued further studies at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, completing an

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in botany. She is married to chemistry professor George R. Newkome. After a period as an associate professor at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, she joined

South Florida University The University of South Florida (USF) is a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different con ...

in 1986, eventually becoming director of its Institute of Biomolecular Science. She also worked at the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

for a period as a program officer and deputy division director. In 2003, Saunders joined

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

, Ohio, as a biology professor and director of the Biomedical and Health Institute. She was later made dean of the College of Science, and from 2007 was provost and executive vice-president. In 2010, Saunders left CSU to replaced

Frank Brogan Frank T. Brogan (born September 6, 1953) is the former Assistant Secretary of Education (Elementary and Secondary Education). He succeeded Deborah S. Delisle. He is the former Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, fo ...

as president of Florida Atlantic University. She resigned as president in May 2013, citing "fiercely negative media coverage" as one of the reasons for her decision. During her tenure, the university was criticized for awarding naming rights for

FAU Stadium Howard Schnellenberger Field at FAU Stadium is a college football stadium located at the north end of the main campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida. Opened in 2011, it is home to the Florida Atlantic Owls football te ...

GEO Group The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...

, a private prison company, and for its handling of associate professor James Tracy's promotion of

Sandy Hook massacre The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...

conspiracy theories.FAU President Mary Jane Saunders resigns
''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'', May 15, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Mary Jane People from Worcester, Massachusetts Florida Atlantic University faculty Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Natural Sciences alumni Cleveland State University alumni Presidents of the Florida Atlantic University Women heads of universities and colleges American women biologists 21st-century American biologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 21st-century American women scientists