Following an announcement earlier this year, neurobiologist/biopsychologist Vanya Quiñones has officially assumed her duties as the new provost of Pace University. And, as is so often the case, with new leadership comes new thinking.
“My plan for the short-term is the same for the long-term: to provide opportunities and be able to diversify what opportunities students have but also to enhance and modernize those opportunities,” says Quiñones.
She believes that starts with continuing to modernize the curriculum to represent “what’s happening in the business world.” This includes on-campus organizations, faculty-student connections, and internships.
To Quiñones, who is a longtime champion of diversity in the arts and STEM fields, diversity means more than just race. It includes culture, religion, and sexual orientation. She also believes that diversity serves as a direct route to opportunity and the achievement of a proper, complete education.
“I think that when you include in an argument all the voices at a table, that’s when you know the real argument. It is therefore essential that our university further embrace every aspect of diversity,” says Quiñones, who’s spent three decades analyzing gender differences in drug abuse, especially the effect of drugs on the neurotransmitter dopamine, referred to colloquially as the brain’s reward system.
Quiñones previously worked at Hunter College in New York City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in cell biology from the University of Puerto Rico and a doctorate in neurobiology and physiology from Rutgers University.
“We were looking for a provost who could create and inspire,” said Pace University president Marvin Krislov upon her appointment. “We found one in Dr. Quiñones.”
