Jeanne Poindexter Papers

Jeanne Stove Poindexter was a research scientist, professor, and mentor for numerous students at Barnard and elsewhere. Poindexter got her Bachelors Degree in Biology from Indiana University Bloomington in 1958 and went on to get her Masters Degree and PhD from UC-Berkeley in 1961 and 1963, respectively. She went on to teach and complete research at Indiana University, New York University, Medgar Evers College, the Public Health Research Institute, The Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, MA, Long Island University Brooklyn, and finally at Barnard College. She spent 16 years as a Professor of the Biological Sciences at Barnard, retiring as Professor Emerita. While at Barnard, she received the Emily Gregory Teaching Award and was recognized in 2014 by the Barnard Alumnae of Color organization as a supportive and influential professor for alums of color. She also garnered the American Society of Microbiology’s Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award.

Poindexter was recognized for her research on Caulobacter crescentus, a stalked bacterium. She was a member of a variety of microbiology organizations and in 2012 the New York State Senate gave her the honor of Woman of Distinction. In 2020, she had a bacterial virus named after her: the Poindextervirus.

Outside of her teaching and research, Poindexter was a staunch affordable housing advocate as part of Cooperators United for Mitchell-Lama. She was a volunteer-violist for the Greenwich Village Orchestra, a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and a source of support for her family and community.