Pine Bluff, Ark- Dr. Anissa Evans Buckner, Associate Professor of Biology, was recently appointed as Chairperson of the Biology Department at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). Dr. Buckner also serves as the Project Director for the Arkansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ARK-LSAMP), a federally funded science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program at the University. “I’m excited about the opportunity entrusted upon me and I look forward to my continued work with the administration, faculty, staff and most importantly the students at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.”
“We are very excited about the leadership that Dr. Buckner will bring to the department of Biology,” says Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, Jr., UAPB’s Chancellor, “She is well prepared, enthusiastic, and has a vision that is consistent with [UAPB’s] aspirations.” Dr. Mary E. Benjamin, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is also ecstatic about Dr. Buckner’s appointment, “UAPB is fortunate to have Dr. Anissa Buckner as Chair for the Department of Biology,” she says, “She brings important assets to the position including knowledge of the Delta, skills in grant implementation, experience as a faculty/researcher at a major teaching hospital, success in collaborating with colleges and universities, experience as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship grant reviewer and ease in mentoring students. [She] shares the University’s vision of helping to increase the number of well-qualified Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates for entry into the Arkansas and U.S. workforce.”
Dr. Buckner is a research scientist who has done extensive research in Ocular Virology to understand how viruses interact with cells in the eye to cause blindness. Prior to coming to UAPB, Dr. Buckner was an assistant professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
A native of Texarkana, Texas, Dr. Buckner received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from UAPB and her doctorate in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in biochemistry and molecular biology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She has published her research in several refereed journals.
Dr. Buckner, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David E. Evans of Pine Bluff and is married to Dr. Edmund Buckner, an Associate Professor in the Department of Agriculture at UAPB with whom she has three children.
UAPB News 