Award-Winning C.W. Post Professor Joan E. Shields Remembered as
Dedicated & Accomplished Educator

Brookville, N.Y. – Joan E. Shields, a professor emerita and longtime chemistry department chairwoman at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, was remembered Friday as a dedicated and active educator with a passion for science.

Shields, 73, a resident of Port Washington, N.Y., died suddenly April 10.

A recipient of the university’s Trustees Award for a Lifetime of Scholarly Achievement in 2004, Shields chaired the chemistry department from 1987 until her retirement from teaching in 2007. Shields remained involved at C.W. Post after her retirement, working closely with freshmen in the College 101 introductory class and serving as chair of the Pre-Health Professions Advisement Committee.

“Joan Shields’ passing is a great loss to me personally and to the C.W. Post community,” C.W. Post Provost Joseph Shenker said. “She made a profound impact on this campus and on thousands of students over the years. We will miss her very much, and we will work to live up to the example she set as a scholar, a teacher and a friend.”

Katherine Hill-Miller, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at C.W. Post, said, “We will all remember Joan Shields for her fierce dedication to excellence in every area: excellence in teaching, excellence in research, excellence in student achievement.

“We will also remember Joan for her complete devotion to students. She shepherded so many of them through the full cycle of their years at C.W. Post, from the time they entered our gates as freshmen, to the time they left us for medical and graduate school,” Hill-Miller said.

Shields was a member of the board of directors of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, and was chairwoman of the board from 1995 through 1998 – only the second time a woman has held the position in its 125-year history. In seeking her third one-year term as chairwoman, Shields expressed the desire to address the fact that “African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are severely underrepresented in the chemical sciences.” She also was a member of the board of directors of the Chemical Heritage Foundation and authored four books and 34 scientific papers.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Regis College in Weston, Mass., a master’s in chemistry at Tufts University in Boston and a Ph.D. in chemistry at Boston College. An organic chemist by training, she was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute in Mulheim, Germany.

Shields joined the faculty of C.W. Post as an assistant professor of chemistry in 1968 and became a full professor in 1974.

Visiting hours will be on Sunday, April 13 from 2. to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Austin F. Knowles Funeral Home, 128 Main Street, Port Washington, N.Y. 11050. A Mass will be celebrated Monday, April 14 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Peter of Alcantara Church, 1327 Port Washington Boulevard, Port Washington, N.Y.

Posted: April 11, 2008