Dr. Francene Lemoine has named interim chair of the Department of Biological, Microbiology and Veterinary Science at Northwestern State University. Her appointment is subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System.

The department includes 11 degree programs offering a core curriculum for a fundamental understanding of cell and molecular biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, microbiology, botany, invertebrate and vertebrate zoology, ecology and evolution. Students in the department can choose among several concentrations to fit their career goals. These include the biomedical, natural science, forensic science, bioinformatics, clinical laboratory sciences or veterinary technology concentrations.

Lemoine is entering her 10^th year as a member of Northwestern State’s faculty. In 2010, she received the NSU Alumni Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Science and Technology.

A graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana in biology, Lemoine received a doctorate from the Baylor College of Medicine in cell and molecular biology. She was a post doctorate fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University.

Lemoine was the recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, a Special Fellow Career Development Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research. She earned a NSU Enrichment Fund Program Proposal Stimulus Award and was co-investigator of a Board of Regents Undergraduate Enhancement Grant for the establishment of modern genetics and molecular biology laboratories.

She has co-authored a dozen publications in national and international professional journals.