Biology’s Lynch Remembered for Mentoring Women in the Sciences

Carol Lynch, former professor of biology, passed away last week at the age of 76.

Lynch joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1973 and served as dean of the natural sciences and mathematics in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During her time here, Lynch established a model system for studying the evolution of complex traits using house mice and played a pioneering role in supporting and mentoring women in the sciences.

She left Wesleyan in 1992 to join the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she served as dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research from 1992 to 2004, and was a professor of ecological and evolutionary biology and a fellow of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics.

Lynch and her husband, Bob, generously established the Carol and Robert Lynch Student Research Fund at Wesleyan, which continues to support the research of undergraduate biology students.

A memorial service will be scheduled later this summer in Boulder.