Priscilla Grew, professor emerita and Native American Graves and Repatriation Act advisor at the University of Nebraska”’Lincoln, was recently awarded the 2022 President’s Medal by the Geological Society of America.
In the citation for the award, Dr, Grew was lauded for being “a woman of many firsts” and for paving the way for future generations of female geologists and Earth scientists. “Her unique career trajectory, boldness of leadership, and support of other women and the geosciences for the greater good, continues to be inspirational across the globe.”
Some of Dr. Grew’s many firsts include:
*First woman to hold a tenure-track appointment in the geology department at Boston College, which, at the time, did not admit women as undergraduates.
*First female director of the California Department of Conservation, which included the divisions of Oil and Gas, and Mines and Geology.
*In 1986, she was appointed the first woman director of the Minnesota Geological Survey at the University of Minnesota.
*In 1993, she became the first woman vice chancellor for research at the University of Nebraska”’Lincoln.
*In 2003, she was appointed the first woman director of the University of Nebraska State Museum.
Professor Grew joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska in 1993 and retired from teaching in 2015. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in geology. Dr. Grew holds a Ph.D. in geology from the University of California, Berkeley.