Kristin Finch
Dr. Kristin Finch is the associate dean for diversity and inclusion in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State University. In this role, she facilitates efforts to promote a nurturing climate for all members of the college community, advances the representation of the diverse communities in the college, including undergraduate and graduate students and faculty, and supports the curricular and co-curricular programs hosted through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the college.
Dr. Finch came to Penn State from Tufts University, where she was the associate director of the Center for STEM Diversity. At Tufts, she advocated for access and equity of first-generation and low-income students by leading a summer bridge program, a first-year advising class, and a STEM outreach program. She earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she studied small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions. After graduate school, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, while concurrently teaching physical science as an adjunct faculty member at LeMoyne-Owen College.