April Boulton Named Dean of the Graduate School

FREDERICK, Maryland—Hood College has named April Boulton, Ph.D., as dean of the Graduate School at Hood College.

Serving in this role on an interim basis since July 2016, Boulton will continue to oversee all graduate students and curricular initiatives, along with graduate admission and enrollment operations.

“I am honored to be named dean of the Graduate School,” she said. “This opportunity will allow me to continue assisting our graduate students in growing and achieving their professional goals while supporting the mission of the College.”

Boulton was selected after a nationwide search. Debbie Ricker, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs, is excited to see her lead the Graduate School. “April has provided outstanding leadership to the Graduate School, focusing on strategic initiatives for student recruitment and retention, program support and innovation, and partnership development,” Ricker. “Her student-centered focus, commitment to assessment and data-informed decision making, and overall dedication to the Hood community will undoubtedly advance the Graduate School ‘beyond boundaries,’ which aligns with the College’s current strategic plan.”

Boulton joined Hood College in 2006 as an instructor in undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Biology. She served as the interim director of the environmental biology master’s program in 2009 and became the program’s director and assistant professor of biology in 2010. She was appointed as the associate dean of the Graduate School in 2015 and was promoted to associate professor of biology in 2016.

An insect ecologist by training, Boulton has been published in several peer-reviewed scientific journals and was awarded a grant by the USDA to investigate control measures for the small-hive beetle, a pest of the commercial honeybee. She was instrumental in the passage of the Maryland Pollinator Protection Act in March 2016.

Boulton earned her doctorate in ecology from the University of California, Davis in 2001, her master’s in animal behavior from Bucknell University in 1997 and her bachelor’s degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, in 1994.

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