Janice R. Naegele, PhD

Administrative Accomplishments 

Janice Naegele’s leadership roles and administrative accomplishments included prominent roles at the Society for Neuroscience and at Wesleyan University. As the past chair of the SfN Professional Development Committee, Dr. Naegele worked extensively with SfN staff from many different areas, reported annually to SfN Council, and interacted with former committee chairs and presidents of SfN. This role also provided extensive knowledge of the many activities of the Professional Development Committee, the offerings at the annual meeting, and online, as well as strategies and activities designed to attract and foster younger members of the Society for Neuroscience, science advocacy, and science communication for the lay public. Service on other committees increased her knowledge of SfN’s organizational structure, scientific awardee selection and recognition, issues that SfN is working on, including recruitment and retention of younger neuroscientists in the society and in science careers, and the need for society-led support and training in alternative career pathways.

At Wesleyan University, Dr. Naegele served as Chair of the Biology Department (2006-2009), Director of the Center for Faculty Career Development (2013-2016), Vice Chair of the Faculty (2016-2017), Chair of the Faculty (2017-2018), and Dean of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics (2020-2023). Each of the positions provided experience and training in administration and mentoring at all levels (from undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, to faculty levels). In these administrative positions, Dr. Naegele gained expertise in strategies and approaches for recruitment and retention of junior faculty, laboratory design and renovation, management of personnel, budget oversight, committee structure and leadership, institutional knowledge, and the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees and endowment management. She also has extensive expertise in pedagogy and active learning strategies, inclusivity in classrooms and meetings, conflict resolution, and institutional grantsmanship.

Current Position(s) at Your Current Institution

• Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, Professor of Biology, Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior, emerita
• Wesleyan University

Degree, Institute, Year Earned

Research Areas

Cellular and molecular basis for epilepsy and autism, stem cell-mediated repair of brain damage, adult neurogenesis, viral-mediated gene transfer, transynaptic tracing of neural circuits, transgenic mouse models of epilepsy.

Memberships & Service

Service Positions

Editorial Boards:

Other Service Positions:

Science Biography

Janice R. Naegele is the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science (emerita), Professor of Biology and Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior at Wesleyan University. Naegele received her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and Behavior from Mount Holyoke College (graduating Magna Cum Laude), and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from MIT. She did postdoctoral research on the visual system at Rockefeller University with Torsten Wiesel and Colin Barnstable. She joined the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Yale University School of Medicine in 1988 and became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience and Behavior at Wesleyan University in 1991, receiving tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 1998, and promotion to full Professor in 2006. She is a graduate of the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES at Drexel). She has published numerous articles focusing on the cellular and molecular basis for epilepsy and autism, and stem cell-mediated repair of brain damage. Dr. Naegele and her colleagues discovered that transplantation of GABAergic interneurons promotes widespread rewiring of newborn granule cells and other hippocampal and cortical neurons in the epileptic brain. These regenerative changes in the epileptic brain provided mechanistic insights into how GABAergic interneuron transplants might rewire the hippocampus to prevent, or reverse, the formation of hyperexcitable circuits and suppress seizures. A similar approach is now in clinical trials for treating human patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. In recognition of her outstanding teaching and research, she was named the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science and elected to the Connecticut Academy of Sciences. She received the Wesleyan University Prize for Faculty Leadership and Service, one of the highest awards given to a faculty member. Dr. Naegele has mentored the research of over one hundred students in her laboratory, including high school and undergraduate students, masters, and doctoral students. She has also mentored postdoctoral fellows and faculty at Wesleyan University. In recognition of her mentoring activities, she was awarded the Louise Hanson Marshall Special Recognition Award from the Society for Neuroscience.

The full CV for this candidate can be found within the ballot.