Elizabeth Meyer-Bernstein

As of October 2020, Elizabeth Meyer-Bernstein is the dean of the College of Charleston Honors College. From 2014 to 2020, she served as the associate dean of the Honors College and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities.

Meyer-Bernstein came to Charleston 19 years ago from Philadelphia, where she trained as a post-doctoral fellow in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2005, as a faculty member in the College of Charleston's Department of Biology, she spearheaded the effort to create a neuroscience minor, which was only the second to be offered in South Carolina and is currently one of the largest minors in the College's School of Sciences and Mathematics. She has taught courses in comparative physiology, neurobiology and a capstone seminar for neuroscience minors. Meyer-Bernstein was instrumental in securing external program funding totaling more than $2.9 million to support student success, including grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Colonial Academic Alliance.

As associate dean of the Honors College, Meyer-Bernstein made significant contributions to the Honors College's student success efforts, curricular reform, program development, assessment, alumni engagement and donor activities. Some highlights include her collaboration with the Honors Faculty Committee to overhaul the Honors curriculum to increase the diversity of course offerings, flexibility for faculty and students and pedagogical innovation. On the admissions and recruitment front, Meyer-Bernstein worked closely with the Honors admissions team to admit high-quality students to the Honors College and to increase the freshman class enrollment by nearly 40 percent. She has established partnerships with the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina to provide research opportunities for students. She also oversees the "Medical Humanities" mentoring cohort and advises numerous students.

Meyer-Bernstein earned her bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Smith College and her Ph.D. in neurobiology and behavior from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her doctoral research centered on functional neuroanatomy of the circadian timing system. She has received numerous external and internal research grants to study circadian rhythms in a variety of organisms and has published extensively in the field. She has successfully mentored numerous undergraduate students in her laboratory and her current research focus is understanding the molecular basis of rhythmic behavior in the sea anemone.