Pat Astry is first female to chair biology department

SUNY Fredonia Assistant Professor of Biology Patricia Astry, '81, has been promoted to chairperson of the university’s biology department.

Since 1981, she has been director of the Medical Technology degree program at SUNY Fredonia. She was honored with the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2001, and succeeds Dr. Ted Lee who had been chair of the department since 2005. She is the first female chair the department has had since it was formed in the late 1960s.

Of her new appointment, Professor Astry said, “I will take it very seriously and with a bit of humility, in recognition of the fact that I am the first female head of the department. I hope to serve with excellence and distinction.”

Ms. Astry’s research interest focuses on clinical microbiology and clinical immunology. She is currently engaged in a joint cooperative immunodiagnostics research program with Trinity Biotechnology, Inc., in Jamestown, N.Y. She has also conducted research in the area of sexual health concerns among college students, and has presented her research at several university-based conferences. In addition, she has given many presentations to high school and college students, sexual health organizations, middle schools, and church and community organizations. She has acted as a consultant to several school districts as they developed sexual health education programs. She has also organized, directed and obtained funding for a tri-state AIDS conference for educators and practitioners.

On the Fredonia campus, Professor Astry serves as the co-advisor of the campus Birth Control Information Clinic. She teaches courses in immunology, microbiology, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, hematology, parasitology and other related areas.

Professor Astry is a nationally certified medical technologist with the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She holds a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from SUNY Plattsburgh and a master’s degree in medical technology education and administration from SUNY Fredonia. Prior to her graduate work, Ms. Astry worked as a medical technologist at several hospital laboratories in New York State, including Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk, N.Y. She is currently working on a sexual health issues textbook which she hopes to have completed by the end of the year.

A native of Dix Hills, N.Y., she and her husband Dan reside in Fredonia with their sons Kevin and David.