Dr. Paula Dehn received her B.A. with honors in zoology from DePauw University in 1973 and her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of South Florida in 1980.  Drawing on her experience as an undergraduate researcher at DePauw University, one that led to her first refereed manuscript, Dr. Dehn’s career has been guided by the overarching principle of engaging undergraduates in research as a pedagogical tool. 

She began her teaching responsibilities at the University of Texas at San Antonio where she quickly gathered a research team that would go on to present their research findings at national meetings and publish peer-reviewed literature.  She was later recruited as Department Chair by Canisius College.  As Chair, she brought to the Department a vision of providing undergraduates the opportunity of conducting research in a laboratory environment that could be sustained throughout their curriculum.  Dr. Dehn was well suited for guiding the Department through this curricular change.  As an experimental toxicologist, her research spanned various aspects of cell biology, physiology, ecology and analytical chemistry.  From the perspective of one of her former students, this type of curriculum showed students how research and their courses of study work hand-in-hand. 

To support this vision, Dr. Dehn cajoled colleagues, recruited high-quality faculty and aggressively pursued external funding for research, mentoring and curricular purposes.  With funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, NIH, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the private sector, Dr. Dehn’s focus of incorporating her research and the research of her colleagues into the curriculum became reality.  At the time she joined Canisius College, fewer than ten students in the Biology program presented their research at the national level or published their research findings in over a decade.  Today, that is not the case.  Since 1992, almost 200 Biology students have presented their research at national or international meetings and 40 have co-authored manuscripts.   

Dr. Dehn’s impact goes far beyond her home institutions.  Along with service to discipline-specific professional societies, Dr. Dehn has been involved in the Texas Academy of Science (of which she is a Fellow), Sigma Xi and CUR.  For the latter, she has served as Canisius College’s Institutional Representative for over 15 years, as Chair and Councilor for the Biology Division and as co-organizer and facilitator of CUR’s Proposal Writing Workshop. 

Dr. Dehn has made a career transforming lives by supporting the development of a curriculum that hooks students on science through their research experiences.  A recurring theme in Dr. Dehn’s career is the impact she has had on all students, several of whom were on the verge of leaving the program prior to their research experience with her.  Dr. Deanna Conners was one of these students.  After graduating from Canisius College in 1995, she pursued graduate studies and is currently a postdoctoral associate with the University of Georgia’s Institute for Ecology.  Dr. Conners sums up this impact as follows: “Now that I am a teacher and a mentor, I recognize that it is fairly easy to take an exceptional student and turn them into a successful researcher who will go on to do great things, but it can be very difficult to take an average student who hasn’t had many educational opportunities in the past and turn them into a successful and productive researcher. Paula’s devotion to all students is truly remarkable in that she takes the time to listen and learn about their unique interests as a teacher and as a friend then, draws out their potential to the fullest by providing them with exciting research opportunities.”