Jeanne S. Poindexter, professor emerita in Barnard's department of biological sciences, has been named among "Women of Distinction" by the New York State Senate. The award recognizes women living and working in New York, whose contributions have greatly enriched the quality of life in their communities and beyond. A member of Barnard's faculty from 1991-2007, Prof. Poindexter is a renowned research scientist who dedicated her career to the education of undergraduate students in the biological sciences. In addition, she has devoted much of her time and energy preserving New York’s remaining affordable co-op apartment buildings built under the State’s 1955 Limited-Profit Housing Companies Act (also known as the “Mitchell-Lama Law” after its Senate and Assembly sponsors).

In 2002, Prof. Poindexter received Barnard's Emily Gregory Teaching Award, for excellence in teaching and for devotion and service to students. She also won the Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award, granted to outstanding educators for exemplary teaching of microbiology to undergraduate students and for encouraging them toward subsequent achievement. She was elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology in 1993.

Prof. Poindexter has two daughters, one who is a Barnard alumna and the other, an alumna of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.