Office of the Provost

Biography of Dr. Paul W. Ferguson

In 2006, Dr. Ferguson was appointed as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a joint faculty appointment as Professor of  Pharmacology/Toxicology and Biology.  Since his arrival, Provost Ferguson has been committed to identifying and supporting five academic affairs imperatives in support of the University’s Long Term Strategic Goals: (1) Academic Quality and Assessment, (2) Student Success, (3) Faculty Development, (4) Educational Outreach, and (5) Enrollment Management.  Each of these imperatives has enhanced the progress of SIUE in receiving national recognition for its distinctive academic program portfolio and commitment to continuous quality improvement. 

Dr. Ferguson began his academic career as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Louisiana, Monroe (ULM) during which he worked to establish  the Undergraduate Toxicology Program, the first of its kind in the South, and furthered the understanding of potential risks from chemical exposures throughout Louisiana by participation on state and regional task forces.  Following a five year employment as Senior Toxicologist for Unocal Corporation in Los Angeles, Dr. Ferguson returned to ULM where he served as Professor and Head of the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Director of the Toxicology Program earning a number of teaching and research awards including the 1990 Outstanding University Researcher.  In 1993, Dr. Ferguson was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies and Research and served as Vice Provost from 1995-1999. 

Dr. Ferguson was appointed Dean of the Graduate College and Professor of Toxicology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 1999, named Senior Vice Provost in 2001, and Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies from 2003-2006.  In this role, he contributed to UNLV realizing its vision of becoming a premier metropolitan research university evident, in part, by increasing annual extramural funding from $59 million to $95 million in three years and increasing the number and quality of graduate programs from 74 to 108 over 7 years (including 34 doctoral programs). 

Dr. Ferguson, a native of Southern California, earned the B.A. in Biology at Whittier College with Highest Honors in 1974 and the Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of California, Davis in 1981.  Prior to attending graduate school, he worked as a Research Specialist for the Department of Pathology at Women’s Hospital in the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center and as a Research Biologist for Pennwalt Corporation.  While at UC Davis, Dr. Ferguson was a recipient of a National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Training Grant in Toxicology and was the initial recipient of the Society of Toxicology Research Fellowship Award. 

Dr. Ferguson’s scholarship has been focused in three major areas: (1)  relationships between metabolism and toxicity of drugs and environmental chemicals using a variety of model biological systems including cell culture and isolated organ systems, (2) curriculum development to further the understanding of the potential health risks from and improve risk communication about chemical exposures, and (3) innovative programs and curricula to address manpower needs and to help define professional standards in graduate and health sciences programs.  With his student and professional colleagues, Dr. Ferguson has published 85 articles, book chapters, and abstracts in the professional literature and obtained approximately 2.2 million dollars in extramural funding for biomedical research and education programs.  Dr. Ferguson has been certified continuously as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology for the past 20 years.

Dr. Ferguson and his wife, Grace, have been married for 34 years.  Their family includes David, a graduate student in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and his wife, Kayley; Kathryn, a neurosciences major at Vanderbilt University, and Jenny, a student at Edwardsville High School.