Event: Passion – Purpose – Persistence | A conversation with Camellia Moses Okpodu

Organized in Collaboration with

Eversole Associates, the Phytobiomes Alliance, and WEST

Outline

Join us for a conversation with Camellia Moses Okpodu on her experience as a woman in STEM, the challenges she faced through her career and how she overcame them through Passion, Purpose, and Persistence. 

Calling herself a JEDI, Camellia is “on a mission” to establish inclusive, accessible and affordable environments in higher education to build a hopeful future for all. 

About the invitee 

Dr Camellia Moses Okpodu is a plant biochemist with more than twenty-five years of experience in higher education. She is currently Professor of Biology and former Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming. Prior to that, she was Dean at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) in New Orleans for three years. 

Nationally recognized for her research on stress metabolism in plants, ethnobotany, and coastal resilience, Dr. Okpodu received countless awards and distinctions. She was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1999. In 2015, her biography became a part of the National Library of Congress in Washington, DC. In 2022, she was named by Academic Influence as one of the top 10 Black biologists in the nation. 

Dr. Okpodu has not only a passion for science, but also for the performing arts. She is the creator of the play “Faith of Our Mothers” which chronicles both her journey to Wyoming and how the foundress of the African Methodist Episcopal church made it to Wyoming. The play will be performed on stage as part of the University of Wyoming’s theatre series in 2025. 

Recording