Mary E. Love Colter

Mary Elizabeth Love Colter was an outstanding student at Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, Virginia, and had the honor of being Valedictorian of the graduating class of 1974.  She was a member of the Beta Club, president of the Bi-Phy-Chem Club, and a member of the Medical Explorers Group at the Salem Veterans Administration Medical Center.  She was awarded an Eaton Scholarship for academic achievement, citizenship, and leadership; the David F. Bittle Scholarship from Roanoke College; and in 1975, a B’Nai B’rith award.

In 1978, Mary Beth graduated from Roanoke College where she earned a B.S. degree in Biology with relevant course work in Comparative Anatomy and Chemistry.

In 1988, she received a Masters Degree In Botany from the University of South Florida where relevant course work included:  Chemical Ecology, Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry Core, Plant Pigmentation, Plant Growth and Development, Biometry, Biological Approaches to Regulation and Alkaloids, Form and Function.  Her Theses was:  Radioimmunossay for the Quantitative Determination of Prunin in Citrus Paradisi.  Mary Beth was a member of Beta Tau Chapter of Phi Sigma (biological honors society) serving as its president in 1990.  In 1998 she graduated with a Ph.D., from the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Florida.  Her Dissertation was on Isolation and Characterization of Plant Lamin-Like cDNA Clone(s).

Mary Beth’s work experience began in 1978, as a microbiologist for golden West Foods of Bedford, Virginia.  She was responsible for testing of poultry and vegetable products, investigation of micro problems, and sanitation procedures.  In 1981, she became the Quality Assurance Manager for Juice Bowl Products of Lakeland, Florida.  She was responsible for designing and implementing programs to increase efficiency in quality control procedures for microbiological testing, production records, and analysis of quality problems.  She also had responsibility for setting up a concentrate lab; supervising and training new technicians; and researching new products, containers, and processing methods.

Mary Beth became a graduate teaching assistant at the University of South Florida in 1989.  For two semesters in 1991, she served as Head Teaching Assistant with responsibility for lab material acquisition, making up required reagents and testing each experiment prior to use in the labs.  In 1991 she received a Space Assistantship Enhancement Grant to investigate the relationship between gravitropism and intracellular calcium levels in single cell plant systems.  In 1992 and 1993 she received and Institute for Boimolecular Sciences Summer Research Fellowship and, from 1993-1996, served as Graduate Research Assistant for the Institute of Biomolecular Sciences at the University of South Florida. Since 1996 Mary Beth has been coordinator for the Molecular Biology Core Facility at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, with general supervision of the staff and providing consultation for new projects.

In addition to the many honors, awards and grants she has received, Mary Beth has collaborated in the publication and presentation of numerous scientific papers related to research conducted in her field of Molecular Biology.  She is married to Ralph J. Colter and lives in Plant City, Florida.

In recognition of her outstanding career achievements, Mary Elizabeth Love Colter was inducted, in the year 2000, into the Salem Alumni Hall of Fame established by the Salem Educational foundation and Alumni Association.