Maria G. Davis, Ph.D.

Phone: 269-749-7643

After 11 years of serving as The University of Olivet’s Provost, Maria has returned to a full-time professor role in the The University of Olivet Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

During her 16 years as a full-time member of the science faculty, she taught introductory and upper-division biology courses as well as served as the chair of the science department. Her passion continues to be helping students achieve their goals and she remains active in teaching because it feeds her soul. In addition to her administrative duties, each year she teaches biostatistics, a senior-level capstone course in the sciences in which students design and conduct exciting, novel research projects. In 2007, Dr. Davis was named a Livingston Professor, the highest teaching honor given at The University of Olivet.

Dr. Davis lives on a hobby farm in Charlotte with her husband, Terry, where she continues to host the science department’s giant Sulcata tortoise, JoJo, during the summer months. Dr. Davis is the proud mom of a The University of Olivet alumna; her daughter, Anna, is a member of the The University of Olivet Class of 2016 who went on to earn her DVM from Michigan State University and is now a practicing veterinarian.

Dr. Davis earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Siena Heights University, her master’s in biology from Bowling Green State University and her doctorate in entomology from Michigan State University. Her post-doctoral work was in sustainable agriculture with a focus on muck crops, during which she was in collaboration with commercial celery growers to find biorational solutions to pest problems and, thereby, reducing pesticide input on this food crop in Michigan. In addition to numerous publications on insect pests, she authored two chapters in a book on muck crop management.