Adena Williams Loston

Education

Loston earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Alcorn State University in 1973. She received her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Bowling Green State University in 1974 and 1979 respectively. She also attended the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University in 1996.

Career

Loston has taught as an associate professor at Georgia State University and an instructor at Arkansas State University and Houston Community College. She also taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Houston–Downtown and Texas Southern University.

She then served as the Dean of Vocational Education, Budgets and Facilities, and Dean of Professional Programs at Santa Monica College, the Executive Dean/Provost in the El Paso Community College District, and ultimately as the President of San Jacinto College South, in Houston, Texas. She became the second president of San Jacinto College South and the first African-American president in the District.

Loston then served as the Director of Education and Special Assistant for Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate for the Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility and Chief Education Officer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at its Headquarters in Washington, DC. Her initial appointment at NASA was as the Associate Administrator for Education on October 28, 2002, and prior to joining the Agency, she served as the NASA Administrator’s Senior Education Advisor starting in September 2002.

As NASA’s senior education official, she was responsible for structuring the Office of Education, providing executive leadership, policy direction, functional management, and guidance in coordinating the Agency’s overall efforts to organize and enhance its education investments and portfolio nationally and internationally for its Headquarter operations, mission directorates and 10 field centers. Loston was responsible for a $230 million budget (including earmarks) and directed policy for $1.3 billion.

As President of St. Philip's College, Loston acquired progressively large grants. For example, in 2010, St. Philip's College received a grant of $1.6 million, and in 2012, the College received a renewable five-year grant worth $5.4 million in the first year. Loston also oversaw major construction programs on the campus, including in 2016 a "$10-million project [that] is the third renovation to the student center and triples its size from 9,600 square feet to 28,000 square feet." She also led the internationalization of the College, adding a Study Abroad Trip to Northern Ireland in 2015, and hosting two Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence in 2016, Richard Naylor and Yvonne Naylor.

Awards and honors

Loston has been recognized with several awards, including:

• the Outstanding Leadership Medal, from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration;

• the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Exceptional Achievement Medal from the Goddard Space Flight Center;

• the Group Achievement Award, Educator Astronaut Program, National Aeronautics & Space Administration;

• the Group Achievement Award, NASA Explorer Schools Program, National Aeronautics & Space Administration;

• the Group Achievement Award, NASA’s Centennial of Flight Team, National Aeronautics & Space Administration;

• an Honorary Doctor of Science from Wiley College;

• the W.E.B. DuBois Higher Education Award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators;

• the Leadership Award from the Higher Education Commission of The National Alliance of Black School Educators;

• the Daisy Bates Education Advocacy Award, from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and

• the Outstanding Women in Action Education Award from the La Prensa Foundation.