Dr. Florastina Payton-Stewart is the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs at Xavier University of Louisiana. She received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1999 and her Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Tulane University in 2007. Dr. Payton-Stewart held a postdoctoral position at Tulane University School of Medicine from 2007-2010. She joined Xavier University of Louisiana in 2010 and is an associate professor in the chemistry department. She is very passionate about teaching, mentoring and advising students as well as junior faculty. She has dedicated her career to exposing and nurturing individuals and undergraduate students interested in pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), assisting with junior faculty, and enhancing university initiatives for recruitment, retention, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Dr. Payton-Stewart is a synthetic organic chemist with experience in both academia and industry. Her research has been funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Defense (DOD). She has served as the inaugural Faculty Administrative Fellow for Diversity & Inclusion for the XULA STrIDES NSF ADVANCE grant. Her work focused on identifying, implementing, and supporting institutional transformation centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. She is a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Scientific Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD); a Keystone 2017 Fellow; a 2017 alumna of HERS, 2018 an alumnus of the AAC&U PKAL STEM Leadership Institute, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Chemical Education and the ADVANCE Implementation Mentors (AIM) Network Advisory Board. Dr. Payton-Stewart was recently acknowledged as one of 1,000 inspiring black scientists. Dr. Payton-Stewart is the wife of Brian Stewart and the mother of two daughters, Heaven and Angel Stewart.