Mary B. Marcy was inaugurated as Dominican University of California’s ninth President in October 2011. Prior to joining Dominican, she served as Provost of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and Vice President at Bard College from 2004 until 2011.
Throughout her 21-year career in higher education leadership positions, President Marcy has driven major education reform and diversification initiatives; secured significant gifts and grants to support new programming, student scholarships, and faculty development; and enhanced the reputation and reach of the institutions she has served.
At Dominican, President Marcy has led initiatives to advance the University’s mission while building upon Dominican’s position of strength in the Bay Area. In the past year, President Marcy has introduced innovative academic programming, secured the University’s largest ever gift, and appointed to her cabinet academic leaders prepared to develop at Dominican a distinctive model of higher education focused on the integration of the best of the liberal arts with rigorous professional education.
In fall 2012, President Marcy announced the largest gift in Dominican University’s history. The $8.5 million gift will support the renovation of Meadowlands Hall, a 30,000 square-foot Victorian mansion, into a state-of-the art academic facility.
President Marcy currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Liberal Education, the Academic Advisory Council of the Panetta Institute, and the Higher Education Advisory Board of the National Council on Education and the Economy. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth Club of California and sits on the Board of Directors of the North Bay Leadership Council. In 2012 and 2013, she was named one of the Bay Area’s “Most Influential Women in Business” by the San Francisco Business Times in recognition of her exemplary leadership in higher education.
Prior to her role at Bard College, President Marcy worked in both public and private institutions of higher education. Her experience includes leading a national grant-funded Project on the Future of Higher Education through Antioch University, working as the first Dean of University Relations and Planning at Antioch University Seattle, and serving as the lead researcher and policy advisor to the President of Western Washington University. She was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to serve as a commissioner on the Commonwealth’s Public Education Nominating Council.
A political scientist, President Marcy earned her Doctorate of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on women in American politics, and she has published extensively on issues of diversity, leadership, and strategy in higher education. Born and raised in western Nebraska, President Marcy received her Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Nebraska.
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