Perspectives from an Interim Dean of Education and Human Development

Dr. Mary Harley Gresham
Interim Dean, College of Education and Human Development
University of Maine (Orono, Maine)

[Editor’s Note: This article is one of a five-part series presented in this Special Issue, which offers perspectives from Registry interims serving amidst the ongoing pandemic.]

Having not been placed as an Interim before, I expected to be a place-holder, but that was not what the University of Maine wanted nor what I encountered.  As a result, I have never been so thankful for the breadth of my experience and my sense of humor.  The original list of expectations only proved to partly reflect what was needed when I arrived.  During my first week, I was required to negotiate an MOU with the state’s DOE and to respond to a request to terminate a staff person from a senior administrator not in my college. 

From that point onward, it has been an exciting and challenging placement that has exceeded my own expectations for professional engagement. I work with some great people and we have made progress in spite of the surprises that 2020 brought to the world.  Oh, and then there were the multiple budget “realignments” across the campus . . . but they are a story for a future issue of Chronicles.