San Rafael resident Mary B. Marcy was officially installed as the ninth president of , the first new president in 23 years.
In her inaugural address on Saturday, Marcy outlined her goals and vision for Dominican’s future: academic excellence with a focus on liberal arts.
“The goal is to ensure that every student receives a rigorous liberal arts education," she said to an audience of 800 people. "And the goal is to augment that classroom experience with a strong set of partnerships that ensure students put their learning into action.”
Marcy joins Dominican from Bard College, where she has served as provost at Simon’s Rock and vice president since 2004.
She is a political scientist with a doctorate of philosophy and master of philosophy from the University of Oxford. Prior to her role at Bard College, she worked in both public and private institutions of higher education.
An expert on higher education reform, Marcy has published on issues of diversity, leadership and strategy in higher education and was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to serve as a commissioner on the Commonwealth’s Public Education Nominating Council.
At her inauguration, Marcy told the audience that her family legacy and Dominican's history are linked in ideals. Her great-great- grandfather moved to then-unincorporated western Nebraska at the time Dominican was founded. He started a cattle ranch, and helped establish a one-room school where, nearly a century later, Marcy began her education.
"So at the least, Dominican and my family share a tradition of commitment to education and a tradition of scarce resources," she said.
Dressed in the academic regalia of their respective institutions, delegates from more than 30 higher education institutions led the inauguration procession into Angelico Hall. Delegates marched in order of the founding date of each institution, the representative of the oldest going first, in this case University of Oxford (1096) followed by Harvard University (1636). The delegates were joined by trustees, faculty, students, parents, alumni, and guests.
