A portrait of President Joan Ferrini-Mundy

Dr. Joan Ferrini-Mundy

Joan Ferrini-Mundy became the 21st president of the University of Maine (UMaine) and its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias) in July 2018. In 2021, she was also appointed University of Maine System (UMS) vice chancellor for research and innovation where she leads a formalized effort to make UMaine’s research infrastructure accessible to and supportive of all universities and faculty in the system. In July 2020, to ensure foundational inclusive excellence, Ferrini-Mundy appointed a 30-member Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion toadvise UMaine and UMaine Machias campus leadership and operationalize their commitment to the core values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Prior to July 2018, she was the chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation (NSF) after leading NSF’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources for six years.

Her distinguished career spans the fields of mathematics education, STEM education and policy, teacher education, and research administration. Ferrini-Mundy has published more than 100 articles and has mentored 10 doctoral students.

After earning her Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in 1980, Ferrini-Mundy was a postdoctoral associate there, then a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College, where she co-founded the SummerMath for Teachers program. She returned to UNH as an assistant professor of mathematics and rose to the rank of full professor.

On leave, Ferrini-Mundy served as director of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board at the National Academy of Sciences, and subsequently joined the mathematics and teacher education faculty of Michigan State University (MSU) and served as associate dean for science and mathematics education  in the College of Natural Science and director of the Division of Science and Mathematics Education.

Her numerous awards and recognitions include the U.S. Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, MSU’s University Distinguished Professorship, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Mathematical Society, and the 2020 recipient of the NIFA/APLU Seaman A. Knapp Award in recognition of her leadership and  contributions to food and agricultural sciences.

Ferrini-Mundy is a member of the National Academies Board on Higher Education and the Workforce.  She is the chair of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, and serves on the boards of Maine Public, Maine Center Ventures, Maine and Company and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Executive Steering Committee. She is an ex officio board member of the University of Maine Foundation. She is a board member of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities and Co PI of a $320 million dollar gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation.