Joan Ferrini-Mundy

Joan Ferrini-Mundy is the 21st president of the University of Maine and the president of its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias. In 2021, she was appointed vice chancellor for research and innovation for the University of Maine System. In this role, she has led a formalized effort to make the University of Maine’s research infrastructure accessible to and supportive of all universities and faculty in the System. In early 2022, UMaine was designated as an R1 Carnegie Classification research university, joining the ranks of the nation’s top universities engaged in “very high research activity.” President Ferrini-Mundy also chairs the University of Maine System’s Science Advisory Board, which was established to stay fully abreast of fast-breaking scientific and medical developments in areas relevant to universities and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prior to joining the university, she was the chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation. At NSF, she headed the Directorate for Education and Human Resources for six years prior to becoming chief operating officer. Her distinguished career spans the fields of mathematics education, STEM education and policy, teacher education, and research administration. 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 Seaman A. Knapp Award in recognition of her leadership and contributions to food and agricultural sciences. She is the chair-elect of the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences and the Academic Advisory Team with FocusMaine. President Ferrini-Mundy serves on the boards of Maine Center Ventures, Maine and Company, and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Executive Steering Committee, and is an ex officio board member of the University of Maine Foundation. She is an at-large member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Board of Directors and Co-PI of a $240 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation. In spring 2022, she was appointed to the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science by President Joe Biden and to the Maine Innovation Economy Advisory Board by Governor Janet Mills.