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From Armenian Heritage to Multiple College Presidencies to Executive Vice President of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and College

GlobalMindED

Creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline

发布日期: 2024年3月8日

Women's History Month is celebrated annually in March to honor and recognize women's contributions, achievements, and struggles. GlobalMindED is proud to highlight the voices and work of influential women.

Dr. Mary Papazian , AGB (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges) Executive Vice President, is a seasoned higher education leader with over 35 years of experience as a university professor, president, and senior administrator.

We are delighted that Mary is on GlobalMindED 's board and we appreciate her generous collaborations with everyone in her circles of impact. You can meet Mary at GlobalMindED this June 17-19, and hear her as she leads the panel: Who Will Lead the Higher Education Field Into the Future? What Equity Leadership Needs to Look Like Now and in the Decades to Come.

What is your personal/professional story??

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have the support of my family in pursuing my educational and professional journey. I was born in Los Angeles to Armenian parents of modest means, the second of four and the only girl. While both of my parents were ethnically Armenian and had met in college, their paths to the university differed. My mother’s family immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century. Her father had been a pharmacist and her mother had had some education at the local community college, which was an achievement for a woman of her generation. My mother had always been an excellent student and was well-prepared for university success. My father was the son of two genocide survivors who had made their way to Greece (my grandfather by way of Lebanon, where he had earned a dental degree at the American University of Beirut), where they rebuilt their lives. After enduring life in Greece during WWI and the Nazi occupation, my grandfather sent my father to Los Angeles to attend UCLA and pursue higher education. But circumstances were such that he was not able to complete his degree, despite his deep commitment to education. He made sure my brothers and I understood the importance of education—my father was a voracious reader and loved to engage us in vigorous conversation over dinner—and pursued our education. We were fortunate to live in California with a strong public university system, which made it possible for us to afford college. My brothers and I lived at home and commuted to 美国加州大学洛杉矶分校 during our undergraduate years, and we all pursued advanced degrees.?

After graduate school, I accepted an assistant professor position in Michigan where I launched my academic career. While in Michigan, my late husband, a long-time professor of Russian history and a wise and visionary leader, and I were married, and our two daughters were born. Our partnership of over 30 years has been key to so much of my success. As I transitioned from my professorial position to administrative roles and as my administrative career unfolded, we moved to New Jersey, Connecticut, and Northern California. As a woman leader, I also became more and more conscious of the role I played as a role model to aspiring women around me. I have been fortunate throughout my career to have had wonderful mentors, colleagues, and friends from whom I have learned much and with whom I have laughed and cried and everything in between depending on the day.?

What key moments in your life led you to where you are today??

I had always known that I would attend UCLA and study English. It was what my mother did and, as far back as I can remember, it is what I always wanted to do. But I hadn’t really thought through what came next. I knew I wasn’t suited to be a secondary school teacher, the path my mother ultimately pursued, but I wasn’t sure what made sense. I thought about journalism and law, with many encouraging me to apply for law school. Others thought I should apply to a Ph.D. program in English literature. I considered both but was leaning toward law, given the stronger career opportunities in law versus English. As I was readying my applications, I took a required class on the poetry of John Milton, a 17th-century English poet best known for his long epic, Paradise Lost. The professor was challenging, the material compelling, and I immediately knew that I wanted to study literature. And so I ignored the law school applications on my desk, applied to graduate school in English,?wrote a dissertation on an early contemporary of Milton, John Donne, got a job as a professor of English, and the rest is history, as they say. Once I was tenured, several mentors along the way encouraged me to pursue an academic administrative career, which led me to become a dean, provost, and president of two public universities: Southern Connecticut State University and San Jose State University . My current role, as Executive Vice President of the AGB (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges) , allows me to work with the boards of trustees of both public and private colleges and universities and institutionally-related foundations to strengthen good governance at a time of great challenge and support a strong higher education system for all.?

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Where does your passion to serve come from??

I believe my passion for service comes from my parents and my Armenian heritage. As the granddaughter of genocide survivors and the daughter of an immigrant whose life circumstances forced him to drop out of school and never complete his college degree, I grew up hearing first-hand stories of the challenges of suffering, displacement, rebuilding, and fighting to be sure your voice is heard. My personal experience as an Armenian-American, a small population that suffered enormous loss and displacement from the Armenian genocide in the early twentieth century, a people with a distinct history and culture, helped me understand how important it is to seek to understand each person’s individual history and create the spaces for their voices to be heard. It also reinforced for me the belief that talent is everywhere, even if opportunity is not. My goal became to ensure opportunity for all voices, especially those with the fewest resources, and to do so in a way that respected each of their stories and each of their lived experiences. I have had the good fortune of working at public universities that serve just these remarkable students, and I have learned as much from them as I hope they have learned from me. I also am motivated by my two adult daughters, who remind me every day that the choices and investments we make today will have a profound impact on the future we create for the next generation. I take pride that my current role with AGB allows me to work with institutions across the country to strengthen governance and address some of higher education’s most critical challenges.

How can GlobalMindED help you achieve your goals?

I share GlobalMindED ’s belief that “the future of work is diverse, inclusive, just, and equitable.” GlobalMindED’s powerful efforts to create meaningful support for first generation students from all backgrounds and close equity gaps align with my longstanding commitment to ensuring that the promise of higher education is accessible and achievable for students traditionally underserved by higher education. I am proud to serve on GlobalMindED’s board and look forward to our collective work to advance this compelling mission, strengthen the opportunities for all students, and, in partnership with our business community, educate the diverse talent our economy and democracy needs.