Dr. Mary Deane Sorcinelli is Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Professor of
Educational Policy, Research, and Administration, and founding director of the Center
for Teaching and Faculty Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Prior to joining UMass Amherst, she served as director of the Office of Faculty
Development at Indiana University Bloomington (1983-88).
Mary Deane has numerous articles and book chapters in a wide range of sources.
Selected co-authored works include Developing New and Junior Faculty (1992),
Assigning and Responding to Student Writing Across the Disciplines (1997), Heeding
New Voices: Academic Careers for a New Generation (2000), Creating the Future of
Faculty Development (2006) and Mutual Mentoring Guide (2009).
Mary Deane has directed and evaluated a range of grant-funded projects including the
Lilly Endowment, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), NSF
ADVANCE, and the William and the Flora Hewlett Foundation. She is currently Co-PI
of a second $400,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a
campus-wide Mutual Mentoring Initiative. The initiative was awarded the 2011 Robert J.
Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development and a 2007
Innovation Award from the Professional and Organizational Development (POD)
Network in higher Education.
In addition, Mary Deane served as Senior Scholar to the American Association for
Higher Education (AAHE) from 1999-2001 and as Executive Board Member/President of
the POD Network, 2000-04. In 2006 she was honored with the Bob Pierleoni Spirit of
POD Award for outstanding lifetime achievement and leadership in the enhancement of
teaching, learning, and faculty development.
Under Mary Deane’s leadership, the Center For Teaching at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst was cited as one of four Model Faculty Development Programs
in the U.S. and Canada (2006), was awarded a 2002 Innovation Award from the POD
Network and a 2000 Hesburgh Award for Faculty Development to Enhance
Undergraduate Teaching and Learning.
Mary Deane has worked in international settings that include Canada, China, Egypt,
England, Germany, Greece, Puerto Rico, and Taiwan and was awarded a Whiting
Foundation Fellowship to Ireland.