Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick, the Maricopa Community Colleges’ Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, was named Interim Chancellor during the Governing Board’s regular January meeting. She will serve in that role after Chancellor Rufus Glasper leaves on February 29, until a new permanent Chancellor joins the District.
Dr. Harper-Marinick has served as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost since 2010. She previously served as Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, and continued as the District’s chief academic officer when appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. She has worked with the Chancellor to develop and implement the District’s strategic plan and lead initiatives to enhance access and increase student success. Dr. Harper-Marinick also has provided oversight for all areas within academic and student affairs; institutional effectiveness and research; university relations and transfer; grants development; international education; high school to college pathways programs; workforce and small business development.
“Because of her extensive experience serving as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost with Dr. Glasper, we felt Dr. Harper-Marinick was the best person to assume the position of Interim Chancellor,” said Maricopa Governing Board President Alfredo Gutierrez. “I was delighted when she agreed to do so.”
Dr. Harper-Marinick has served on several boards and councils including the federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance by appointment of U.S. Secretary of Education (Chair); National Community College Hispanic Council (President-Elect); National Advisory Board for the Center for Community College Student Engagement; ETS National Community College Advisory Council; Western Alliance of Community College Academic Leaders; Commission on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, American Association of Community Colleges; League for Innovation in the Community College; Expect More Arizona; Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center; Arizona Business and Education Coalition; Morrison Institute for Public Policy’s Latino Public Policy Center Advisory Board and Morrison CTE Advisory Board; Phoenix Thriving Together Leadership Council; the Latina Giving Circle; and The Global Pathways Institute. She is a Distinguished Associate of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
Dr. Harper-Marinick has been the recipient of various awards. In 2015, she was selected as the Woman of the Year by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; was featured in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as one of 25 women who have made a difference in the world by tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges and exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills; and was selected to join the 2015 class of the Aspen Institute’s Ascend Fellows. She was awarded the 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks Hispanic Community Leadership Award, the NCSPOD 2013 Chancellor Leadership Award, and the 2012 Victoria Foundation’s Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. Service in Higher Education Award. In 2014, Dr. Harper-Marinick was selected as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Arizona Business by the AZ Business Magazine, highlighted by the Phoenix Business Journal in their Executive Profiles, and featured in International Educator as “Women Making Their Marks.” In 2013 she was selected as one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanic Business Leaders in Arizona by the AZ Business Magazine and one of the Valley’s Most Admired Leaders by the Phoenix Business Journal, and was featured in Revista Mercado (Dominican Republic), Latina Styles, International Educator, and Hispanic Executive magazines.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Harper-Marinick came to Arizona State University as a Fulbright Scholar in 1982. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology and a Master’s Degree in Instructional Media from Arizona State University and a Licentiate in School Administration and Pedagogy from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena in the Dominican Republic. She has authored scholarly articles and chapters and presented at national conferences.