Mary Churchill

Mary Churchill is the creator of the Higher Ed Policy blog and founding editor of the University of Venus blog at Inside Higher Ed. In addition to creating Higher Ed Policy and University of Venus at Inside Higher Ed and Old School, New School at The Chronicle Mary is regularly invited to write and present on higher ed policy issues related to equity, workforce development, and the future of education. She is the co-author of When Colleges Close: Leading in a Time of Crisis (Spring 2021, Johns Hopkins University Press) which details the merger of Wheelock College and Boston University. She is also co-producer and co-host of several higher ed podcasts: Rocking the Academy, View from Venus, and ExperiencED. 

Mary is passionate about equity and the role of public engagement in higher education. In her thirty years of leadership experience, she has tirelessly advocated for a new paradigm of leadership informed by diversity, collaboration, and equity. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston and is a Professor of Practice at Boston University. She has taught courses in Higher Education Administration, International Studies, Sociology, and Political Science.

Mary is currently Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement at Boston University's Wheelock College of Education and Human Development where she also serves as Director of the Higher Education Administration program and Professor of Practice. Mary serves as a trustee on the board of Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology in Boston and chairs the academic affairs committee of the board. Prior to her role at Boston University, she was the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wheelock College in Boston. Mary serves as an advisor in the American Council on Education's (ACE) Learner Success Lab. She is also on the Women's Network Executive Council at the ACE and on the board of the Massachusetts Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education which is focused on advancing women leaders in higher education. As an executive coach for senior leaders in the higher education sector, Mary works directly with a limited number of high-level professionals and board members.

In 2021, Mary served as Chief of Policy and Planning in Boston as a member of the Janey Administration. She and her husband and their teen son are active in their Roxbury neighborhood in Boston and Mary serves on several community-based committees and boards. Originally from the “pets or meat” world portrayed in Michael Moore’s Flint, Michigan; she was the first in her family to attend college.

Mary can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] and she can also be found on Twitter (@mary_churchill) and LinkedIn.