Dr. Mary Hines was appointed Carlow University’s ninth president on May 2, 2005. She came to Carlow from Penn State University’s Wilkes-Barre campus, where she served as its Chancellor/Campus Executive Officer from 1997 until the summer of 2005. Among other highly successful initiatives realized under her leadership, she recently led that campus through an ambitious capital campaign.

Prior to her tenure at Penn State, Dr. Hines held faculty and administrative positions at Dundalk Community College, Catonsville Community College, the University of Baltimore, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

A New York City native, Dr. Hines’ academic degrees are in Philosophy. She earned her B.A. degree (summa cum laude) from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, where she graduated first in her class and also received the College's Ethics Award. She received a National Fellowship to pursue her M.A. and Ph.D., which were awarded by The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Dr. Hines holds the academic rank of Professor of Philosophy at Carlow University.

Within Pennsylvania, Dr. Hines has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Studies Center at Wilkes University, the Board of the Northeast PA Technology Institute, and is past chair of the 15-member presidents’ council known as the Northeastern PA Association of Colleges and Universities, as well as the Luzerne County Council of Presidents. She has been a member of the Regional Steering Committee of the state initiative, “Stay Invent the Future,” one of several projects she has championed to help keep young people employed in Pennsylvania.

Committed to active participation in community organizations, Dr. Hines has served on the Board or committees of the following organizations: the Children’s Service Center Advisory Committee, the Arthritis Foundation Advocacy Committee, the Blue Ribbon Task Force for the Tobyhanna Army Depot, the Diamond City Partnership, the NE PA Advisory Board for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Education Task Force of NEPA Alliance, the Ethics Institute of Northeast Pennsylvania, YMCA, Step-by-Step, Jewish Family Services Advisory Committee, Family Care Consortium, and the Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.

She also has served on the Board of Leadership Wilkes-Barre, chairing the Executive Leadership Committee for two years and participating on the Nominating Committee, the Forum Committee, and the Mentor Committee of Leadership Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Hines is a member of the International Women's Forum, a member of the board of the Pennsylvania Economy League, and of Circle 200 (an association of women executives) and has mentored several women in leadership positions both in the community and in the University. She is a member of the Amen Corner Education Advisory Council and has also been appointed to serve as a judge for the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Jewish Committee's Louis Caplan Human Relations Award. She served on the Boards of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Business & Industry, as well as the on the Board of Family Services of Wyoming Valley. While on the Chamber Board, she founded and chaired its Ethics Committee.

Dr. Hines was the 2002 recipient of the Arthritis Foundation’s “Community Leader of the Year” award. In the March 2003 issue of the Northeast Business Journal, she was identified as one of the “Top 20 Women in Business in NE PA.” She is also an invited member of the International “Who’s Who” Historical Society, 2005. In June 2005, Dr. Hines was a recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award from Leadership Wilkes-Barre. Most recently, in January 2006, she was named one of Leadership Wilkes-Barre's 25 "Stars."

Dr. Hines’ husband, Kenneth, has taught Philosophy and Religious Studies at several institutions, including Penn State, Carroll Community College, and St. Mary's Seminary and University. They have four children: Sean, Kevin, Kathleen, and Brendan.