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Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD |
After nearly 30 years of dedicated service to UMass Medical School, Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD, will retire from her position as vice provost for school services, professor of radiology and professor in the Graduate School of Nursing at the end of the calendar year, according to Terence R. Flotte, MD, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the School of Medicine.
“Through her engagement and commitment to UMMS since 1989, Dr. Hines has achieved a rare and powerful impact on our community,” Dr. Flotte said.
Hines is credited with the development and nurturing of the Medical School’s renowned pipeline programs, including the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. While the story of each of the students who has participated in these prematriculation programs is unique, collectively these programs have motivated young people—many of whom are from groups historically underrepresented in medicine—to realize the transformational power of a career in science or medicine, Flotte said.
“These pipeline programs have also brought great recognition to the Medical School,” Flotte said. “Known for her unique approach to mentoring and teaching, Deborah has had an impact on these students that has been personal, powerful and lasting.”
In 2015, Hines received the American Society for Cell Biology Bruce Alberts Award for Excellence in Science Education. In 1998, she launched the Deborah Harmon Hines, PhD, Scholarship Fund for underrepresented and disadvantaged students. Annually donating herself and aided by donations from her many friends, the scholarship fund is valued at $70,000. She plans to raise funds to bring the scholarship fund value up to $100,000.
For many years, Hines has also managed the oversight of a variety of important services for the three schools, including financial aid, the registrar, the learning contract, accommodations for students under the Americans with Disabilities Act and room reservations. In many cases, she and her colleagues created from scratch the systems and guidelines upon which the staff relies today. While managing room reservations, she was also the project director for the design, construction and fundraising for the Goff Learning Center, assisting in raising more than $4 million for the project. (She is particularly proud of picking the finishes and bright fuchsia upholstery for the Hiatt and Lazare Auditoriums.) She was also directly engaged in a number of renovation projects for educational and conference spaces, including the amphitheater renovations, the clip-on space and the Faculty Conference Room.
Earlier this year, she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service, in recognition of her leadership in medical education and diversity efforts, and in honor of the countless lives she has touched through her work at UMMS. As Chancellor Michael F. Collins noted when bestowing the medal this fall, “It takes no imagination to recognize the influence an individual can have on an institution and in this instance, to recognize a colleague who has served with distinction.”
In 2013, Hines was presented with the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence in Diversity. More recently, the Liberian Episcopal Community in the United States recognized her for “invaluable service on behalf of the people of Liberia.” She first visited that country in 1979, returning many times for her work in the Episcopal Church and on behalf of UMMS to serve as a visiting professor of anatomy at the Dogliotti College of Medicine in Monrovia.
In her retirement, Hines will serve as special assistant to the provost for our prematriculation programs and School of Medicine admissions efforts. She will assist with recruitment, and serve as an advisor and mentor to underrepresented and disadvantaged students and as a mentor to UMMS faculty members. She also plans to write and publish outcomes from the many outreach programs she developed or nurtured that helped increase student diversity at UMMS.
Related stories on UMassMedNow:
Convocation 2016 recognizes Chancellor’s Medal recipients; faculty invested as named chairs
Deborah Harmon Hines recognized for ‘tireless work’ in Liberia
Harmon Hines named recipient of Bruce Alberts Award for Excellence in Science Education
