Dr. Mary Hendrix serves as an advisor to the Charitable Activities Committee.
Dr. Hendrix is passionate about students and the life-changing impact of education. A first-generation college student herself, she has devoted the past 40 years to making a difference in the lives of students. She retired from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2016 after serving in a variety of key leadership positions, including Provost and the university’s first Vice-President for Student Access and Success—an unprecedented organizational structure that resulted in significant enrollment gains and improved persistence and graduation rates.
A former public school teacher, counselor, and administrator, Dr. Hendrix has also served as an educational consultant to state departments of education, regional educational consortia, community colleges, and public schools. She has authored a state‑adopted textbook for seventh and eighth graders for career investigation and educational planning, numerous instructional manuals, and has secured grants in excess of $22 million to support her passion for raising academic expectations for students to meet real-world requirements, improving instructional strategies, using technology as a medium to foster student access to educational opportunities, and improving college readiness and student success. She has served on advisory committees for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, American Council on Education, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges.
She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and has a master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Personnel and Guidance.
