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Records from the Office of the President of McDaniel College produced during the tenure of Joan D. Coley, president from 1999-2010. Records include correspondence, talks and speeches, reports, budgets, Board of Trustees agendas and minutes, calendars, and  files from Dr. Coley's inauguration and retirement.

McDaniel College Office of the President
Coley, Joan D.
McDaniel College Board of Trustees

Joan Coley was acting president in 1999 and president of McDaniel College from 2000 to 2010. She resided over the name change of the college from Western Maryland College to McDaniel College, oversaw the construction of Academic Hall, Leroy Merritt Fitness Center, Klitzberg Pavilion, North Village, and the Warfield Tennis Courts, and headed the Carpe Diem capital campaign during her tenure.

Dr. Coley graduated from Albright College and went on to get her Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.  She arrived on the Campus of Western Maryland College in 1973 to direct the graduate program in reading.  She held both faculty and administrative positions for the next ten years when she was challenged by the Dean of the Faculty to become the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in 1983. She was again recognized for her administrative abilities when in 1993 president Robert Chambers challenged her to take the position of Provost and Dean of Faculty.  When Dr. Chamber’s went on sabbatical in the fall of 1999, Dr. Coley became acting president and when he resigned the Board asked her to become interim president during the search.  While interim president she she applied for the position. Dr. Joan Coley was inaugurated as the eighth president of Western Maryland College on April 21, 2001.  She was the first woman president of the College and the first president to rise up through ranks from “faculty to administration to president.”

Author: Barbara O'Brien

Coley, Joan D.
McDaniel College
Universities and colleges
Western Maryland College