Maine Gov. Mills appoints UNE’s Colin David Pears to New England Board of Higher Education
Colin David Pears, Ph.D., the University of New England’s associate provost for student success and chief retention officer, has been appointed to the New England Board of Higher Education by Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Pears said he was honored by the nomination to the board but was humbled when he heard he was appointed by the governor.
“I'm very excited to join this group and also to represent the University of New England as well as I can,” Pears said. “This represents an opportunity for UNE to be a part of the ongoing dialogue about how we best support students both in our communities here close to the University and across the New England region as well.”
As associate provost, Pears collaborates with campus peers to develop and implement a unified, supportive, and meaningful student experience from the time students arrive on campus to the moment they receive their diplomas. It is a vision that Pears said he will use to inform his priorities while serving on the board.
“The real value of a college education is more than just having a job (after college),” Pears said. “Certainly, we want students to come out of their time at colleges and universities with a degree that will help them enter the workforce. But more than that, we want this educational opportunity to be both academic, personal, and professional. We want it to be transformative. We want students to come away from their experience at college or university with an understanding that they grew as people and entered their careers as more than what they would have had they not had that educational opportunity in the first place.”
Pears said he will also push for increased access to higher education during his two-year term.
“We’re talking about things like affordability and equitability and a meaningful return on students' investments,” Pears said.
Pears came to UNE in June 2023 and is the founder and executive director of Highpoint Education, LLC, a renowned higher education consulting firm. Pears holds a bachelor’s in political science with honors from the University of Maine, a master’s in philosophy and a master's in political science from Boston College, and a doctorate from The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C.