Mary (Dempsey) Dormer received a master’s degree in leadership and innovation with a specialization in higher education from Daemen College.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University at Buffalo, Dormer worked as the special events coordinator at Buffalo Place, Inc., where she helped produce the Thursday at the Square concert series and other concerts such as the Goo Goo Dolls and Violent Femmes. After leaving Buffalo Place to raise her family, she later joined the Daemen Registrar’s office in 2016 and was promoted to assistant registrar a year later.
In 2018, Dormer decided to pursue her longtime goal of attaining a master’s degree and was accepted into the leadership and innovation program at Daemen.
“Working full-time while raising a family and going back to school definitely presented its challenges, but my motivation to grow and learn in this program made me truly see that when you want something bad enough, you just need to believe you can make it happen,” said Dormer.
With the support of her husband and five children, she completed her master’s work in August 2020.
“Being in the leadership and innovation program was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Dormer. “I learned to analyze and view things from a new and fresh perspective and discovered how systems thinking truly helps in grasping the big picture view of an organization, which is critical for being an effective leader.”