Like a Boss with Glenn Cummings

Press Herald CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto sat down with University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings for “Like a Boss,” an ongoing series of one-on-one talks with local CEOs and business leaders.

Cummings began his academic career in Gorham as a high school history teacher and department head. He served as a faculty member at the Southern Maine Community College and was a long-serving member of the USM faculty. Prior to becoming president of USM, Cummings served as interim president of the University of Maine at Augusta.

In 2010, he served former Pres. Barack Obama as deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education and took over as president and executive director of the Good Will-Hinckley organization. Under his tenure, the organization used a $10.5 million philanthropic contribution from the Harold Alfond Foundation to create the first charter school in Maine history, the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences.

Cummings is also a former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, Majority Leader, and chairman of the state’s Joint Committee of Education and Cultural Affairs, where he sponsored a successful bill to create the state community college system.

Cummings obtained his doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, a masters of public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, an MA in teaching from Brown University, and a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University.