UNT Dean of Students Profile

Maureen McGuinness always knew she wanted to help people. Growing up in a large Catholic family, her parents instilled a sense of compassion and kindness in her. As the Dean of Students at UNT, she extends that selflessness to her students every single day.

When she was a little girl, McGuinness wanted to be a pediatrician. After she arrived at college her freshman year, she realized medicine was not her calling. As a student worker on campus, she found her true passion.

“When I went to John Carroll University, I was a work-study student in the Dean of Students office,” McGuinness said. “I fell in love with a career I didn’t even know existed.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree, McGuinness moved to Texas and became a hall director at the University of Texas at Arlington. Meanwhile, she was earning her master’s degree at UNT.

“I was driving from Arlington to here working on my master’s,” she said. “I fell in love with UNT and that’s how I got here.”

McGuinness is passionate about students. She is a mother, an educator and a resource to thousands of young people. She works every day to make sure her students know about all of the resources and help available to them.

“When they [students] find out we’re here and what we can offer them and the connections and the resources we can give them, [that’s what I love about my job],” McGuinness said. “I love seeing how one, that makes them stay in school and two, the healing process that takes place.”

Family is a fundamental part of life for McGuinness. She grew up as one of seven siblings and some of her happiest memories were the days she spent with her family in Erie, Pennsylvania. Though she lives hundreds of miles from where she grew up, McGuinness still values her family.

“I’m real big on just hanging with my kids and my family and friends,” McGuinness said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends in Texas that have become my family because everyone else is up in Erie. When you’re one of seven you need to find an adopted family quickly, and I’ve found that here.”

McGuinness credits her love for helping others to her parents. Her father was a teacher for 40 years and her mother went back to college to become a hospice nurse. As an educator and student leader, she dedicates every day to serving those around her, just like her parents did.

“I have two mottoes – one: students are not an interruption to our work, they are the purpose of it – that’s my tagline. And two would be, you always do the right thing and you do it with kindness and compassion.”