As academic year begins, three MC directors assume new leadership positions
Sept. 5, 2023
As the largest first-year class in recent history begins the new academic year at Maryville College, so too do new staff leaders who work behind the scenes to keep the College running smoothly.
Since his appointment to the role of chief operations officer in May 2022, John Berry has worked with President Bryan Coker and the Cabinet to fill director roles in various departments across campus. Recent hires include Sheri Gordon, director of Human Resources; Dennis Pumphrey, director of Safety and Security; and Lou Coco, director of Facilities Operations.
Sheri Gordon
A 2006 graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor’s in psychology, Gordon obtained her master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Middle Tennessee State University in 2010. After three years as an employee development analyst at EKU, she joined the team at top-ranked Berea College in 2014 as human resources training and technology manager. Over the next several years, she served in a number of roles, most recently as Berea’s HR manager since 2019.
Gordon said she enjoyed Berea’s small size and educational philosophy. MC’s similarity to Berea made it a desirable destination when she and her family decided to move to East Tennessee.
“Having served in higher education since my own undergraduate experience and knowing how transformative it can be for students and growing professionals, continuing my HR career in a college setting has been a priority,” she said. “It’s important for me to work with an institution that promotes dedication to the work at hand, and Maryville College shares that value. Maryville’s staff and faculty have been very supportive in my transition, and it’s been a warm, familiar Southern hospitality that I’m very grateful for.”
At Berea, Gordon served as Staff Forum co-chair for three years in addition to her position in HR, which provided services and support to the school’s more than 900 employees. In many ways, she said, the job at Maryville College is familiar, while new opportunities abound for both herself and the institution.
“I think Maryville College finds itself in a time of growth, and being able to contribute to impactful change for our institution is exciting,” she said. “Our opportunities to innovate and elevate have great momentum which means our collective accomplishments are in fertile beginnings. I’m excited to be part of that collaboration and continuous improvement.”
Dennis Pumphrey
Dennis Pumphrey, a 32-year veteran of campus law enforcement, was named the new director of Safety and Security at Maryville College at the beginning of the calendar year.
Pumphrey began his college work career as a resident advisor at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley before being hired by the campus police department in 1989. He retired from the department as chief in March 2021, when he and his wife, Jenny, moved to East Tennessee. After getting settled locally, Pumphrey found himself ready to give back to his new community, and after various volunteer efforts came across the need by Maryville College for a new head of campus security.
“It’s important for me to give back to a community, and if I could do that while bringing all of the tools and experience I had gained over the course of 32 years to improve the safety and security of the college campus where I live now, I wanted to do that,” he said.
Pumphrey has spent the first several months of his employment evaluating security strategies, parking concerns and other aspects of the security force designed to serve as the primary first responder to all emergency incidents on campus, and to work in conjunction with local police, fire and emergency medical services to resolve campus emergencies. In addition, he’s made overtures to local law enforcement, fire and emergency responder personnel to ensure a healthy and collaborative relationship with agencies in the Maryville area.
“A collaborative approach with the community is really important, because I don’t think you can be successful in a collegiate atmosphere if you can’t hear other opinions and bring other people to the table to get issues resolved,” Pumphrey said. “It’s important to have a concept of what you want to do to help forward the implementation of safety initiatives and other projects that help improve the community, but you don’t want to do that in a vacuum.
“Everyone on campus has significantly different needs depending on where they’re working, and it’s important to adjust safety and security initiatives in a manner that benefit the most people and are as specifically as possible tailored to individual departmental needs.”
Lou Coco
Lou Coco has been named the new director of facilities operations for Maryville College, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in facility management to a role that oversees and safeguards the institution’s critical infrastructure.
As director of Facilities Operations, Coco oversees housekeeping, custodial services, mechanical trades and grounds and is responsible for maintaining the buildings and grounds in a safe, clean and functional condition; purchasing and controlling energy on campus; and managing remodeling projects and deferred maintenance.
“My philosophy has always been, we’re supporting a higher vision, and that’s the vision of wherever we happen to be,” Coco said. “When my kids were young, and I was responsible for facility and support services at a hospital in Illinois, it was hard to tell them what a facility director does, so I explained to them that daddy helped the doctors do their good work, making sure medical gas got delivered to the operating room or the generators would start if the power went out. My job is to look at the vision of where I’m at and take pride in supporting that vision.
“In higher education, that means making sure a sports field has the newest technology to protect the athletes, ensuring the chemicals in the science labs are safe and supporting the infrastructure and safety of the students here.”
Coco was most recently at Elavon in Knoxville, the payment processing division of US Bank, where he was responsible for all East Tennessee facilities-related functions, including construction, multi-year capital planning, environmental services and safety. At Maryville College, the ability to use those skills to support a liberal arts approach, and to do so in an environmentally sustainable way, was part of the position’s attractiveness, Coco said.
“My wife and I went to a faith-based university, so we understand the closeness and the bonds you build at a smaller campus like Maryville College,” he said. “Those bonds can be forever, and they anchor people to a community for generations. Here at Maryville College, the history is really cool, the buildings are beautiful and it’s a cozier place where you can eventually get to know everyone if you’re here long enough. I’m really looking forward to being a part of it.”