Highly dedicated to education, psychology, and her community, Mary Trefry has worn many hats over the years. She started her journey as a branch manager of the Fairfax County Public Library and as a public services coordinator for the Kansas Public Library, and she used that experience to open the Trefry Resource Group, through which she consulted and trained others in libraries. During this time, however, her interest in academia was growing, and in 1994, she became an adjunct instructor at Sacred Heart University. She quickly realized she had found her niche, and has been with the school in various capacities ever since. Over the years, Dr. Trefry’s positions have included visiting full-time instructor, associate professor, interim academic director of graduate programs, assistant professor in management, chairperson of the Department of Management, academic liaison and coordinator of the Luxembourg MBA Programs at the John F. Welch College of Business, and associate professor of management at the John F. Welch College of Business. She has held the distinguished title of professor emerita since 2017.
Over the years, Dr. Trefry’s unwavering commitment to the school led her to take on a variety of responsibilities beyond teaching. She was a member of the Council on Internationalization, the University Education Study Abroad Committee, the Internationalization Task Force, the search committee for healthcare informatics faculty, the Task Force on MBA Certificates, the MBA Integrated Core Course Design Committee, the search committee for a university librarian, the search committee for the management department, and the committee to review the non-faculty performance appraisal process, among many others. Further, she held positions like chairperson of the search committee for full-time faculty, the Future of Luxembourg Task Force, the Task Force on MBA Electives, the search committee for the John F. Welch College of Business, and the Department of Management, faculty spokesperson for a TV advertisement for Sacred Heart, and facilitator of a “work-out” session on undergraduate advisement.
With such an impressive ability to flourish in whatever role she was given, Dr. Trefry quickly became recognized and sought-out by her peers. She was often invited to speak at events, and was most recently a co-presenter of “Three Popes: Lessons in Leadership” for the Experiential Learning Association in Association with Eastern Academy of Management Annual Conference. Other presentations include, “Friendly and Fresh Foods Heads Off to China,” “Aphorisms as Aids,” “Windows on the World: An Experiential Exercise” and “Hospital Headlines: Committed to Your Health and Keeping Your Trust.” Additionally, Dr. Trefry used her skills to author and co-author articles like “Culture Shock: Hiding in Plain Sight,” “A Double-Edged Sword: Organizational Culture in Multicultural Organizations,” and “Dialogues and Decisions: Moral Dilemmas in the Workplace.”
Dr. Trefry prepared for her endeavors by earning a PhD in organizational and social psychology and a Master of Arts in organizational and social psychology at Columbia University in 1991 and 1987, respectively, as well as a Master of Library Science in library and information services at the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Agnes Scott College. To keep in touch with developments in her fields, she joined prominent organizations like the Eastern Academy of Management, ODN New York, the Organizational Behavior and Teaching Society, and the North American Case Writers Association.
As a testament to her success, Dr. Trefry received the Faculty Global Engagement Award and the Distinguished Service Award from Sacred Heart University in 2017, and the Bishop Walter J. Curtis Award from the John F. Welch College of Business at Sacred Heart University in 2013. She was also honored with the Teaching Excellence Award from Sacred Heart University in 2003, the Leadership Award from the Council of Graduate Students at Sacred Heart University in 2003, and the discovery award at Sacred Heart University in 1999.