Katherine Yardley

Katherine Yardley currently serves as the Co-provost and Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Rehabilitation. Prior to assuming this role in 2023, she held the position of Associate Provost and Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Rehabilitation since 2001. Her leadership experience at the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) also includes serving as the Chair of the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education from 1995 to 2001. Dr. Yardley began her career at UMF in 1987 as an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, a role that initially involved teaching and serving as the Educational Director of the Sweatt-Winter Child Care Center. She achieved promotion and tenure in 1992 and was further promoted to full professor in 1998. Throughout her tenure at UMF, Dr. Yardley has been actively involved in numerous professional activities. She has contributed to various leadership teams, including the President’s Advisory Council, the College Leadership Team, and the Academic Leadership Council, and played a key role in the development and implementation of graduate education initiatives. Dr. Yardley has also overseen multiple state and national accreditation reviews of UMF’s teacher education programs, chaired several reviews of Maine’s Teacher Education programs for the State Board of Education, and served as a program reviewer for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NECHE). Dr. Yardley holds a B.A. with Honors in Psychology from Bowdoin College, as well as an M.Ed. and an Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.