Painfully Shy Student Stepped to the Head of the Class: She’s the Dean of Instruction at OCC

Back in 1966, Theo Mabry enrolled in a speech class at Orange Coast College during her lunch hour. Painfully shy and tremendously intimidated by her young colleagues, the then-33-year-old secretary at the college was terrified whenever she had to deliver a speech.

Now, 22 years later, when Mabry walks to the front of a class at the Costa Mesa college, it isn’t as a bashful, terrified secretary. It is as OCC’s dean of instruction, the No. 2 position at the 25,000-student school.

Mabry was promoted recently from her job as anthropology instructor to become the first woman dean of instruction in the 40-year history of the college, the largest community college in California.

“You have to set your goals and work toward them,” Mabry said matter-of-factly. “At one point I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I’ll be 39 when I get my bachelor’s degree.’ But then I realized I would have been 39 anyway, with or without that degree.”

Mabry is stepping into her new role at a time of considerable turmoil within the school’s top ranks. Three weeks ago, OCC President Donald R. Bronsard suffered a heart attack and is expected to be laid up another month or so. Two top-level deans have departed recently. And last week the new academic year began.

“She’s in the maelstrom,” said Jim Carnett, the school’s director of community relations. “But she’s handling it very well. She knows Orange Coast College like the back of her hand.”

Raised in the Compton area, Mabry had wanted to go to college after graduating from high school, but her family was too poor to help her financially. Eventually, though, her desire for an education won out, and she began taking classes at Orange Coast College in 1965, a year before she was hired as a secretary.

“I’d heard a lot about Orange Coast College and how good it was, and it wasn’t going to cost me anything, which is important when you’re supporting yourself and your family,” Mabry said.

Among the classes she signed up for in 1965 was the so-called New Math. “My kids were taking it in elementary school, and I wanted to be able to talk intelligently with them,” she explained.

After earning an associate of arts degree in 1969, Mabry transferred to Cal State Fullerton, where she quickly earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in anthropology. She returned to Orange Coast College as a faculty member in 1971.

“She is extremely hard working and dedicated, very thorough in her ability to break down an issue into its component parts,” said Daniel Beard, a professor of food service management who has worked with Mabry on the school’s Academic Senate.

Mabry said she might have continued on as “just a happy teacher” were it not for the death of her 24-year-old son from cancer in 1982. “It left a rather large hole in my life, and I went looking for something to keep me occupied.”

What she found was an endless array of campus committees and the Faculty Senate. As senate president for two years, Mabry discovered, “There were things I could do (as an administrator) that I couldn’t do in the classroom.”

Thus she applied eagerly when the dean’s post became available earlier this year.

Terry Timmons, a sociology instructor and a member of the search committee to fill the position, said Mabry’s lack of administrative experience “was one of her weaker areas.” But a key strength “was the variety of committees” she had served on, he said.

“I was impressed by the fact she was a very active member of the campus community,” he said. “She’s certainly paid her dues over the years. . . . Raising a family and being an involved faculty member.”

Now, with President Bronsard out sick, Mabry has her hands full administering the college’s 240 different academic and vocational programs.

Doug Mason, a history professor who applauds Mabry’s selection as dean of instruction, said, “Most of the faculty members on campus will be watching to see how she performs in her new role. She’ll have quite a job to do.”

While she realizes the faculty is watching her, Mabry said it is nothing new. “I was already on view as senate president.”

The former secretary added quickly: “I have a lot of confidence in Orange Coast College and the support I have here. And I think I’ll be able to do the things that have to be done.”