Diane Dunn’s journey reflects her core values of working, serving, and learning
By Troy R. Bennett
A comprehensive list of Maj. Gen. Diane Dunn’s ’01G personal, civilian, and military accomplishments would require barrels of ink and reams of paper. A mother of three, grandmother of four, decorated Afghanistan combat veteran, and the first woman brigade commander in the Maine Army National Guard, Dunn is also a former senior advisor and chief of staff to University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. Prior to that, Dunn earned a graduate degree and served as an assistant professor of military science at UMaine. In 2024, Maine Gov. Janet Mills also named Dunn adjutant general of the state’s National Guard as well as commissioner of the Department of Defense, Veterans, and Emergency Management. Dunn is the first woman to hold either position in the state’s 200-year history. In her dual roles, Dunn is responsible for more than 3,000 active National Guard soldiers and airmen, 100,000 Maine service veterans, and a roughly $15 million Emergency Management Agency budget. To help manage and balance her myriad duties and responsibilities, Dunn said she keeps three things in mind: How she and those around her can continue to work, serve, and learn in — and for — the state of Maine. “And I don’t think I would have had the ‘learn’ part there had it not been for my time at UMaine,” she said. “Every single thing that I do in this job now connects back to learning and education. I hope to help people understand the value of being educated in Maine, staying in Maine, creating a workforce, and finding different ways to serve right here in Maine.”
Indeed, Dunn’s life and work have all been centered in her home state. Born in 1966 to a working-class family, she grew up in a mobile home park adjacent to the Lewiston Raceway where Dunn learned the value of hard work tending standardbred racehorses alongside her grandfather, a well-known trainer originally from Aroostook County, whom everyone called Rosie. “I remember Christmas vacations, working with him in the barn. He would send me out to jog the horses in the dead of winter,” she said. “I remember my hands would be frozen. I didn’t want to go in the shade in front of the grandstand because it was so cold there.” Upon graduating high school, Dunn visited three Wesleyan colleges, in Oklahoma, Indiana, and New York. She picked the third, Houghton University, because it was the closest to Maine. While home on summer break between her sophomore and junior years, she met her future husband, Jim, at Bass Park in Bangor while helping her grandparents with their race horses. Her husband, who worked in law enforcement for years, is still involved in racing today. Together, they currently have 10 race horses on their farm in the Belgrade Lakes region, including two who are now retired. Though she rarely has time these days, Dunn likes to spend time with the two retired racers who spend most of their time resting in a paddock near the house.
“The rest have to make money to earn their keep but those two are just hay burners eating their way through life,” Dunn joked.
Dunn nearly had to drop out of college before her junior year because she had run out of money. However, through the ROTC program, which she had joined at the urging of her basketball coach, she was selected for a six-week leadership program at Fort Knox in Kentucky, where she earned a scholarship funding the rest of her bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“That was a blessing. I had no idea how I was going to pay for the next two years of school,” Dunn said. “In fact, I wasn’t even being allowed to enroll my junior year because I didn’t have any way to pay for it. ROTC was the door that opened up the rest of my career — and here I am, 40-something years later.”At the end of her ROTC program, Dunn had the choice of being commissioned an officer in either the U.S. Army Reserve or the Maine National Guard. She chose the guard because it meant coming home to Maine. From 1988 to 1997, Dunn served the guard part time while also working as a mental health counselor and starting a family. In 1998, she went to work for the guard full time. From there, Dunn began to climb the ranks. By September 11, 2001, she’d achieved the rank of major and was the executive officer of the 286th Quartermaster Petroleum Supply Battalion in Bangor, which helped support the global war on terrorism. From 2002 until 2005, Dunn was an assistant professor of military sciences in the University of Maine System. She also earned a Master of Public Administration from UMaine in 2001 and another mas–ter’s degree in strategic studies from the United States Army War College in 2009. That same year, then Lt. Col. Dunn spent 10 months in Kandahar, Afghanistan, commanding the 286th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion during operation Enduring Freedom. At the time, her children were in high school and elementary school. Dunn said she still feels grateful for her husband, who took care of everything while she was overseas, in harm’s way.
“Because spouses don’t volunteer for service, do they?” she said. “He’s been fabulous throughout my whole career.” By 2020, Dunn was a colonel and the assistant adjutant general of the Maine National Guard. Her list of military honors was already long, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal.
“Obviously she didn’t accomplish all that without demonstrating tremendous leadership in all those assignments to get to where she was,” said retired Maj. Gen. John “Bill” Libby ’66, ’67G, Maine’s adjutant general from 2004 until 2012. “It’s hard to get her to talk about her accomplishments. She doesn’t see herself as a trailblazer. She sees herself as a role model, showing women in the guard what is possible.”
Then, with 33 years of military service behind her, Dunn left active duty and took on a civilian role at UMaine, working with President Ferrini-Mundy, first as senior advisor from 2022 until 2023 and then chief of staff from 2023 until 2024.
“Diane is an exceptional leader and someone I relied on every day,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “One of the things I appreciated most about Diane was her willingness to be honest and direct when she had concerns. Her counsel was invaluable and I learned a great deal from working with her. I continue to admire her dedicated service to the state as head of the Maine National Guard.” Dunn said she learned a lot about organization and prioritization from Ferrini-Mundy, as well as a reinforced focus on the “learn” part of her personal trifecta of “work, serve, and learn.” Dunn said her experience in the president’s office definitely helped prepare her for her current job as Maine’s first female adjutant general and commissioner. As Libby correctly pointed out, it can be hard to get Dunn to talk about her personal accomplishments in the Maine National Guard as a female soldier. They include being the first female battalion commander, chief of staff, adjutant general, one-star, and two-star generals. Dunn did, however, briefly address her firsts in formal remarks when taking the adjutant general position in 2024.
“I do not see this as a personal achievement alone, but as a testament to progress and possibility,” she said. “If this moment inspires even one young person to believe that there is no limit to their service, then it will have meant something far greater than a star on a uniform.” M