By Erin Shanahan

After a year of searching, the position of assistant director for student organizations and programming has been filled by Alexandra Kearney.

Kearney is originally from Chicago, but attended college in Florida at the University of Central Florida. There, she received her bachelors in legal studies (Pre-Law) with a minor in criminal justice. Currently, Kearney is pursuing her masters in higher education administration from Stony Brook University.

Kearney already has some experience with the Office for Student Involvement. She became the graduate intern for the position in Jan. 2015. During that time, she worked under the supervision of Shannon Driscoll, the former assistant director for student organizations and programming.

After this past summer, Kearney decided to apply for the position as assistant director. “I was familiar with the workload and really enjoyed my time thus far at Fordham and was very excited about the opportunity to do it full time,” Kearney said.

“I originally applied for the position at Fordham because I was very interested in working at a smaller, religious school — much different than my undergraduate experience,” Kearney said. “After reading through the mission of the university and following up on the meaning of Jesuit principles, [I] felt that I could truly align myself with the goals of the university,” she added.

As the new assistant director for student organizations and programming, Kearney has big plans for this coming year. “I’m very excited to work with our club leaders in a more comprehensive way,” Kearney said. As a graduate intern, Kearney’s interaction with actual students was limited due to the nature of the intern’s job. Although Kearney has developed a great relationship with club leaders, she hopes to make this relationship stronger by ensuring that lines of communication are open for all students.

While the office is going through some transition, Kearney and Monique Dumaine, the new student organizations and engagement specialist are working to divvy up the work. Eventually, Dumaine will be working more on the facial side of things, such as budget forms and room requests, while Kearney will be working more with leadership development and initiatives.

In addition, Kearney is an advisor for the budget committee. At these meetings, she helps to improve the budgeting process and address the concerns of clubs. “[Kearney] has been working with clubs for over a year, so she knows what clubs need, how to help them, and where the current processes can improve to better serve clubs,” said Daniel Stroie, GSB ‘17, USG’s vice president of finance and head of the budget committee. “From my interactions with her so far,” he said. “I believe that she and Dumaine, will be able to have a positive impact on clubs while helping them develop their leadership on campus.”

“Hopefully, with the help of Dumaine, we will develop some fantastic leadership initiatives,” she commented. “We have a lot of ideas brewing so keep on the lookout!”