Karen Kennedy appointed associate vice president for residential life
Karen Kennedy, senior advisor in the Office of the Executive Vice President at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed associate vice president for residential life in the Division of Student Affairs, effective spring 2024.
In this role, Kennedy will oversee all established and emerging areas of the Office of Residential Life, including residential communities, facilities, programs and services available to the more than 6,600 undergraduate students who reside on campus. As associate vice president, Kennedy will also provide strategic leadership of the University’s residential model, one of the most established and distinctive components of the Notre Dame undergraduate experience. Additionally, Kennedy will steward the unit’s core mission of providing holistic student development and formation in the context of community rooted in the University’s Catholic, Holy Cross tradition.
“Karen brings to this role a deep knowledge of and appreciation for residential life at Notre Dame, a sincere devotion to our students and a strong commitment to her faith and our Catholic mission,” said Rev. Gerard Olinger, C.S.C., vice president for student affairs. “I am thrilled that she will return to the Division of Student Affairs to strategically and thoughtfully lead a team that supports student belonging, helps students to integrate their academic and social lives, and encourages students to cultivate their gifts, talents and interests at Notre Dame and beyond.”
Kennedy earned her master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College, and her bachelor’s degree in science-business from the University of Notre Dame. She began her career at Notre Dame in 2012.
Before she started in her role as senior advisor to the executive vice president, Kennedy served as program director for ND Innovates in Institutional Research, Innovation, & Strategy. Within the Division of Student Affairs, Kennedy previously held leadership roles as director of student centers, activities and events; director of housing; and senior advisor to the vice president for student affairs. Kennedy also received both the Rev. John Francis “Pop” Farley, C.S.C., Award from the division for her distinguished role in student life, and the Nancy J. Walsh Irish Clover Award from Notre Dame Student Government for her exemplary service to the student body.
Prior to Notre Dame, Kennedy worked at Boston College for six years, during which time she served as director of the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps and helped launch the Lynch Leadership Academy.
Kennedy lives in South Bend with her husband, Sean, and three children.
Latest ND NewsWire
- Using Artificial Intelligence to change mindsTo help those experiencing homelessness, Notre Dame researchers fight stigma with data In 2020, Jack Vest was sitting on the side of the road across from a gas station in downtown South Bend, not far from where he spent each night sleeping hidden behind a fence, when a social services worker…
- As Northern Ireland grapples with legacy of the Troubles, Notre Dame experts influence policy to prioritize victims’ rightsNorthern Ireland has long struggled to reckon with the trauma of the Troubles, a 30-year conflict that killed approximately 3,700 people — many of them civilians — through sectarian violence. Experts in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs recently influenced the design of a Northern Ireland commission to address the conflict’s legacy, sharing key lessons from Colombia on the importance of centering victims in truth and reconciliation.
- In memoriam: Frank H. Collins, professor emeritus in the Department of Biological SciencesFrank Hadley Collins, professor emeritus in the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, died Nov. 16 in Tucson, Arizona. He was 80.
- Black men — including transit workers — are targets for aggression on public transportation, study showsBlack men on buses and trains — whether as passengers or transit workers — face hostile encounters that threaten their sense of safety and well-being, according to a new study by a Keough School of Global Affairs sociologist. By reinforcing racist tropes that they are dangerous or invisible, these encounters can also erode Black men’s sense of dignity and self-worth.
- Psychologists win NIH grant to study how interventions can prevent child maltreatmentEach year, more than 3 million children in the U.S. are part of an investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect. Notre Dame professors Laura Miller-Graff and Kristin Valentino are working together to lower that number by developing programs to help prevent or reduce child maltreatment at critical points for development. The two are bringing their programs together with a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
- Panel explores pathways to peaceful co-existence in the Middle EastPeacebuilding activists Nidal Foqaha, Tehila Wenger and Ezzeldeen Masri joined the University of Notre Dame’s Lisa Schirch on Nov. 11 for a discussion in DeBartolo Hall about how to resolve the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in a way that provides peace, security and equal rights for all people living in the region. The event was the second in the Israel-Palestine Series of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum on “What Do We Owe Each Other?”