At a glance
In keeping with its strategic plan and its departure from typical student union construction, Alfred State College is not only going ahead with construction of a $33.5M student union and leadership center, but has already hired a director of civic engagement and student leadership programs. Ashley Kehoe, formerly of Chicago, assumed her position April 1.
In keeping with its strategic plan and its departure from typical student union construction, Alfred State College is not only going ahead with construction of a $33.5M student union and leadership center, but has already hired a director of civic engagement and student leadership programs. Ashley Kehoe, formerly of Chicago, assumed her position April 1.
As the director of civic engagement and student leadership programs, Kehoe is responsible for coordinating civic engagement initiatives, including local, national, and international service immersion experiences such as the ongoing trips to New Orleans and Haiti (disaster relief); developing partnerships with non-profit community agencies; working with service-oriented student organizations and coordinating events such as New Student Service Day; voter registration drives; Relay for Life; and Take Back the Night, to name just a few. Additionally, Kehoe will be instrumental in designing and facilitating leadership development opportunities, including retreats, workshops, programs, and high/low elements challenge courses, and teambuilding programs. She will also advise and facilitate community building with students and advisers involved in the Greek Life system.
Of her new position, Kehoe says, “I am thrilled to be serving in this role and to be joining what I have already found to be an incredibly active, dynamic, and engaged group of students, faculty, staff, and community members. I believe that civic engagement is a way of life and a way of being. It is the process of becoming deeply involved in and connected to one’s community through service, activism, advocacy, politics, research, business development, and much more. Civic engagement can be integrated into an academic curriculum through internships, service-learning, or community-based research, and it can also be incorporated into co-curricular opportunities such as philanthropic fundraising campaigns, community service trips, or student organizations with a humanitarian focus. Overall, I believe there is a wide range of ways to be civically engaged, and I look forward to supporting and collaborating on a variety of meaningful, high-impact initiatives at Alfred State College!”
Prior to joining the Alfred State community, Kehoe was a graduate intern in leadership and community service-learning at University of Maryland, College Park; a graduate and teaching assistant in the Center for Experiential Learning, Loyola University (Chicago), as well as co-leader of an alternative break immersion experience for the Department of Mission and Ministry and for Greeks for a Good Cause, also at Loyola.
Kehoe holds an Med in higher education with a concentration in student affairs from Loyola University, and a BA in English from Roosevelt University, Chicago.
The Schaumburg (IL) High School graduate is the daughter of Jane Kehoe, Schaumburg.