Resident Expert
Junior Katie McInerney first became acquainted with Saint Mary’s during a summer basketball camp when she was in middle school. When it came time to pick a college, she kept Saint Mary’s in the back of her mind. Even though McInerney knew the campus, it took another look to seal the deal. “I went through a point where I really felt like nothing I was looking at was fitting and I initially came here and took a tour…and I fell in love all over again.”
McInerney is on the Saint Mary’s golf team, is the National Communications Coordinator for the Residence Hall Association (RHA), is a resident advisor in McCandless Hall, and will be the administrative resident advisor there next year. She was recently awarded the National Communications Coordinator of the Year award from the Great Lakes Association of College and University Residence Halls (GLACURH). The award puts McInerney in the running for Communications Coordinator of the year for the nation. “I feel very honored to receive this award,” comments McInerney. “The award also means respect from my peers. They believe I am doing a good job and they chose me to represent our state and our region, and that is very exciting.”
McInerney worked to bring an Indiana Residence Hall Organization conference to Saint Mary’s, after submitting a formal proposal and making an oral presentation to the board of the Indiana National Communications Coordinators. McInerney describes the event as a leadership conference that “focuses on ways leaders on campus can improve their campus communities.”
McInerney is majoring in management information systems, which combines computer science with business. With a minor in communications, she plans a future in the technological field. “The main thing is, I don’t want to be one of those people hidden in the corner behind their computer never talking to anyone,” explains McInerney of her enthusiastic personality and love for technology. She credits associate math professor Mary Connolly as being a very influential and important person within her major and in her deciding on a career.
McInerney credits McCandless Hall Director Molly Winn with being another influence on her. “Molly’s involvement and commitment to the school has driven me to work even harder and take on even more, to do anything I can to make this campus and community better.”