A senior administrator, who friends and colleagues always admired for speaking her mind and advocating for students, died on Sunday night after a four-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Kathleen McDermott wore many different hats during her 21 years at Columbia. After serving as Columbia College’s first residential dean in 1991, she became an advisor for study abroad and fellowships before rising to become an assistant vice president of the University and then the Director of the Office of Global Programs in 2007.
“Kathleen was a force of nature,” Marcia Sells, associate vice president for program development and initiatives in the Office of Government and Community Affairs, said of her friend. “I really saw her at her absolute best when she was trying to help students who were protesting development of the Ethnic Studies program in 1996 and also those students protesting financial aid issues in 1993.”
She added that not everyone in the central administration “always smiled, but she recognized the protesting as a teachable moment and at times information that Columbia University needed to hear from its students.”
McDermott walked the fine line between administrator and advocate for students. In 1993, she had to suspend Ben Jealous, CC ’94, 2010 Class Day Speaker, and the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for his protest activities.
McDermott’s friend Susan Mescher, deputy vice president for strategic planning in the Executive President’s Office of Arts and Sciences, said McDermott spent time with Jealous in his tent, where he was holding a public hunger strike, and spoke extensively to him about his concerns. Mescher said Jealous still has “tremendous respect” for the administrator who suspended him.
“She was one of those individuals whose life was her job and hundreds and hundreds of students benefited from her commitment,” Mescher said.
McDermott was also a trained psychiatric nurse, and colleagues said she spent many late evenings at St. Luke’s Hospital, tending to students.
Despite her fierce commitment to the University and its students, colleagues said that it was her commitment to family and friendship that set McDermott apart.
“I do not think I ever told her but her commitment to her daughters became what I strived for as a mother to my son,” Sonia Reese, executive director of Community Impact and a longtime friend, said.
McDermott’s son, Paul Grandpierre, CC ’87, passed away while he was studying at the University of Cambridge. She is survived by three brothers, a sister, two daughters, and a granddaughter.
Reese said her friend will be remembered for “her wisdom combined with toughness, a wonderful smile, and an allegiance to the Bronx.”
Karen Blank, the Dean of Studies at Barnard College, said she met McDermott in 1990 after Columbia’s then-Dean of Students Roger Lehecka hired her to be the first dean in residence in Hartley-Wallach. As Director of the Office of Global Programs, Blank said McDermott was “a global citizen herself and an advocate for global citizenry” and a helpful colleague, regardless of which side of the street she was working on.
“I’ve spoken with individuals at Barnard who are responsible for study abroad, international programs, and fellowships, and all of us are grateful for Kathleen’s generous inclusion of us as colleagues. She shared vast amounts of information, offering sensible and practical suggestions and illustrating her points with anecdotes,” Blank said in an email.
“She was an excellent mentor, always willing to give opportunities to others through her own work.”
In 2010, McDermott was selected by NAFSA: Association of International Educators to be the recipient of the Education Abroad Leadership Award, which recognizes one member each year for “distinguished service to the education abroad profession.”
Despite her impressive professional achievements, McDermott’s friends said her warmth always shone through.
“Kathleen was able to combine her professional relationship seamlessly with her ability to care deeply about students and her peers,” Reese said. “No matter what great issue we had just wrestled with, she always asked, ‘How is the family?’”
Public Safety Senior Administrative Coordinator Mary Dooley said McDermott was invested in the intellectual and personal development of all students, regardless of their backgrounds.
“She’s known for having been unaffected, tough—in a good way, wise, and extraordinarily energetic with a good sense of humor,” Dooley said. “She was known for her loving and caring heart and her ability to reach anyone in time of need.”
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