You may have spotted this week’s celebrity around campus with her chic blonde bob and big smile. If you have, she inevitably stopped you to introduce herself, ask how you were, and made you smile too. Catherine Holbrook, the new vice president of student affairs, came to us from Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Mass. She served in many roles including their associate dean and associate and acting vice president of student affairs. Cathy is a voracious reader, a team player, and loves spending time with her family. She has a B.S in business administration from Villanova University, a M.Ed. in counseling from Bridgewater State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. No matter what or where, Cathy is happy to meet you and on the scene standing like Wonder Woman; ready for action and her life at MCLA.
Name: Catherine Holbrook, you can call her Cathy
Hometown: Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Major in College: Business administration
Favorite book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Favorite hobby: Watching sports, mostly the Red Sox, football, and college basketball. She appreciates the sense of team in sports and likes to see people work to develop their skills.
Favorite thing about MCLA: The sense of community, friendliness, openness and commitment to the individual.
Three words that describe you: Relationship builder, curious, intentional.
Why did you choose to come to MCLA? Do you feel you made the right choice?
“I think I made the right choice. It’s certainly hard to be living three hours away from my two adult daughters, but that being said I’m really happy here. I wanted to be somewhere where I could have this position but still be in a small enough environment where I could interact with students. When I came [to MCLA] it felt like the right place for me at this time.”
What is your favorite part of your job as VP of student affairs?
“I think it really is the ability to have an impact, a positive impact, on student lives. And that can be in a number of different ways: the programs and services student affairs offers, ensuring everything we deliver is being done in the best possible way, but also having a conversation with individual students.”
What’s something the MCLA community should know about you?
“I am very passionate about social justice and equity, and helping to ensure the community is an open and welcoming one for everyone.”
What is something you want to say to the MCLA community?
“The people in the community should recognize that we are a really powerful force as a community, and MCLA should be proud of what it’s done. There is not much we couldn’t do if we all come together and make it happen.”
MCLA loves coffee, so what is your coffee order?
“I like mine with just a splash of cream, that’s it. Plain coffee, none of that fancy stuff. A thing I miss though [from Bridgewater] is Mary Lou’s flavored ice coffee, which is a south-eastern Mass. thing.”
What is your favorite experience here so far?
“All of the things I am thinking about are times when the community comes together, and that sense of pulling together.”
Number one pet peeve?
“Rudeness; people being rude or unkind to other people. It’s just so unnecessary.”
What is the best piece of advice you have gotten?
“It is one I give, which is take a risk, because you are never going to be the person you were meant to be if you don’t take the first step toward that.”