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7/6/2007
Office of the Chancellor
New senior appointments
Chancellor Marty Meehan has announced two new appointments to his senior leadership team. Dr. Thomas Costello, chairperson of the Computer Science Department, has been named interim chief information officer and Patricia McCafferty, executive director of Communications, has been appointed chief public affairs officer.
Costello brings more than three decades of technical experience and expertise to his new role. In addition to serving as a faculty member and department chair, Costello was a vice president/vice chancellor from 1983 to 1995. Under his leadership, computer science enrollment increased dramatically, the first campus-wide network and digital phone system were established, $18 million in industry donations were recorded, an ambitious master plan was undertaken, and the first six multi-disciplinary research centers were created.
“I have managed technology activities for some time; understand the challenges and occasional frustrations of technology, our customers and working in the public sector,” Costello said. “We need to demonstrate that we are a service organization – that we understand it and that we will live it.”
Costello will serve in an interim capacity while the search for a permanent CIO is undertaken.
As part of this restructuring, the Communications Office is being renamed the Office of Public Affairs. The office currently is responsible for communications, marketing, publications, media relations, government relations and web content. Pending the review of an ad hoc committee that is examining the organizational structure, the Office of Public Affairs will be expanded to include Broadcast and Student Media (WUML radio) and the Web Services Office.
“The new Office of Public Affairs will be a full-service organization, designed to most effectively market our programs and people through media and government relations to publications and the website,” McCafferty said. “I believe a coordinated message and multi-layered approach will greatly enhance the image and profile of our University.”
McCafferty has worked at the University for 12 years, in two different stints, serving as a part-time writer and editor from 1986 to 1992, prior to her return in 2001 as a coordinator, then director, of media relations and executive director of communications. She has been a communications professional for more than 25 years, having also worked as a newspaper reporter, press secretary and congressional office district director.