Staff Directory
- Title:
- Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development
- Email:
- Phone:
- (773) 325-7254
Kate O'Brien, Ph.D. is responsible for the overall coordination of DePaul’s Athletic Academic Advising (AAA) and Student-Athlete Development Programs. In addition to overseeing the staff and day-to-day operations of the program, she serves as the primary academic advisor for the Blue Demons softball team and a member of DePaul Athletics' senior leadereship team. Under O’Brien’s leadership, AAA works to ensure that each student-athlete maximizes their academic potential, has an excellent educational experience and leaves DePaul ready for life after intercollegiate athletics.
Prior to taking her current position in July of 2001, O'Brien spent a year as the Athletic Academic Advisor/Career Coordinator in DePaul's Office of Athletic Academic Advising. Before joining the athletics department, O'Brien spent three years as an academic advisor for DePaul's College of Commerce where she advised a variety of students on graduation requirements, major and minor selection and DePaul University policies. O'Brien also coordinated all aspects of the Premiere DePaul program within the College of Commerce including faculty advisor recruitment, selection, evaluation, training and supervision.
O'Brien also serves as an adjunct faculty member at DePaul working in the University Internship Program and Chicago Quarter. Each Fall she offers an Explore Chicago class that focuses on the socioeconomic impact sport has had on the city of Chicago. In Winter and Spring, she teaches two student-athlete career development classes that focus on student-athletes drafting their career game plan and building their career toolkit so they are game ready after graduation.
A member of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A) and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), O'Brien serves on the leadership teams of both the Division of Student Affair and Department of Athletics. She is currently a member of DePaul’s Staff Council (Staff Resources Committee), the DePaul Athletics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (Hiring and Retention Subcommittee), as well as serving as the chair of the Division of Student Affairs Spirit and Morale Committee and the DePaul University Faculty and Staff Alumni Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the BIG EAST President’s Award Selection Committee, the Academic Affairs Committee and the Men’s Golf Sport & Championship Committee.
O'Brien earned her B.A. in Movement and Sports Science from Purdue University, her MBA in Marketing and Human Resources Management with Distinction from DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago where she studied abroad in Rome and focused her research on African American male student-athletes: Identity and academic performance. She is the third generation and one of four in her family to earn a degree from DePaul. Her maternal grandfather, mom and brother all hold degrees from DePaul.
