Mary Pat McMahon has been reappointed to a second five-year term as vice provost and vice president of student affairs, per a July 17 announcement by Provost Alec Gallimore and Executive Vice President Daniel Ennis.
The Office of Student Affairs serves over 16,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, seeking to “support holistic wellbeing, foster an inclusive and dynamic community, and complement Duke's commitment to academic excellence.”
From directing undergraduate student initiatives to career advising, McMahon holds a dynamic role. She supports programs across a wide variety of student life and cultural departments on campus, including residential, dining and student wellness services.
”I am truly looking forward to this second term of supporting Duke students and fostering community on campus,” McMahon wrote in a Tuesday email to The Chronicle.
In her first term, McMahon helped establish the QuadEx residential housing model alongside the Office of Undergraduate Education.
QuadEx aims to build a sense of community among undergraduates through quad connections between first-year dorms on East Campus and West Campus housing for upperclassmen. However, the model has remained somewhat controversial since its inception, with some students enjoying the designated community and others complaining of the restrictions it imposes on housing options.
“Duke has been fortunate to have Mary Pat McMahon leading Student Affairs in this time of unprecedented challenges for higher education,” Gallimore wrote.
Professor of political science Peter Feaver chaired the committee tasked with McMahon’s regular administrative review. The committee included nine faculty, staff, students and board members, who gathered “input from the University’s many constituencies” to inform their evaluation.
Ennis expressed gratitude for the committee’s work, as well as to McMahon for her “outstanding leadership.”
Aside from QuadEx, McMahon launched multiple initiatives designed to enhance student life at Duke, including the first-year Experiential Orientation and second-year Sophomore Spark programs.
Experiential Orientation was redesigned in 2022 as a mandatory introduction to campus for all first-year students. Although the expansion was not without its critics early on, feedback from the Class of 2026 — its inaugural class — was “overwhelmingly positive.” Sophomore Spark similarly aims to build community among students, with events and initiatives “designed to support the personal, professional and intellectual needs” of sophomores.
McMahon also helped guide the University through the COVID-19 pandemic as part of Duke’s Strategy Team in 2020 and 2021. She remains a member of President Vincent Price’s cabinet.
Before coming to Duke in 2019, McMahon had a long history of university leadership.
She previously served as dean of student affairs from 2014 to 2019 at Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering. Before that, she was associate dean of student affairs at Bowdoin College for five years, associate director of doctoral programs at New York University’s Stern School of Business for one year and assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Yale University for three years.
McMahon has a Bachelor of History from Yale University and a Master of Science in the History of International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Editor’s note: This article was updated Tuesday morning with McMahon’s comment.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Ryan Kilgallen is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.