College of Professional Studies
Kathleen Vouté MacDonald has been Dean of the College of
Professional Studies, St. John's University since 1994. Her
responsibilities include the leadership of over 4,500 students, 250
full time and part time faculty, college operations on two campuses
as well as the oversight of the University's Instructional
Television Center. Under her management, the College has expanded
its mission by adding new graduate degree programs - Master in
Professional Studies in Criminal Justice and Sport Management and
in the Fall of 2009, Master in Science in International
Communication. The strong combination of traditional liberal
arts, business and career oriented majors helps to make the College
of Professional Studies, as Dr. MacDonald likes to say, the "jewel"
of the University.
Dr. MacDonald's varied educational background provides a
substantial framework for the leadership role at St. John's. Her
degrees, which include a BS in Oriental Studies from Columbia
University, and MA in Sociology of Education and an Ed.D. in Higher
and Adult Education from Columbia University Teachers College, are
supplemented by Japanese language and studies as a result of
expertise developed during seven years residence in Japan. In
addition to her educational administrative roles in such
institutions as Cornell University School of Labor Relations,
Polytechnic University, and St. John's, Dr. MacDonald has taught at
a number of private and public higher education institutions
including two universities in Tokyo, Japan. Her special interest in
the field of entrepreneurship, developed during the completion of
her MBA in Management, led her to begin a successful
entrepreneurial venture, Colleges/Careers, Inc. This business,
owned and operated by Dr. MacDonald, offered professional academic
counseling to high school students and their parents.
The wide range of Dean MacDonald's knowledge and her
professional experience in New York, California and Tokyo have
greatly contributed to the recent expansions in the College of
Professional Studies. Both professionally and personally, Dean
MacDonald has remained committed to higher education.