Mary Pat Beirne ’81C, ’85GEd has seen firsthand how St. John’s
University and Red Storm sports have grown over the last 30
years.
After graduating with a B.A. in Psychology from St. John’s College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1981, this enthusiastic alumna
began working for St. John’s and has never looked back. A former
Red Storm tennis and fencing athlete, Beirne’s professional career
has also been closely associated with St. John’s Athletics. She has
held various positions over the last three decades, including
Associate Athletic Director for Student Development and Assistant
Director of Intramurals. Since June 1, 2010, she has served as
Major Gift Officer for Athletics, reaching out to members of the
St. John’s community for financial gifts to help the University’s
sports teams and athletic endeavors.
“My main goal is to get our graduates and friends of the University
engaged in our sports programs,” Beirne said. “Ultimately, I aim to
generate as many financial gifts as I can to benefit all of our
great sports teams and projects.”
As a former Red Storm athlete, Beirne knows the importance of the
sporting tradition at St. John’s. “Sports have always been
important here,” she noted. “Our teams unite the University
community, keep our alumni coming back, and they’ve also been known
to put St. John’s name in the national headlines, which is always
great to see.”
One of her most recent projects was to raise additional funding for
the St. John’s lacrosse team. “I was able to work with donors to
fund extra netting and wind screens around their field to help them
during games and in practice,” Beirne said. “Making tangible
improvements like that, ones that really help our growing sports
teams and benefit our athletes, is what makes this such a rewarding
job.”
Though Beirne’s work is focused largely on athletics, she has also
noticed the University’s tremendous academic growth over the last
three decades. To emphasize how different St. John’s education is
today, Beirne likes to mention her daughter, who is currently a
senior Marketing major at St. John’s.
“When I was a student, my big trip was to Staten Island,” Beirne
joked. “My daughter, on the other hand, has gone abroad to Rome and
studied there for a whole summer. I visited her there and I saw
that beautiful campus with my own eyes. It shows just how far we’ve
come with our global presence.”
Academics and athletics have changed at St. John’s, but one aspect
has remained constant: the University’s strong Vincentian values, a
quality that first attracted Beirne to St. John’s when she was a
prospective student. “I first came to this school because it was
Catholic,” she noted, “but I’ve stayed because of the Vincentian
mission.”
Beirne has consistently put that mission into practice as a member
of the Vincentian Mission Certificate Program, a community-service
initiative that St. John’s provides to its staff and
administrators. A service trip to New Orleans in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina stands out as her most memorable and rewarding
service opportunity.
“My time in New Orleans was truly a life-changing experience,” she
recalled. “I went with a group of other St. John’s administrators
and staff and we worked with Habitat for Humanity to help those
people in New Orleans, people who needed that assistance so badly.
Opportunities like that have made my 30 years at St. John’s so
spiritually rewarding and fulfilling.”
Beirne has seen St. John’s expand tremendously since she first
stepped onto campus as a student, but she believes even more growth
is on the horizon. “I was proud of us in the late ’70s and ’80s for
what we were then, but now I am really proud of what we are today:
a growing university with up-and-coming athletics, top-notch
education, and a fantastic spiritual mission. Of all the years I’ve
been here, this might just be the most exciting time.”