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.”