Rebecca Doolin

Rebecca Doolin is the Vice-President External Affairs at Maynooth University. She leads the oversight and development of the University’s external engagement strategy; directs its high-level advocacy initiatives with governments, business representative bodies and other major stakeholders; and leads the communications, marketing and alumni functions, as well as the philanthropic work of the Maynooth University Foundation.  She is a member of the University Executive, MU’s senior management team. 
  
Prior to arriving at Maynooth in 2014, Rebecca was Associate Vice President at a Boston-based public affairs consultancy, where she provided public affairs, government relations, crisis communications and fundraising services to a range of non-profit, corporate, and education clients. She co-wrote two federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants for the states of Massachusetts and New Jersey, which resulted in $50 million and $45 million for the states, respectively, to expand access to early childhood education.   

 

Rebecca worked on a number of political campaigns in the US. She served as Press Secretary to US Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) in Washington, DC from 2003 to 2006, and as Communications Director for the Maine Democratic Party during President Obama’s successful election campaign in 2008. She also worked as Manager of Public Affairs at The Queen’s Health Systems, the largest hospital system in Hawai’i. She began her career as a journalist, covering environmental issues and the legal/lobbying industry in Washington, DC.  

 

Rebecca earned her B.A. magna cum laude in American Studies from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She also studied education policy and access to higher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned an Ed.M. in 2003.