Name: Anthony Russo
Class Year: 2014
Title: Assistant Dean, Graduate Enrollment Management
Organization Name: Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
1. In one sentence, what does your job entail?
In my role, I oversee admissions and marketing for the School of Theology and Ministry, a graduate school of Boston College.
2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?
The very short version: I never would have guessed when I graduated that I’d be doing what I’m doing now, though looking back, it all makes sense! During my senior year, I felt a tug to pursue post-graduate service, which led me to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I then enrolled at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development for a master’s in higher education administration. During this program, I also led a few undergraduate campus ministry programs at BC, which helped me decide to pursue a master’s in theology and ministry at BC. Upon graduating, I was hired into my current role, which is a perfect fusion of both administration and ministry. I am able to utilize both my operational and strategic strengths, as well as support the discernment of folks committed to using their gifts in service to the world. What could be better!
3. What were you involved in when you were on campus?
I was a member of the varsity swim team, Co-Director of Athletics for SGA, Program Coordinator for Gateways Orientation, and a Manresa retreat leader.
4. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?
Political Science. I entered Holy Cross thinking I wanted to go into a career in government; while that turned out to not be the case, my political science major stilled played a significant role in my vocational discernment and career decisions. I remain very interested in questions of power, social structures, and how to form citizens oriented toward the common good. My major continues to shapes the lens through which I make decisions and view my current work.
5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?
A skill that stands out, drawn significantly from a liberal arts education, is the ability to think in interdisciplinary and integrated ways about complex problems. Holy Cross helped me develop a capacity for critical thinking that is essential to my work on a daily basis. In a related way, my Holy Cross education also really enhanced my imagination – intellectually, socially, and spiritually. I learned to think beyond what’s in front of me, and also importantly, how to communicate these thoughts (which particularly helps the marketing side of my role!). With this imagination, I am equipped with both hope and vision to work toward a world more in line with the values instilled by a Jesuit education at Holy Cross.
6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?
Be open to the unexpected! I love a good plan as much as anyone, but don’t limit yourself to pressures to have to stick to plans you or others have set for you. It can be scary to “divert” (though I don’t think our vocational path ever truly follows a straight line), but as in my case, this can often lead us toward something that brings us into greater harmony with who we most authentically are.
