Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.
It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.
In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of Campus Recreation at Towson University and the senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest Mary O’Mahoney, the director of the Student Recreation Center at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB).
Originally from Illinois, O’Mahoney found herself venturing further and further West over the years, finally landing at CSUB where she has been the director ever since. She chats about her journey and what sold her on moving to Bakersfield — and how she convinced other staff to move across the nation to join her.
O’Mahoney shares about the bike offerings at CSUB as well as the impact that COVID-19 had on her both personally and professionally. In addition, she addresses turnover, navigating campus politics and the lack of desire for working far from home professionals have nowadays.
Finally, learn one thing O’Mahoney wishes she had known prior to becoming a director. Enjoy the conversation that follows.
Show Notes from the Conversation with Mary O’Mahoney
- How Sheffield and O’Mahoney have come to know each other at 2:05.
- What O’Mahoney wanted to be when she first started college at 4:29.
- They chat about the boom in campus recreation at 7:39.
- A building built in 1926 is O’Mahoney’s favorite building on this campus at 8:58.
- O’Mahoney’s journey across the U.S. and how she ended up at CSUB at 12:59.
- What sold her on moving to Bakersfield at 15:04.
- Listen at 17:01 to what makes O’Mahoney thrive as a director.
- What changes has CSUB seen over the past nine years? Find out at 18:45.
- The variety of creative bike offerings at 20:19.
- O’Mahoney reflects on the impact COVID-19 had on her professionally and personally at 25:11.
- Addressing turnover at 30:11.
- What is different about people now and how far they are willing to go — literally — at 34:02.
- Learning to navigate the campus politics at 37:08.
- One thing O’Mahoney wishes she had known prior to becoming a director at 40:45.
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