Rosemary Kilkenny

Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity

Georgetown University

Rosemary Kilkenny, Georgetown University’s first Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity, was appointed to this position effective April 1, 2006 by John J. DeGioia, PhD., President. In announcing Rosemary’s appointment, Jack expressed his confidence and support of Rosemary, as he stated his desire for Georgetown to be a model in higher education for diversity and inclusivity.

Rosemary Kilkenny got her start in the Affirmative Action arena by asking the Dean at her Graduate School at the time, Kent State University, why she was one of only nine Black full-time graduate students. The Dean responded by challenging Rosemary to develop a national program to increase the representation of Black graduate students. Her tremendous success in this bold effort led Kent State University to appoint her as Assistant Dean for graduate recruitment. Rosemary quickly moved to the position of Assistant Director of Human Resource Utilization, followed by an appointment as Interim Director of Affirmative Action. The State University of New York at Albany lured her away from Kent State University and appointed her as their Director of Affirmative Action Programs. Following a three-year stint at SUNY, Timothy Healy, late President of Georgetown hired Rosemary as his Special Assistant for Affirmative Action Programs. She has represented Georgetown on matters of employment discrimination, educational equity, Title IX, other issues of Affirmative Action, faculty recruitment, conflict resolution, and Local, Small, Disadvantaged Business Development.

Rosemary has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Affirmative Action, Howard Road Academy and National Child Research Center respectively. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Discovery Creek Children’s Museum of Washington, D.C. She is an active participant in community affairs and campus activities. She has given many seminars on such topics as Cultural Diversity, Sexual Harassment, and Legal Issues in Affirmative Action to name a few topics on which she has presented at national, regional, and on campus venues. She was one of five Americans invited to Faith University, Istanbul, Turkey to give a presentation at an international conference on social justice in higher education. Her talk was very well received and covered by the national press in Turkey.

Rosemary received her Jurisdoctorate from Georgetown University Law Center; and her Bachelors and Masters degrees from Kent State University.

On a personal note, Rosemary has two sons, one of whom is a Georgetown graduate, College of Arts & Sciences, class of 2006. Her other son is an 8th grader at Georgetown Day School.