Irving, TX (June 23, 2023) — The University of Dallas announces several recent staff appointments and changes in administrative positions:

• Andrew Ellison has been appointed executive director of the St. Ambrose Center for Catholic Liberal Education and Culture. Ellison comes to UD with three decades of experience in K-12 classical education as a teacher, school headmaster and district administrator for the multi-state charter school network Great Hearts. A teacher of Latin, German and drama, as well as a master of Socratic seminars with great texts for high school students, he has led numerous workshops for teachers on liberal education vision and pedagogy, written teacher's guides on Plato’s “Meno,” Virgil’s “Aeneid” and Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” produced Shakespeare with fourth- and fifth-graders, and conducted annual summer K-12 teacher seminars on Plato and Aristotle for more than ten years. A UD parent (Martin ’24 and Beatrice ’27), he and his wife, a third grade teacher, have six children.

• Gaby O’Neill, BA ’11 MPsy ’17, has been appointed interim director of the Office of Personal Career Development (OPCD). O’Neill celebrated her 10-year anniversary in OPCD in May. She replaces outgoing senior director Shannon Blatt, who led the office for more than eight years. As a senior team member, O’Neill has been an integral part of the team responsible for assessing the effectiveness of a UD education after graduation through UD’s First Destination Survey. Consistently, over 95% of UD graduates are employed or continuing graduate education within a year of graduation.

• Mike Pitstick, BA ’15 MBA ’20, recently rejoined UD as director of alumni relations on June 8. Pitstick returns to Irving from Washington, D.C., after serving the Institute of World Politics as deputy director of graduate recruitment for the past year. Before that point, Pitstick had been involved in the university community as a student or employee since 2011. After graduating in 2015 with a BA in Politics, Pitstick served as the resident coordinator of the Rome Program, advancement officer in the Office of Alumni Relations, associate director of annual giving, and, most recently in 2022, director of student affairs in Rome.

• Kris Muñoz Vetter has stepped down as vice president of development and university relations. Expressing her continuing support for the university’s mission, Vetter is credited for building an enthusiastic team of development professionals who remain committed to the president’s vision for increasing philanthropic support for the university’s mission. Current Vice President for Marketing and Communications Clare Venegas will assume Vetter’s responsibilities as interim vice president of university relations — overseeing the areas of engagement, alumni and external relations, donor stewardship, annual giving, and advancement services — while a search is conducted. Austin Westervelt-Lutz, assistant VP for Development, will continue to lead a team of development officers and will directly report to President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., while continuing to work closely with the university relations and marketing teams.

New faculty appointments and changes will be announced in August at the start of the fall semester.