Faculty Support Coordinator Embraces New Challenges After Promotion
Gwendolyn Kearney is always open to new challenges.
She took on a new one when she was promoted in the spring to Faculty Support Coordinator II in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing.
In addition to submitting proposals for SIC faculty to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, or other government agencies, Kearney manages the hiring of student workers in the School. This can exceed 1,000 students over the course of the year.
“It’s graduate teaching assistants, graduate research assistants, student assistants, and graduate assistants, all of them,” Kearney said. “I enjoy learning new things.”
Kearney said she’s always been able to find new things to learn while working in financial administration, a field she discovered in high school through a summer job in accounts payable.
“I think that’s where it all started,” she said.
Kearney has held several finance roles since she moved to Atlanta 20 years ago. She spent 10 years at Georgia State University before joining SIC’s administrative staff in 2023.
During her career, the New Jersey native has handled everything from preparing spend authorizations and managing budgets to scheduling events, processing travel expenses, faculty supplies, and reimbursements.
In SIC, she balances all of that with the most important part of being a faculty support coordinator — grant proposals. The funding that faculty rely on for their research hinges on Kearney meeting deadlines under pressure. While she does less of that now, it can still create a heavy workload throughout the year.
“You just have to stay on top of it,” Kearney said. “Before you know it, it’s due, and you might not get everything you need until the day of. Then this has to be changed, and something else isn’t right.
“It can be a lot if multiple proposals are due around the same time. But knowing that you helped work on a proposal that was rewarded is a good feeling.”
Although she was born in New Jersey, most of Kearney’s family is from Georgia. She and her husband are New York Knicks fans and recently celebrated the team’s first NBA Finals championship since 1970.
When her mother and sisters started returning to their roots in Georgia, she figured she should move to the Peach State since she was visiting so often.
“We always came to visit family,” she said. “My mother and father saved all their vacation and took a month off every summer, and that’s what we would do. My mother ended up going back to Georgia, and then two of my sisters moved here. I started visiting them a lot and thought I might like to live here.”
Kearney said she most enjoys spending time with her extended family in Georgia.
When the Fall 2026 semester begins, her job will be as busy as ever, as she estimates she will have to process hundreds of student hires.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” she said. “But I’m still learning, and I’m enjoying that part of it.”
