Kate Broderick Manages Dual Roles At Old Dominion

Kathleen “Kate” Broderick has been a visible fixture at Old Dominion University for the past 15 years, both as the wife of acting President John R. Broderick and as a professional in the Office of Disability Services.

A native of Massachusetts, Broderick met her husband at Northeastern University and they have been married for 30 years. The couple has three sons, Ryan, Matt (an ODU student) and Aaron, and a granddaughter, Ally. Broderick received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from St. Bonaventure University.

A two-time Teacher of the Year in Western New York, Broderick taught in Chesapeake Public Schools for 10 years before being recruited to Old Dominion in 2005 by Dana Burnett. She served as a learning coordinator for the disability services office, and was later named assistant director and, recently, acting director.

In this role, Broderick oversees the office’s assistance of more than 600 ODU students with testing services, classroom and course accommodations, and developing learning and study strategies, among other offerings.

“Balancing my responsibilities and passion for working with students with disabilities, with the responsibilities of being a mom and ‘acting first lady,’ can be quite tricky. But it is also quite rewarding,” Broderick said. “It requires that I remain extremely organized. And it helps to have an abundance of energy and drive, so that I can devote my full attention to each role.”
In her spare time, she is an avid runner and sailor, as well as an active member of several national disability-related organizations and boards.

Kate and John Broderick welcome Michelle Obama to campus on Aug. 6. Obama read to pre-K and kindergarten students at the Lions Child Study Center that morning as part of her daylong visit to Norfolk, which included a roundtable discussion with military spouses at the Batten Arts and Letters Building auditorium.