For Immediate Release
September 3, 2015

Director of Veterans Affairs Appointed at Suffolk County Community College

Shannon O’Neill has been appointed Suffolk County Community College’s Director of Veterans Affairs after a national search.

“We are committed to serving the veterans at our college and to assist them with their academic and post military service endeavors. Having Shannon on campus full-time to assist veterans in this process will be instrumental,” said Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Shaun L. McKay.

O’Neill will direct all aspects of veterans’ affairs and services at the College and will be the College’s point of contact for student veterans, active duty military, Reserve/National Guard personnel and military dependents.  O’Neill will be located on the Ammerman Campus in Selden. 

O’Neill will be responsible for developing and implementing training sessions for faculty, administrators and staff about best practices for providing services to veterans, develop policies related to veteran’s affairs, design and implement student veteran recruitment strategies and complete the design and implementation of on-campus Veterans Resource Centers.

O’Neill comes to Suffolk County Community College from St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue where she most recently served as assistant dean for professional studies-Office of Military and Veteran Services where she led a 300% growth in the number of students served by that program over the course of five years.  Her experience includes planning, outreach, compliance, and successful submissions of grant proposals to support veteran services, as well as several years of classroom and online teaching in business, health studies and first year experience.  Prior to her association with St. Joseph’s College, she was director of admissions for the Lake Grove Treatment Centers of New York in Medford.

An alumna of Suffolk County Community College, O’Neill has both a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health and Human Services and a Master of Science degree in Management with a concentration in healthcare from St. Joseph’s College.