New Staff: Joyce Kennedy

Joyce Kennedy joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in February. As an administrative assistant, she provides administrative support, event planning and financial services to faculty, postdocs and graduate students. 

Kennedy is drawn to higher-education administration because of the opportunity it affords to learn more about research efforts of the departments. She notes that she always enjoyed seeing first-hand what research was conducted at Michigan Medicine, where she worked for eleven years before joining CEE, including within the Division of General Pediatrics, the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and, most recently, in the Dean’s office. 

Although Kennedy knew little about CEE before joining the department, she writes that she is looking forward to learning more about new innovations: “Over the past week, I’ve already learned quite a bit about how both civil and environmental engineering impacts us all and some of the different and novel research initiatives our faculty and students are working on. I’m looking forward to learning more as research and new discoveries continually unfold.”

Another appeal of CEE is that it’s much closer to northern Monroe County, where Kennedy has lived her entire life. A native Michigander, she enjoys spending free time gardening, tackling home improvement projects, cooking and spending time with her family at their “up-North” cottage. 

Before coming to U-M, Kennedy worked in the auto industry for nearly twenty years, including for Ford Motor Company in purchasing, public affairs, corporate travel and high-level leadership support at their World Headquarters Building in Dearborn, Michigan. 

“While working at the Ford Conference and Event Center, I coordinated and managed hundreds of events, including company retreats, meetings, silent auctions and even a few wedding receptions. I also had the opportunity to hear several American Idol winners perform live when they stopped at the Center for the show’s annual concert tour,” says Kennedy.