Margaret Alaimo Named SJC Brooklyn Director of Athletics and Recreation
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — St. Joseph's College Vice President for Athletics and Campus Services Shantey Hill-Hanna announces the appointment of Margaret Alaimo as the director of athletics and recreation for the Brooklyn campus, effective today.
"St. Joseph's College is thrilled to welcome Margaret to the Bears family," commented Hill-Hanna. "Her leadership experience and Brooklyn background will serve our student-athletes, staff, and coaches well. We look forward to the contributions Margaret will make in continuing the success the athletic department has achieved both athletically and academically."
A seasoned veteran with over 30 years of athletics experience at the Division I level, Alaimo will provide direction and oversight to the Bears' NCAA Division III program with 13 sports competing in the Skyline Conference. She becomes the second female athletic director in SJC Brooklyn history and first since Bears hall of fame inductee Margaret Ward, who was SJC Brooklyn's first athletic director and women's basketball coach from 1951 to 1984.
"I would like to thank Shantey for this great opportunity and I look forward to working with the coaches and staff in supporting the growth and development of all of our student-athletes," remarked Alaimo.
Originally from Marine Park, Brooklyn, Alaimo spent 30 years of her accomplished career at Long Island University, located down Dekalb Avenue within walking distance from SJC in Downtown Brooklyn. She was most recently the deputy director of athletics and senior woman administrator where she handled the day-to-day operations of the Division I athletic department, playing an integral role in managing and mentoring the coaches and staff while also serving as a sport administrator of all 19 sports.
Alaimo assisted in the strategic planning and implementation of expanding student-athlete opportunities through new sport offerings. She oversaw LIU's scholarship budget and student-athlete welfare and served as a liaison between the athletic department and student financial services and residence life and housing.
Under her direction, the Blackbirds have won over 60 Northeast Conference (NEC) championships and seen a steady increase in academics. In the fall of 2018, the LIU Brooklyn athletic department posted its highest departmental GPA ever, 3.427, marking the fourth straight semester of increasing that mark.
Alaimo cultivated a department that has seen Olympians, All-Americans, professional athletes in nearly every program offered, numerous NEC individual champions, and dozens of major NEC award winners, including over 30 Coach of the Year honorees at both the conference and regional levels.
In addition to her contributions at LIU, she has also served on numerous NEC and ECAC committees over her career, including a term as the chair of the NEC senior woman administrator committee, and was tournament director for various NEC championships hosted by LIU.
Alaimo joined LIU as head women's basketball coach in 1987 and held several coaching and administrative roles over a 30-year tenure that spanned two tours. She had a two-year stint at Fairleigh Dickinson University as associate director of athletics before returning to LIU in 2004 as senior associate director of athletics where she has been since.
A former basketball standout and alumna of St. Francis College, Alaimo scored over 1,400 points combined between St. Francis and the College of New Rochelle and was inducted to the SFC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. An alumna of Stella Maris High School, a Sisters of St. Joseph school, she was inducted to the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) Hall of Fame a year later.
"I am really excited to join the St. Joseph's College family," concluded Alaimo. "On my visits to campus, I felt a strong sense of family and community, which will continue to be the foundations in all that we do."
Margaret and husband Steve have three children—Elizabeth, Clare, and Danny—and reside in West Nyack, N.Y.