Advisor of the Year: Molly-Kate MacLeod on Bridging Student Experience Across BU
Last week, Boston University recognized Molly-Kate Macleod with the Advisor of the Year award for her work at the School of Hospitality Administration (SHA). The honor reflects over a decade of service across BU—in graduate admissions at the College of Arts and Sciences, advising in Athletics, and leading student services and admissions at SHA. In each role, she’s been drawn to environments where academic advising overlaps with student identity and institutional culture. She brings that same perspective to her current role in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), which she began in January 2025.
Molly-Kate Macleod
Director of Student Academic Experience
At SHA, that overlap was especially visible. “Hospitality students are incredibly passionate,” she notes. “Their energy made it easy to feel just as invested in their goals.” Whether leading clubs or organizing events, students treated the program as something they were actively shaping. Advising in that setting felt collaborative, built on shared investment in both the students’ goals and the culture of the school.
Now at the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), where she serves as Director of Student Academic Experience, MacLeod is navigating a new challenge: helping students find that same sense of belonging in a field that moves quickly and draws from many disciplines. CDS is young, fast-evolving, and home to students with highly varied academic paths. Unlike more traditional schools, its interdisciplinary structure draws students from across the university. For MacLeod, the challenge became not just supporting students academically, but creating the conditions for them to feel like they are part of a meaningful academic home. That sense of belonging, she believes, is just as essential in a data-driven field as it is in service-focused ones.
This spring, she’s laying the groundwork for a CDS-specific Career Services program to support students beyond the classroom. While many students already benefit from informal, individualized guidance, MacLeod sees a need for more coordinated, widely available resources. “The goal is to create programming that any CDS student can participate in and enhance their employability,” she says. The new initiative, launching over the summer, is designed to offer structured pathways to internships, job preparation, and career exploration, especially for students who may not have access to those networks on their own.
Throughout her career, MacLeod has focused on bridging academics with the broader student experience. That includes helping students understand how to balance intellectual ambition with self-awareness and mental health, something she’s explored in her own doctoral research on student athlete wellness. If Molly-Kate had the chance to step into a CDS classroom, she would focus on mental health literacy, practical strategies for self-care, and how to carry ambitions sustainably.
What’s clear across each chapter of Molly-Kate’s work is a steady commitment to helping students make sense of the university and make the most of it. The Advisor of the Year award marked one moment of recognition, but it also pointed to a broader throughline in her career: meeting students where they are, and building structures that help them thrive.
By Neeza Singh, CDS '25