Announcing the Inaugural Director of Family Support and Engagement

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Bridget Colacchio will join Dartmouth College as the inaugural Director of Family Support and Engagement on June 17.

Colacchio is an experienced educator, clinical social worker, and youth advocate. She comes from Loyola University Chicago where she supported students' holistic education in a variety of roles over 17 years: leading new student and youth outreach programs, supporting undergraduates' parents and families, and directing the university's efforts to promote pedagogical excellence. Overall, Colacchio's work has focused on ensuring that the institution's commitment to a values-based, anti-oppressive, and student-centered education is accessible to all students.

Employing these principles in her own teaching, Colacchio aims to challenge and support her students in acquiring the knowledge, skills and dispositions required to advance the well-being of all people, especially those who are marginalized by society. Colacchio's research is focused on the well-being of systems-impacted youth, caregivers and supporters. She brings this attention to well-being into her work with colleagues, students, and families by centering relationships, collaborating to work through challenges, and raising the bar of expectations from surviving to thriving. 

Colacchio earned her Bachelor's in Sociology and Women's Studies from Boston College, Master's in Clinical Social Work from the University of Chicago, and Doctorate of Philosophy in Social Work at Loyola University Chicago.

She is thrilled to join the team at Dartmouth College and return to the Upper Valley, where she grew up and completed her K-12 education. In moving back to the area after 4 years in Boston and 23 years in Chicago, she is excited to immerse herself and her children in the welcoming and enriching community.