Welcome to our newest member!

Julie Mughal is the new Assistant Director of the Center for Faith & Public Life, in which the Office of Service Learning is housed. Julie brings to the Center her rich experience in global culture (she’s spent years living abroad), children’s affairs (she worked at Save the Children for over a decade), and communications. We sat down with Julie to learn a bit more about her service background and her first impressions of Stag life. Enjoy!

1. What is your background? What were you doing before you came to Fairfield?

I’ve had the great fortune to work at amazing institutions during my career and I’m so pleased to be continuing this streak by joining the Center for Faith and Public Life!  For almost 12 years, I worked at Save the Children’s headquarters in Westport, one town over from Fairfield. While there, I had many different roles which included Asia Operations Manager and Director for Development Communications as well as an overseas posting in Pakistan/Afghanistan.  Before working at Save, I spent 10 years at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, Switzerland as a project designer and trainer and as a desk office for Africa. I have a B.A. in political science from Syracuse University and an M.A. in international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, also from Syracuse University.

2. What is your favorite service memory? What have you learned from volunteering / community service?

My favorite memories are associated with helping my children get involved in volunteering/ community service.  For example, over the summer my children – ranging from ages 2 to 8 – helped to make and deliver a salad for Operation Hope in downtown Fairfield.  I think that it’s so important for children to reach out to those in need and I hope it will lead them to a lifetime of service to others and their community.

3. If you could volunteer anywhere in the world for a week, where would you go and why?

I would volunteer to help widows in Africa.  One of causes I feel very passionate about is helping widows in the developing world, many of whom face tremendous difficulties. Widows in Africa face unique challenges which can include “widow chasing” – when a widow is literally “chased” by her in-laws out of her home,  disenfranchisement from economic and social systems and the terrible toll of HIV/AIDS on their lives and the lives of their children.

4. What is your favorite piece of advice? Who gave you this advice?

Having worked in communications for many years, one piece of advice that always sticks out in my mind is: never write anything that that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times! Related to this is another piece of advice that my first boss in Geneva gave me many years ago: verba volant, scripta manent .*  In these days of instant communication, I think this type of advice gives you pause before hitting “send”!

5. What excites you most about becoming a Stag?

So many things!  I’m looking forward to delving more deeply into the work of the CFPL, becoming familiarized with the wonderful faculty and students at Fairfield, attending Quick Center performances and other events on campus, and my one-minute commute!

*”Words fly, written words remain.”