Marist’s Jack of All Trades: Colin McCann

Colin McCann shows off his desk sign, a gift from a previous student. Photo via Kevin Torres '27

30 years ago, Colin McCann was first interviewed by the Marist Circle for his work as a Resident Director in the now nonexistent Gartland Commons, where he spent four years assisting student residents. Since then, McCann has risen in the ranks of student mentorship, finding his place at Marist as director for first year experience, commuter mentor and adjunct professor for the School of Communication and the Arts.

“Sometimes if I tell people what I do for a living, I get sick to my stomach,” McCann laughed. “Like, ‘Oh my god, I do a lot of different things every day.’”

McCann’s office walls frame him with mementos of his professional and personal life. Notes and mantras find a place next to finger paintings by his sons, which hang by multiple laptops, cherished photos and bracelet-making supplies.

“Throughout the day, I’m able to be in different places, following up on different tasks,” McCann said, gesturing to boxes of newly printed orientation t-shirts. “There is an eclectic nature to my work. I like that.”

Graduating from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1990 with a BA in Mass Media, McCann initially intended to pursue filmmaking as a career. Creativity, he explained, is a needed constant.

He said, “That’s what I like about this type of work; it allows me to be creative in many ways. I found that when I’m creative, I’m most content. It’s like having something to fight for, to work towards, even if you don’t reach it, the work itself is meaningful.”

When he joined Marist in 1995 through an open Resident Director position, McCann found comfort within the college’s community. Following this, he began teaching at the School of Communication. Around this time, Marist’s First Year Programs began taking its first establishing steps, and further positions opened up for him.

“The college was growing during that time,” he said. “It’s been nice to see the college grow and be a part of it in that way.”

Though he believes that the attitudes of Marist’s student body have largely stayed the same since his initial entrance, he states that the addition of technology has changed how the community operates.

“We’re a more diverse community now,” McCann said. “But there was a different sense of community here because of the fact that we weren’t tethered to the devices and the virtual world. Life is noisier. There’s a lot more information that people have to tend to, so I think that all of us have become, perhaps, more anxious.”

McCann’s dedication to staying within the present is in part due to his fondness for storytelling. When he is not teaching classes, supervising clubs or mentoring new students at Marist, he pursues a life of narrative hobbies.

“I jokingly say that most people at Marist know ‘Day Colin,’ but there’s ‘Night Colin,’” he said. “And he’s the engine that drives ‘Day Colin.’
Previously in a Celtic-fusion band with his brothers, McCann enjoys celebrating that of his Irish heritage. An Féile Ársa Magamon, an annual festival McCann created alongside a lifelong friend, blends Celtic folktale history with group roleplay to tell unique stories.

“We played Dungeons and Dragons growing up, and we still play now,” he said. “We’ve always been very creative and imaginative, and we wanted to create something where people could play, to forget who they were for a day.”

“Those types of engagements with people I really find interesting. Giving people a little taste of the mojo, of the spooky, of the mystical,” he said. “It’s that whole idea of considering what might be as opposed to the dull certainty of what is.”

However, investing yourself in a community that fosters collaboration requires an openness to “befriending the stranger.”

Teaching an annual workshop with the same sentiment, McCann encourages students to reach out to one another without digital devices in the way.

“Don’t turn away from uncertainty,” he said. “I heard someone say once that you should ‘go into the darkest part of the forest first’, because that’s what you’re most scared of. There’s a fear of being disconnected; you’re actually going to be connected.”

In response to the common misconception that McCann holds a relation to Marist’s McCann Gym or the local McCann Ice Arena, he shakes his head.

“I am asked that probably once every two weeks, and, you know, that’s been the fullness of my time here,” he laughed. “After 31 years, I realized, have people assumed that I have had that much power? That’s pretty funny.”