Administrator Spotlight: Brittany Snyder

Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Dean

Tell us the story of how you came to work at NYU Law. Were you always in your current position?

I moved from Pennsylvania to the big city to pursue a graduate degree in social work. After graduation, I started my first job as a grant writer for Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC), an organization providing direct services to individuals experiencing homelessness in New York City. I loved being able to support an organization in securing funding to drive forward a mission I believed in deeply, and so began my tenure in fundraising.

From BRC, I moved to a role at New Classrooms, a nonprofit that brings innovative learning models to students across the country. Here I led the organization’s institutional fundraising portfolio, partnering primarily with foundations to leverage technology and research and development to reimage classroom education.

As I contemplated the next step in my career, I knew I wanted to stay in fundraising and continue working in the education space, but also wanted to try something new and broaden my professional skillset. It wasn’t as easy as I thought to find a role that checked all of these boxes until a role in NYU Law’s development and alumni relations team (DART) popped up in my LinkedIn search! I was drawn to NYU Law’s commitment to public service and the opportunity to be part of a fundraising powerhouse. Luckily, the stars aligned and I started at the Law School in 2018 as the director of special projects for DART, functioning as chief of staff to Nick Vagelatos, who leads the team. Over the years, I’ve had a wide range of responsibilities, including projects with a special focus on inter-departmental operations, board of trustee engagement and committees, executive management, ad-hoc projects, and internal and external events that support the department in achieving its strategic goals. There has never been a dull moment and not a day goes by that I don’t learn something new.

Most recently, I transitioned from the director of special projects role within DART to deputy chief of staff in the Dean’s Office. After more than six years at DART, I’m grateful for the opportunity to take this next step at the Law School and am looking forward to working closely with members of the Law School community (both new and old!) in this new capacity.

What’s a typical day for you like?

A typical day usually starts with a list of the high priority items I need to get done, and then quickly transitions to pivoting and re-prioritization! The day to day could range from preparing for a board committee meeting, planning for an event, moving forward a cross-departmental initiative, or jumping in to assist with the Dean’s calendar—no task is too big or too small.

Overall, my days involve multi-tasking across both day-to-day operational tasks and long-term planning of decanal priorities and strategic initiatives for the Law School. Depending on the day, this could include collaborating with faculty, administrators, alumni, students, donors, or external stakeholders. Truly, each day brings an opportunity to work with new members of the Law School community in advancing the mission of NYU Law.

What’s the most challenging thing about what you do? And what’s the most rewarding? 

The Law School is an incredibly dynamic institution so there is always A LOT going on and continuously evolving, which is both a challenging and rewarding aspect of my role. Depending on the task at hand, I might need to draw on a bird’s eye view of the institution or dive into the weeds of a particular system, policy, or issue to help inform the best path forward. More often than not, this requires partnering with colleagues across different teams and departments within the Law School, across the University as a whole, and with our Board and external stakeholders. This is one of my favorite parts of the role, as I not only get to regularly meet new members of the Law School community and learn more about what they do, but most importantly, am constantly learning about exciting work that is happening across all corners of the School. This is true even more so now as I continue to get up to speed in my new role in the Dean’s office.

What do you wish you’d known about the Law School on your first day of working here?

In hindsight, it would have been incredibly helpful to have started at the Law School with a deep understanding of the intricacies of legal education and the legal field. There was definitely a learning curve having not worked in the legal field before coming to NYU Law, but even after many years here, there is always more to know and learn.

What is your favorite spot on campus, and why?

I don’t know that I have a favorite spot on campus, but 22 Washington Square North is certainly a sentimental building to me. This is where the development and alumni relations department is located and was my first home at the Law School, where I spent more than six years. The brownstone with the green door will always be a special place to me—I still remember sending my family a picture on my first day!

Posted October 7, 2024