New faces in the Academic Office

In addition to the new cohort of students, we’ve also welcomed new staff and faculty to Kahlenberg.

Maggie Cassidy-Brinn has taken on the position of MBA Program Manager, and is responsible for managing and coordinating our recently re-designed and re-accredited Master of Business Administration programs.

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Originally from the west coast of the United States, she crossed the country to pursue her BA at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Continuing her travels east, she came to Austria in 2007 to obtain a MA in Philosophy at University of Vienna; Maggie is now in the process of getting her PhD in Philosophy at University of Vienna in the field of analytic epistemology, focusing her research on the value of knowledge.

She brings international experience in education with her – her last job was as Education Coordinator for BRAVEAURORA Ghana. Quite a change from cosmopolitan New York and Vienna, the job required her to live in a rural village in northern Ghana, leading empirical research on the factors affecting teacher performance, and developing a teacher incentives program for the local school system, among other education-related projects. She is now also an honorary member of BRAVEAURORA.

Back from her African sojourn, she’s again residing in Vienna with her fiancé from Carinthia; they met in Calabria, Italy while she was working as a volunteer for an organic dairy farm. Next to work and school, she writes fiction and is teaching herself the programming language Ruby.

The second new face in the academic office, Office Assistant Marika Finne was born and raised in a Swedish-speaking part of Finland where she completed her BBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management in 2001. Eager to see the world, she packed her bags and moved across the gulf to Sweden in 2000 to write her Bachelor Thesis while concurrently beginning her working career at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. During her time within the hospitality industry she gained varied experience in fields such as Front Office, Guest Relations and HR Management.

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Following three years in the Swedish capital, her love for travel took over and she joined the Yachts of Seabourn where she spent three years sailing in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Central America and Asia. She eventually said Bon Voyage to the seven seas (due to a seasick Austrian boyfriend), and spent one season working in Bermuda, trying to make the transition to life on land a little less drastic.

After getting reacquainted with terra firma, Marike left behind the sea, sand and sunshine for rainy England. She spent a year and a half in London as HR Manager of the Radisson Edwardian before returning to Finland to have her first son.

Since 2010 she’s called Vienna home, and after three years of maternity leave she’s thrilled to be working again (especially at MODUL University!).

We heartily welcome Maggie and Marika to Modul University Vienna!