New Orleans, La - In June 1992, Marcia Pecot, Ed.D., first stepped foot on Xavier University of Louisiana’s campus as a part of the Howard Hughes Biomedical Summer Program before beginning her year at Xavier as a freshman. An introvert, she found it difficult to leave home and be away from her close-knit family for the first time. However, her time at Xavier and the lifelong friends and ever-supportive mentors she met on campus helped her blossom into the person she is today. Now, instilled with the confidence and leadership skills she gained from Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Pecot has triumphantly returned home to her alma mater as its new director of alumni relations.

Dr. Pecot’s new role is in Xavier University of Louisiana’s Office of Institutional Advancement, which plays a key role in building and stewarding relationships in support of Xavier’s mission, vision, and philanthropic goals. This includes engaging alumni and current students, offering them as much support as possible in transitioning to life after leaving Xavier University. For Dr. Pecot, getting to help those former and current students and give them as much support as she had been given during her time at Xavier drives her.

“I hope that I can put everything that I learned from everybody that touched my life at Xavier and be able to bring a little bit back to help really foster those student and alumni relations in a really positive way,” said Dr. Pecot, “I love that part of the director of alumni relations’ role as well as being an advisor for the pre-alumni council, because [it allows me to] still have a direct connection with students to impact their lives positively... One of my goals is to connect with students and establish those early bonds to decrease lapses in communication with the alumni office that occur once students depart from the campus. [I want] to highlight the accomplishments and positive impacts of alumni who continue to carry on the mission of Saint Katharine Drexel to create a more just and humane society.”

Dr. Pecot notes that the people she met on campus became friends and lifelong mentors whom she still interacts with today. She highlighted her peers, Sister Beatrice Jeffries, and even Dr. Norman C. Francis, the then President of Xavier, as those who helped her foster a sense of community, which she has never forgotten. Because of the support and care she received during her time as a student, she has since developed the skills and confidence to take on leadership roles she previously never saw herself in before, including running for and being elected “Miss Freshman” in 1992.

“For someone to not know me, point me out on campus, and just indicate, ‘Hey, I think you can do this;’ I don’t know if you can go to any other place in the world than Xavier and have someone do that and really mentor you in that way to help you become a better leader and still continue to do that years later,” said Dr. Pecot, “To me, that’s what [Saint] Katharine Drexel intended for Xavierites to be.”

After graduating from Xavier in 1996, Dr. Pecot received her master’s degree from Georgia State University and her Doctorate in Education from Northeastern University in Boston. For 15 years, she worked in education and previously held positions at Morehouse School of Medicine and Emory University. Still, she often found that she returned to Xavier University of Louisiana thanks to the warm, compassionate, and collaborative community that the university fosters. Before accepting the role of director of alumni relations at Xavier, Marcia was already an active participant in Xavier’s National Alumni Association and currently serves as an Executive Board member of the Atlanta Alumni Chapter.

“There’s a Xavier culture that cares. There’s a Xavier culture that nurtures. There’s a Xavier culture that fosters those bonds that last lifelong,” said Dr. Pecot, “That’s the great thing about Xavier that you cannot get anywhere else. That’s not something that you can recreate. That’s not something you can learn how to do. It’s something that just is... That faith, that camaraderie, that trust that push that you can do it even if you think you can’t, that’s what Xavierites do, and I hope that everyone that comes onto this campus gets to experience what I did from my freshman year to the present. That Xavier magic still touches me to this day. I’m ecstatic to come home.”

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About Xavier University of Louisiana

Xavier University of Louisiana, America’s only historically Black and Catholic University, is ranked among the nation's top three HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities). Recognized as a national leader in STEM and health sciences, Xavier produces more African American students who graduate from medical schools each year than any other university in the United States. Additionally, Xavier’s College of Pharmacy is among the country's top producers of African American pharmacists.

Established in 1925 by Saint Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament as a place for African American and Native Americans to receive quality education, Xavier has since expanded its programs in art, business, education, biological sciences, chemistry, pharmacy and political science. More recent additions in robotics, bioinformatics, engineering, data science, neuroscience and genetics, in addition to new STEM-based master’s programs, have provided Xavier students (3,419 students) an unbeatable combination of traditional classroom study, hands-on research, service-learning opportunities and life experiences. Xavier students collaborate with world-renowned faculty, who are experts in their fields, to produce award-winning research and notable work. The winning Xavier formula provides students with a well-balanced curriculum and an environment that nurtures their intellect and feeds their souls, thereby facilitating a more just and humane society for all. For more information about Xavier University of Louisiana, visit us online at www.xula.edu or contact Regi Reyes at (504) 520-5240 or rreyes@xula.edu.