Alumna Katie Delsandro ’12 Joins Admissions Team

Katie Delsandro, a 2012 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, has returned to her alma mater to help usher in new students as director of admissions.

Under the supervision of Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer Natalie Blazer ’08, Delsandro will help narrow down the thousands of applications the Law School receives each year to form a class of about 300 students. She will review applications, engage with prospective students and participate in other recruiting activities.

“One thing that interests me about admissions is the opportunity to have a role in deciding the next generation of lawyers and to focus on finding a class of people who can bring a diverse array of backgrounds, talents and interests to the Law School,” Delsandro said. “What really made UVA such a special place was just how interesting and well-rounded my classmates were.”

Delsandro most recently worked as an associate director in Columbia University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action in New York, where she managed investigations of incidents of alleged discrimination, harassment and gender-based misconduct. She has also served as an attorney in the Employment and Labor Law Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of the General Counsel, and as an associate focused on employment and labor law at the law firm Paul Hastings in Washington, D.C.

“I am so thrilled to welcome Katie to our team,” Blazer said. “As an alumna with experience across a variety of professional disciplines, Katie has the ability to single out candidates who not only have the potential to thrive at UVA Law, but who are likely to succeed in any number of legal careers.”

Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, Delsandro earned her undergraduate degree in history at Wake Forest University. She worked in nonprofit management consultation in the D.C. area after college, then decided to study law at UVA.

“I wanted a career that would be intellectually challenging, while still affording the opportunity to have a tangible impact on people’s lives,” she said.

Delsandro served on the Law School’s student-run Journal of Law & Politics, as Public Service Committee chair for the Student Bar Association and as a director of the Libel Show, an annual musical comedy production run by students.

“It was exciting to see how truly talented my classmates were,” she said of the Libel Show. “They were singers, actors, dancers, writers, musicians, video editors, sound and light technicians — you name it. The whole experience really encapsulated the idea that at UVA your outside interests can coexist with and contribute to your legal education.”

She interned with the Department of Justice’s Tax Division, in its Criminal section, as a recipient of a Public Interest Law Association grant. She also represented criminal defendants in local courts through the Criminal Defense Clinic.

Delsandro said higher education became an appealing career path in part because she admired how the work environment encouraged the free exchange of ideas. She said she sees her new role as aiding the transition of students as they come into law school and encouraging that same kind of collegiality to continue to flourish among students.

“I think we have an important job in admissions as the first point of contact for the students,” she said. “I loved my time at UVA so much, and I’m excited to be able to share that experience with future classes.”