Staff Fellows

Katy Button (SFS’94)

Katy Button serves as the Associate Vice President for Federal Relations at Georgetown University. In this role, she serves as the Office of Government Relations and Community Engagement point person on all issues related to the federal government and the University’s primary liaison to Congress and the Executive Branch.

A graduate from the School of Foreign Service in 1994, Katy returns to Georgetown after an impressive career spanning the government, philanthropic and private sectors. Prior to returning to her alma mater, she served as a senior government relations official at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation working to build bipartisan support for international health and development programs. Previously, Katy served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Networks division at Discovery Communications, managing operations, logistics and strategy for the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet among others. Katy also led the start-up of the Women’s United Soccer Association and later served as General Manager for the Washington Freedom, the league’s marquee team. Under her leadership, the team led the league in attendance and won the league’s inaugural Community Service Award. Prior to that Katy served in the Clinton White House as a policy advisor.

Marlene Canlas (SFS’01)

Marlene Canlas is an Associate Dean in Georgetown College. She is also a proud graduate of Georgetown having earned her undergraduate degree from the School of Foreign Service in 2001. She pursued master’s degrees in public health and international affairs at the Georgetown Washington University and worked briefly for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) before returning to Georgetown. She has been advising students for almost 15 years and occasionally teaches a course on international health and development. Dean Canlas is originally from New Jersey but has lived in the DC/Northern Virginia area for most of her adult life. However, from 2009 to 2012, she worked at Georgetown’s campus in Doha, Qatar. From Doha, she had the opportunity to indulge one of her greatest pastimes: travel. Some of her most memorable travel experiences were community engagement trips with Georgetown students to Bangladesh, China, and Sri Lanka where they worked with Habitat for Humanity and local communities to rebuild homes affected by natural disasters. Closer to home, she has also accompanied students on alternative break trips to the Gulf Coast (post-Katrina), rural Arkansas, and Peru. 

Jamie Kralovec

Jamie Kralovec is the Associate Director for Mission Integration at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS) where he also serves on the faculty of the Urban & Regional Planning program. At SCS, Jamie is responsible for animating, integrating, and deepening faculty, staff, and student engagement with the Jesuit values that inspire the mission of Georgetown. In this role, Jamie works closely with the Center for Social Justice to incorporate Ignatian pedagogy in social justice education and action. Prior to arriving at Georgetown in 2014, Jamie served on President Obama’s White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities. He earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s of Urban Planning from New York University, and is completing a Master’s in Christian Spirituality from Fordham University in addition to becoming a spiritual director through the Ignatian Training Program at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Seren Snow

Seren Snow is a Communications Specialist in the Office of the President at Georgetown University, where he is a member of a cross-functional writing team that develops a broad range of written and spoken communication. Seren previously served in the Office of Communications at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he wrote material for digital platforms. Before joining Georgetown, he served as a Staff Writer at EAB, a higher education consultancy. Seren received a BA in history from the University of Maryland in 2016.