Meet the Staff

Cara Hanig joined the College Counseling staff in 2010 and became the Director in July 2019. As Director, Cara is responsible for all facets of the College Counseling office, including counseling students and parents in the college search process, working with faculty, staff, administration, and forming and maintaining relationships with college admission offices across the country and around the world. Cara completed her Master's in School Counseling at Boston College and worked in both undergraduate and graduate admissions at Boston College. Prior to coming to Boston, she was an Assistant Dean of Admission at Colgate University, where she read applications, participated in committee decisions, and recruited at high schools across the country. Cara attended Emory University for her undergraduate education, majoring in psychology and music.

Courtney Leahy joined the College Counseling team in July of 2019 as the Associate Director. Prior to Dana Hall, Courtney worked in undergraduate admission for 14 years, most recently at neighboring Babson College. She brings extensive knowledge of the college admission process, including expertise in evaluating first-year applications, recruiting across the U.S. and internationally, working directly with NCAA athletic recruits and undergraduate enrollment marketing and communications. Courtney graduated from Fairfield University as a first-generation college student majoring in Communication and Sociology.

Joani Whalen joined the College Counseling team as the College Counseling Administrative Assistant. She can be reached at (781) 489-1355.

Prior to Dana Hall, Joani worked in a number of roles in academia, including faculty, administration, and the Graduate Center for Career Development at Babson College. At Babson, she also managed the Goldman Sachs Foundation 10,000 Small Business Initiative, working with workforce development offices at community colleges throughout the United States. Joani attended Regis College where she obtained an Ed.D. and Lesley University where she received her Masters in Intercultural Relations.