Alumni couple enjoy keeping ties with alma mater

No matter how much time has passed since graduating, Maureen and Paul Cahill’s connections to St. Cloud State University are stronger than ever.

The couple met on campus thanks to UTVS and the mass communications program. Paul Cahill enjoyed covering sports while Maureen Cahill anchored and shared weather reports. Paul graduated in 1989 with his degree in speech communication, and Maureen followed in 1990 with her degree in mass communications.

“I wanted to work on TV,” Maureen said. “I know I’m aging myself, but my mom would tell this story about when I was a little girl, writing a report about what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I would write Mary Tyler Moore.”

She interned for and was then hired on with KSTP TV, where Maureen worked for a number of years. She then moved into public relations work with the Mall of America. She’d go on to start her own PR agency, before eventually becoming a partner with Bellmont Partners.

“And I'm the boring one,” Paul said. “I always said, ‘With my speech communication degree, I can talk.’”

Paul got his start as a television reporter in Rapid City, South Dakota, before moving back to Minnesota before the couple got married in 1991. He worked in some management and sales positions, before switching to legal publishing and marketing 27 years ago. He is currently an associate client executive with Internet Brands.

“We build websites and do ads for attorneys online,” he said. “It's up to me to work with our teams, so it's communications and building relationships with those attorneys to trust you.”

While the Cahills have found success in their professional lives, they’ve made an effort to give back in their free time. The family has gone on missions trips together, and Maureen especially has gotten involved with several nonprofit organizations. She previously worked with and was on the board of directors for Smile Network International, which provides cleft lip and palate surgeries around the world. She was the organization’s executive director until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought international travel to a halt. She is now board president with Cleft Care International, through which she travels to Guatemala annually on missions to raise money for a comprehensive program that provides services and support for children with cleft lips or palates from the time they’re a newborn all the way into adulthood. Maureen is also on the board for Best Buddies Minnesota, which provides friendship and leadership development opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“My whole career has been on either side of media, either working in news or in PR,” she said. “But my time with nonprofits has really filled my heart.”

When they’re not working or volunteering, the Cahills enjoy spending time with their family and cheering for the Huskies.

“St. Cloud, particularly St. Cloud State Husky hockey, is our family love,” Maureen said. “We go to pretty much every home game. Our little grandson comes in his little baby jerseys.”

The Cahills enjoyed celebrating one of their daughters and their son-in-law earning masters degrees from SCSU, and their son-in-law works within SCSU’s Athletics department. The couple makes a point of going on a roadtrip once a year for an SCSU hockey game and have enjoyed meeting fellow alumni along the way. They’ve also revisited Alnwick Castle together, where Maureen studied abroad and interned with the BBC as a student while Paul flew out to visit her when they were dating. They’ve stayed in touch with a number of their friends made on campus — one of whom was best man at their wedding.

“St. Cloud State University does have a special place in our heart,” Maureen said. “It's where we met. It's led us on this path of giving back and doing things we love.”