Over the summer, Barnard expects to experience new structural changes of various administrative offices, as well as senior staff member turnover. 

On Friday, June 14, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury announced three new senior staff members and a series of new administrative structural changes to the College. Two senior staff members are also planning to leave the College. In an email sent to faculty and staff, President Rosenbury stated that she hopes providing updates will help in “embracing a spirit of partnership and collegiality.” 

Firstly, Serena Longley took office as Vice President and General Counsel, a role held by Kathleen Veteri in the interim, on June 3. Longley is an alumna of Barnard and previously served as the Deputy General Counsel for the Office of the New York State Attorney General (OAG), 

Natalie Raabe also took office on June 3 as the new Vice President for Strategic Communications, previously held by Jennifer Fondiller. Previously, Raabe has led communications teams at The New Yorker, NBC News, ABC News, and The Atlantic. 

Rebecca Walkowitz joined Barnard as the new Provost and Dean of the Faculty on June 1. A graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe College and former Dean of Humanities at Rutgers University, Walkowitz follows Linda Bell, who served as Provost and Dean of Faculty between 2012 and 2024. 

In addition to various new senior staff members joining Barnard, two will be leaving soon. Jennifer Rosales, who has served as Barnard’s Vice President for Inclusion and Engaged Learning and Chief Diversity Officer since 2022, will leave on July 1. Soon after, Rosenbury announced, a committee of students, faculty, and staff will convene to search for a new Chief Diversity Officer. In the interim, Dean of the College and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Experience Leslie Grinage will lead the DEI office. 

In the meantime, various other offices will change who they report to. The Center for Engaged Pedagogy will now report to the Provost’s Office and the Athena Center for Leadership will report to Dean Grinage. The Community Engagement and Inclusion Office will merge with External Affairs under Vice President Jennifer Fondiller. Lastly, the Office of Nondiscrimination and Title IX will report to the Office of the General Counsel. 

Senior Vice President for Strategic Finance and Operations Sarah Gillman also plans to leave Barnard this month. During her time at the College, Gillman held financial and operational oversight over the Francine A. LeFrak Center for Well-Being and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center. She also oversaw finance, facilities, risk management, IT, and CARES departments. In the interim, Executive Vice President Kelli Murray will fill Gillman’s role, while risk management will be led by the Office of the General Counsel. On July 22, Sandra Kim, the current Vice President for Finance and Administration at St. Mary’s College, will lead finance and facilities departments on an interim basis. President Rosenbury stated that the College will search for a new Senior Vice President for Strategic Finance and Operations later in the year. 

President Rosenbury also announced a series of structural changes to various Barnard offices “in order to streamline services and continuously improve day-to-day life on campus.” Firstly, the Health Promotion team, including the Wellness Spot, Being Barnard, and the Alcohol and Substance Awareness Program (ASAP), will move offices to the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being in Barnard Hall. Former Director of our Public Health Response Team April Autry will serve as the new Executive Director of the LeFrak Center, with Dr. Sarah Ann Anderson-Burnett working as the new Assistant Vice President of Health and Wellness. The Health Promotion team will still be led by Vice President of Health and Wellness and Chief Health Officer Dr. Marina Catallozzi. 

The Community Accountability, Response, and Emergency Services (CARES) department will now merge response and community safety teams into a single unit. Director of Community Safety and Emergency Response Gary Maroni will lead the unified team. Emergency and non-emergency phone numbers will remain the same. 

The Facilities department will divide their services into three areas—maintenance, repair, and cleaning. Associate Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects Juan Plasencia will lead this change. 

Email from Barnard President Laura Rosenbury sent to faculty and staff members on Friday, June 14 at 3 pm:

Dear Colleagues,

I hope your summer is off to a good start.  Over the past year, I’ve had conversations with many of you about the importance of embracing a spirit of partnership and collegiality throughout the College as we work together as One Barnard.  I write today to share some updates about staffing and administrative changes that will help us achieve that goal.

First, I’m happy to officially welcome three new members of our senior leadership team: Serena Longley, Vice President and General Counsel; Natalie Raabe, Vice President for Strategic Communications; and Rebecca Walkowitz, Provost and Dean of the Faculty.  I am delighted that Serena, Natalie, and Rebecca joined us last week, and I can’t wait for you to meet them and begin working with them.

Second, in order to streamline services and continuously improve day-to-day life on campus, we have made some structural changes to our administrative teams.  I thank the senior team and many other members of our community for the creative and thoughtful ideas that ultimately culminated in the following:

• Our Health Promotion team—including the Wellness Spot, Being Barnard, and the Alcohol and Substance Awareness Program—will move to our new Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being.  April Autry, the former Director of our Public Health Response Team, will bring her expertise in public health and programming and her trusted work across Barnard’s campus to her new role as Executive Director of the LeFrak Center.  Dr. Sarah Ann Anderson-Burnett will take on an expanded role as Assistant Vice President of Health and Wellness in order to focus on holistic physical and psychological services and ensure that we are fully meeting the needs of our students.  All of these efforts will continue to be overseen by Dr. Marina Catallozzi, Vice President of Health and Wellness and Chief Health Officer.

• Within our Community Accountability, Response, and Emergency Services (CARES) area, we will integrate the response and community-safety teams into a single unit focused on comprehensive physical and interpersonal safety throughout campus.  We ask that you continue to call 212-854-3362 with non-emergency issues and 212-854-6666 in emergency situations, and one team will now assess and respond to all calls with the appropriate resources and action.  Gary Maroni, the Director of Community Safety and Emergency Response, will lead this new unified team.

• We have restructured the Facilities team to streamline the delivery of their core services: maintenance, repair, and cleaning.  This team works hard to create and maintain a physical space here on campus that is welcoming and conducive to learning, and this new structure will better support direct services to all areas of the College.  Juan Plasencia, Associate Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects, will manage these efforts.

Third, we will soon say goodbye to two members of our community: 

• Jennifer Rosales, who has so ably served as our Vice President for Inclusion and Engaged Learning and our Chief Diversity Officer since 2022, will leave Barnard on July 1.  Jennifer has brought great intelligence, care, and humanity to her work at the College, and we are all better for it.  We will soon form a committee of students, faculty, and staff to begin a search for our next Chief Diversity Officer, and I will keep you posted on those efforts.  During this interim period, the office of DEI will be overseen by Leslie Grinage, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Experience and Dean of the College.  Jennifer also oversaw many other initiatives, and her departure provides an opportunity to infuse our inclusion efforts throughout the College.  The Center for Engaged Pedagogy, which has had a dual reporting line, will now report solely to the Provost’s Office; the Community Engagement and Inclusion Office will join External Affairs under the leadership of Vice President Jennifer Fondiller; the Athena Center for Leadership will report to Dean Grinage; and the Office of Nondiscrimination and Title IX will move to the Office of the General Counsel.

• Sarah Gillman, Senior Vice President for Strategic Finance and Operations, is also leaving Barnard this month.  I thank Sarah for her dedication and service to the College, including her financial and operational stewardship of our two major capital projects—the Francine A. LeFrak Center for Well-Being and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center—as well as her oversight of finance, facilities, risk management, IT, and CARES.  Executive Vice President Kelli Murray will temporarily support the functions previously managed by Sarah with the exception of risk management, which will transition to the Office of the General Counsel.  Beginning July 22, Sandra Kim, currently the Vice President for Finance and Administration at St. Mary’s College in California, will join Barnard in an interim capacity to lead our finance and facilities teams.  Our search for a permanent leader will begin later this year, and I look forward to sharing more with you about that search as the process unfolds.

Many thanks to everyone who worked with me to map out these plans.  And thanks to all of you for your enduring commitment to our community.  I am excited about the year ahead, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as we create Barnard’s future together.  

Very truly yours,

Laura

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