Leslie Grinage has stepped down from her role as dean and vice president of campus life and student experience at Barnard College, a highly selective liberal arts institution for women in New York City. Her resignation was announced in an internal email sent by Barnard President Laura Rosenbury.
Succeeding Dr. Grinage are Nikki Youngblood-Giles and Holly Tedder, current vice deans of the college who will serve as interim co-deans.
Nikki Youngblood-Giles first joined Barnard College in 2008 as associate director of the Higher Education Opportunity Program. As vice dean, she oversees student life and residential life, as well as opportunity programs, student success, and international student services. Dr. Youngblood-Giles earned her bachelor’s degree in child development from Spelman College in Atlanta and her master’s degree in curriculum and teaching from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She received her doctorate from New York University, where her research examined the experiences of students who identify as first-generation and low-income at elite institutions.
Holly Tedder began her tenure with Barnard in 2019. Currently, she oversees the Deans’ Office for Advising and Support, Access Barnard, study abroad programming, the Center for Accessibility Resources and Disability Services, and other initiatives relating to student support. Before her tenure at Barnard, she was director of disability services and associate registrar at The Juilliard School in New York City. Tedder holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Rollins College in Florida and a master’s degree in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College at Columbia University. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration from Northeastern University.