Staffing News from Student Affairs

Kim Leisey, senior associate vice president for student affairs, will retire from UMBC at the end of the academic year after 36 years of service to Maryland's higher education system, 32 of those at UMBC. While Kim is retiring from higher education, she will continue to create communities of inclusion in a new role as the executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a positive environment inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and related communities. 

Kim joined UMBC in 1991 as an assistant director in residential life, and also led the Office of Residential Life before joining the Vice President's office. Both the faculty mentor and the nationally recognized living-learning programs were created under her leadership. 

Kim founded BRACT, the Behavioral Risk Assessment and Consultation Team. She worked with the Maryland Mental Health Association to adopt mental health training (developed in Australia), making UMBC the first university in the country to offer Mental Health First Aid. She brought the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program to UMBC and developed our current relationship with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. With support from a Verizon grant, Kim also developed a relationship violence prevention program. Her commitment to well-being led to the renovation of the Retriever Activities Center and in the planning, construction, and opening of the new Center for Well-Being. Most recently, her vigilant and strategic leadership were integral to the campus COVID-19 response. 

She used her passion for creating broad communities of care to advocate for LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff on campus and across the University System of Maryland (USM). Along with colleagues, Kim founded the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Faculty Staff Association (a precursor to today's LGBTQ Association). Her vision and the work of the group resulted in one of the earliest inclusive living agreements for live-in residential staff in the country, the start of the campus Safe Zone program, gender neutral housing, and regional LGBTQ student leadership conferences. UMBC was the only campus to testify to the Board of Regents in support of changes to the USM non-discrimination policy with the full backing of their executive and shared governance groups, resulting in the addition of sexual orientation to the USM non-discrimination policy in 1997 (the language was later changed to include gender orientation and sexual expression). 

Compassion, care, integrity, and inclusion are hallmarks of Kim's leadership. I am grateful for Kim's commitment to the Division of Student Affairs and the entire UMBC community, and especially for the care she's given to the development of students and her staff. We are now working to determine coverage for the transition period. If you are uncertain of whom to contact after May 26, please reach out to the student affairs office at studentaffairs@umbc.edu or 410-455-2393.