Nationally recognized for her leadership in student affairs, Nancy Young joined the UMBC community in 1986 and has served as the vice president for student affairs at UMBC since 2007. She shares responsibility with campus partners for the learning, success, and well-being of UMBC’s nearly 15,000 students.

Young is known for creating strategic partnerships across the university and beyond and is passionate about fostering a campus community in which all students are valued, engaged, and safe. Most recently, she advocated for and opened UMBC’s Center for Well-Being and played a critical role in bringing the American Council on Education’s Internationalization Lab to UMBC. Her commitment to creating safe and inclusive communities is also evidenced in practice, research, and teaching in developmental psychology and intercultural instructional system design.

She previously served as assistant vice president for student affairs and director of housing. Under Young’s leadership, UMBC’s residence community grew to 4,000 beds, transforming a commuter college to a Carnegie highly residential university.

As the 2021 chair of the Council of Student Affairs for the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, Young collaborated with other student affairs leaders across the U.S. to develop and promote practices that enhance students’ experiences and well-being during one of the most challenging times in higher education and student affairs. In May 2022, Young received a Fulbright International Education Administrators award and will travel to France for a seminar designed to help U.S. international education professionals and senior higher education officials create empowering connections with their counterparts and higher education systems of other countries. She was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women for 2022 by the Daily Record.

Young’s work extends to her leadership role as a consultant, trainer, and speaker. She has consulted with and conducted training for higher education, nonprofit, and government agencies and has given numerous presentations at professional conferences. She is regularly called upon to share insight with the media, recently providing input for the Chronicle of Higher Education Oct. 2021 student success report and serving as an expert consultant for Times Higher Education’s 2021 Student Success Forum.

With over 35 years of higher education experience, Young has previously worked at Southern Methodist University, McDaniel College, the University of Maryland College Park, and the Ohio State University. She earned her B.A. in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland College Park, her M.A. in Higher Education Special Services Student Personnel from the Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education, Policy, and Leadership from the University of Maryland College Park.

A long-time resident of Maryland and graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s leadership program, Young is equally passionate about her hometown. She volunteers with Central Maryland Volunteers and as an instructor with KidPower, serves on the advisory board of the Maryland Collaborative to Reduce High Risk Drinking, and served on the Red Cross Life and Baltimore Child Abuse Center Boards.

Kim Leisey is an executive leader with vision, integrity, and compassion. Her three decades of service with three institutions of higher education demonstrates a consistent record of achievement and effective professional relationships: in higher education, student affairs, and the external community. She firmly believes that education is the foundation of a healthy democracy.

Leisey’s career is entering its 4th decade and includes large public research and small private liberal arts institutional experience. Her work has included residential life, student activities, Greek affairs, counseling, health, student conduct, facilities management, assessment, and threat assessment and management. Leisey has served ACUHO-I, MACUHO, GLACUHO, CoHEASAP, and the Greater Baltimore Public Safety Committee. She is a graduate of The Leadership program in Baltimore. She served two decades on the board of KIDPOWER, International and currently serves on the board of Coastal Concerts in Lewes, De.

At UMBC, she has served in a broad range of areas. Some examples include university strategic planning; founding the Residential Life living learning programs; serving on the Women’s Center advisory board; founding the student affairs assessment position and annual assessment day; hosting regional professional workshops on such topics as student conduct, counseling and threat assessment; founding the LGBT faculty staff association in the 1990’s; founding the behavioral risk assessment and consultation team; and expanding the residential footprint on campus.

Leisey is an avid musician, playing both the cello and piano. She holds a B.A. in Hearing and Speech Science, an M.A. in Audiology, and a Ph.D. in Human Development.

Brittini R. Brown provides leadership and guidance to multiple areas of the Division, including Campus Life, the Center for Democracy and Civic Life, Off-Campus Student Services, Assessment and Research, and Student Affairs Technology. She assumed the role of assistant vice president in 2019.

Brown joined the UMBC community in 2016 as the director for assessment, research, and strategic priorities, helping UMBC become one of the first institutions to begin using behavioral data in predictive analytic models. As the acting director for Off-Campus Student Services from August 2017 until July 2018, Brown also oversaw the management and development of critical engagement and support resources for commuter, transfer, adult learners, and veteran students.

Her leadership includes university-wide service for COVID-19 response and academic initiatives. Brown currently serves as co-chair of the Student Health and Safety Workgroup and leads the Student COVID-19 Compliance Workgroup. She is a current member of the General Education Program Revision Committee and the Commencement Committee, and a past member of the Hrabowski Innovation Fund Selection Committee.

As a result of Brown’s expertise, she was invited to join the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Glenn W. Sample College of Agriculture at Purdue University and to become a Center affiliate for the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University.

Brown previously served as the coordinator for strategic planning, partnership, and development for Mentoring@Purdue, an initiative aimed at enhancing mentoring relationships between faculty, and women and underrepresented minorities pursuing STEM-based agricultural and life science graduate degrees in the Purdue University, College of Agriculture. She also has prior experience with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, serving as the interim director for the USDA/1890 National Program.

She received a B.S. in Regulatory Science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an M.S. in Industrial and Agricultural Technology from Iowa State University, and a Ph.D. in Youth Development and Agricultural Education from Purdue University.

Brown’s analyses, editorials, and research have been published in MSIs Unplugged, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the American Council on Education Blog.