The Brown Center for Students of Color is operating under new leadership this semester at the midway point of its five-year restructuring plan.
Joshua Segui assumed the role of interim director of the BCSC Aug. 1. The leadership change resulted from administrative reshuffling this summer.
Former Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn stepped down in August, and Interim Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Mary Grace Almandrez left her post as BCSC director to help fill the role while the University conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
Segui served as assistant director of co-curricular initiatives prior to his appointment. He will carry on those duties in addition to his responsibilities as director, which include making financial decisions, supervising staff members and representing the BCSC in University committee meetings.
Segui has “been working with the center for a while — I’ve known him, and I knew he would be really great for our center,” said Sana Teramoto ’16, a coordinator for the Third World Transition Program. TWTP this fall “went really smoothly with this new leadership structure,” she said.
The change comes in the second year of the BCSC’s five-year plan, which laid out the center’s advising, outreach and activism objectives through the 2018-19 school year. The BCSC is also in a period of reduced staffing, operating with four instead of its usual five full-time members.
The center still has “a very strong team,” Segui said, adding that he is confident the center will continue to meet its objectives.
The choice of Segui as interim director was “made in consultation with other leaders" and administrators, Almandrez said.
Segui said he worked with Almandrez to prepare for the directorship, but “a lot of it wasn’t new.” Under Almandrez’s leadership, he had been progressively taking on additional responsbilities at the BCSC for some time, he said.
Almandrez’s “supervision style has always been thinking about not just the needs of the center, but my professional development,” Segui said. “There was always this thought of my career trajectory.”
The BCSC prepared last spring for the 2015-16 school year by putting various mechanisms in place “to springboard for the fall,” Almandrez said.
Despite leadership change, there remains “consistency in the priorities” at the center, she said, adding that “students are still getting the same level of support, if not more.”
In her role as interim assisstant vice president, Almandrez continues to oversee the BCSC from her office in Graduate Center E. She also attends BCSC events and holds office hours at the BCSC because she “felt it was important” that a dean have a presence at the center.
“One of the important aspects of a leader is to make sure the organization can run even if you’re not present,” she said.
“It’s not like (Almandrez) is gone” because she continues to hold office hours at the center, Teramoto said.
Looking ahead, Segui said his next main initiative will be preparing for the center’s 40th anniversary, which will occur in 2016.
A previous version of this article misstated that Segui's appointment was made in consultation with members of the BCSC's Student Advisory Board. In fact, it was made in consultation with other leaders and administrators. A previous version of this article also misstated that Almandrez's office is located in University Hall. In fact, it is in Graduate Center E. The Herald regrets the errors.
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