Vice President of People and Culture
Mary Grace Almandrez serves as the Vice President of People and Culture. Her work focuses on community-building, professional development, and reasonable accommodations for employees. Almandrez’s professional career reflects a breadth and depth of higher education experiences, including leadership programs, organizational development, academic affairs, student affairs, and campus climate assessment.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Almandrez served as Associate Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Rhode Island (URI) after serving in an interim role for over a year. Before joining URI, she spent seven years at Brown University, where she served in a number of leadership positions, including Associate Vice President of campus life and dean of students. Prior to Brown, she was Assistant Dean for Multicultural Student Services at the University of San Francisco. She began her career as the Director of Multicultural Services at McDaniel College.
Almandrez earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of San Diego, a master’s degree in human resources development from McDaniel College and a doctor of education in organization and leadership from the University of San Francisco. She also holds a certificate from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management.