Season 2; Ep 46. Season Finale w/ Chris Stipeck and Therese Grande

Where R.A. Now?

Chris Stipeck serves as the Director for Residential Staff & Programs in NYU Residential Life and Housing Services. Prior to this, he served in seven different roles that include hall positions in Hayden (Lipton), Carlyle Court, and 3rd North, and centrally as an Assistant Director for the Leased Properties then FYRE areas, and is in the first year of his current role. Chris also works on a research team for the Assessment of Collegiate Residential Environments and Outcomes (ACREO) – a national assessment to better understand the influence that living on-campus has on academic, social intellectual outcomes for students. He has presented and published research on topics related to developing intentionally inclusive communities (first-generation student support, Project Pay Attention), residential staff management (entry-level residential life staff burnout, mid-level management) and residential outcomes (the first-year experience, served as a faculty member for the ACPA Residential Curriculum Institute). Chris received a B.A. in History from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and then an M.A. and Ed.D in Higher Education Administration at NYU.

Therese Grande’s career in higher education spans over fifteen years at both public and private institutions and includes cross-functional experience in student affairs, curriculum and instruction, and institutional planning. During her time at New York University, she served as a member of the Residential Peer Board, an RA in Third North and President of RA Council, a graduate assistant for Academic Initiatives in Residence Life, the ACDE/RHAD at Carlyle Court, and the Program Administrator for the FFIR, Explorations, and Residential College programs. In her current role as the Student Life Coordinator at Golden West College (a community college in Huntington Beach, CA), she trains and advises student leaders, facilitates campus-wide programming, and helps foster an environment where students can meaningfully engage with peers, faculty, staff, and administration outside the classroom. Therese is passionate about leveraging educational policy, institutional governance, and organizational structures to improve access and educational outcomes for students who have traditionally been underserved or marginalized by systemic inequities and has been recognized by the California Community Colleges Classified Senate and the American Association for Women in Community Colleges for her leadership in these areas. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from New York University, a master’s degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from California State University Long Beach, and is an alumni of the California Education Policy Fellowship program.