April 30, 2021

Dominique and Joe-Barry Gardner to Leave L&C

Interim Director of Campus Living Joe-Barry (JB) Gardner and Interim Director of Inclusion and Multicultural Education Dominique (Dom) Gardner will leave Lewis & Clark in June. The Gardner’s will relocate to Florida to be closer to family.

Dom began her career at the College as an area director in Campus Living in 2014. She transitioned to assistant director of Inclusion and Multicultural Education (IME) and International Students and Scholars (ISS) in 2018. In that role, she shepherded the peer support program “Great Expectations,” a peer mentor program that supports first-year students of color and aids their acclimation to college life. In August 2020, she was promoted to interim director of IME, overseeing the IME office, staff, and programs. She was instrumental in supporting the workshops and programs that improved the overall campus climate and supported underrepresented students. She also served on the Division of Student Life leadership team and led various divisional efforts including creating a divisional strategic plan for diversity and equity for the entire division and bringing about several key training opportunities in order to improve and enhance staff cultural competency.

“Dom will be sorely missed,” Vice President for Student Life Robin Holmes-Sullivan said. “She has been a visible and staunch advocate for our underrepresented students, and someone that has made a huge impact on the overall campus climate of our community.”

Joe-Barry began his Lewis & Clark career as the assistant director for Campus Living in 2014. In this role, he oversaw the Campus Living residential staff–including the area directors and residence assistants. He also had primary responsibility for creating and maintaining our living-learning communities and ensuring that residential living was transformative and a true learning opportunity for our residential students. Two years ago, he was asked to take the helm as the interim director of Campus Living after the departure of long-serving Sandi Bottemiller.

“Under his leadership, the Campus Living operation has been modernized and streamlined; and JB played a crucial role in supporting our students’ residential experience during this trying time of the pandemic.” Holmes-Sullivan said. “JB probably had the hardest job on campus–overseeing a large residential population and operation 24/7 and making it all work. Residential living is one of the most important things we provide for our students, and we have all been so lucky to have JB as a leader in this role. Both he and Dom will be missed.”

Searches for the director of Campus Living and the director of Inclusion and Multicultural Education are currently underway. Both positions are expected to be filled by August. Until that time, operations will be run by NSO director and Campus Living logistics coordinator Franchesca Spann and Assistant Dean of Student Engagement and Executive Director of Career Center Rocky Campbell will serve as the Interim Director of Campus Living.