GCC Appoints New Vice President of Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer to Strengthen Campus Inclusion, Engagement & Support

by Leah Bishop
March 7, 2025

GCC welcomed Dr. Kim McKinsey-Mabry as the new Vice President for Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer in December 2024. “GCC is a gem,” said Vice President for Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Kim McKinsey-Mabry. She said she has a strong passion for making GCC a place where students can thrive and have a positive and impactful experience in their studies.

The role of McKinsey-Mabry’s position at GCC includes overseeing the Student Affairs office and staff, and she is also responsible for diversity, equity, inclusion, wellness, and sense of belonging on campus. She has a long history of working in higher education, so although she is new to the GCC community, she spent over 20 years of her career at Monroe Community College in the Rochester, New York area. “The faculty, the staff, the administration, my colleagues, and most importantly the students are all so welcoming and engaging, and really make the campus feel so comfortable,” said McKinsey-Mabry.

She has spent a lot of her time so far observing and listening to the happenings around campus to really get a feel for the student life and even working to collaborate and engage with the community herself. She said she thinks it’s important to introduce herself and be visible within the campus community. As someone with a higher administrative position, she said she could sometimes be hidden away from students. McKinsey-Mabry said that “Engagement is one of the things that will make this a successful college community,” and she strives to create an environment where she can encourage everyone to get involved in activities around campus and collaborate. McKinsey-Mabry said she even auditioned for the GCC Annual Fashion Show that the students and faculty of GCC have been working hard on putting together.

As Chief Diversity Officer, she said her goal is touring and communicating with others about what she can do to help keep building the community of GCC. “I want to grasp everyone’s feelings, experiences, perspectives, expectations, and their thoughts about diversity, inclusion, and equity on campus,” McKinsey-Mabry said. She said that working with Craig Lamb, GCC president and other administrators around SUNY campuses will be helpful in the process of moving forward in years to come.

When it comes to the new policies under the Trump administration regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion roles throughout the nation, McKinsey-Mabry does not believe her role is going to completely go away, but there are still a lot of unknowns. She has been participating in listening sessions and reading updates to keep up with the current policies and changes as they happen. “We are all making unified recommendations and decisions going forward, of course keeping in mind the priorities of our individual institutions,” said McKinsey-Mabry, regarding the ongoing changes in the federal government on her position as Chief Diversity Officer. She also said that even if there were no Chief Diversity Officer position on campus, she believes that there still needs to be commitment in serving and supporting the best interests of students, staff, faculty, and administration at GCC.

McKinsey-Mabry said she understands the challenges that college life and finding balance might bring to students. Since there is such a myriad of people with different backgrounds who attend GCC, she wants to be able to encourage the idea of how administration and other faculty and staff can be a guide and help students who may feel lost and even help guide them into the next steps in life post-college.

McKinsey-Mabry would love to see GCC put on the map as a place where students can have a positive and impactful experience. She is extremely enthusiastic about creating an uplifting and welcoming environment for anyone who is looking to pursue an education. She said, “My goal, my hope, my plan, is to make GCC a first-choice institution.”