Dear Members of the TC Community,

With deep appreciation for her hard work and considerable achievements at TC, I am writing to share the news that Dr. Tani Castañeda, TC’s Vice President of Enrollment and Student Success, has accepted an appointment as Carnegie Mellon University’s new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Dean of Admission. Tani’s last day at TC will be August 22. This is an exciting move for Tani and I am enormously proud of her transition, even as I will miss her talents and impact on our campus.

Tani joined Teachers College in November 2020 as Associate Vice President and Chief Enrollment Officer, and was charged with leading admission and new student enrollment, financial aid operations, the office of the registrar, and enrollment marketing and strategic enrollment communications and research. She helped to envision and articulate our efforts to improve student pathways, one of five institutional priorities through which we aimed to assess, understand and refine the student pathway experience, from applicant to student to alum, ensuring that our students benefit from robust, coordinated, and highly effective systems of support, enabling their success. 

To lead this work, Tani created the Division of Enrollment & Student Success, enabling a strategic and a holistic outlook on the student experience and elevating our ability to collaborate across functional units with shared mission, goals, and systems. Indeed, Tani’s vision and skill have led to strengthened enrollment forecasting, increased application volume, the launch of new online degrees and innovative scholarship programs. Her accomplishments include:

• Chairing a cross-functional committee of stakeholders to transform institutional aid management from a highly dispersed operation to a strategically designed and optimized central aid strategy;
• Leadership of a standards of excellence audit of TC’s Title IV/federal aid operation to address compliance, regulatory, systems, and staffing vulnerabilities, improving checks and balances, leveraging automation, expediting turnaround time, and minimizing risk and liability to the institution; and
• Modernization of systems infrastructure, implementing significant changes to platforms (SIS, degree audit, CRM) to improve student support and service, leading to gains in efficiency for staff and improved response times to students, improving the student experience across the lifecycle.

Tani also contributed significantly to the life and culture of the College through her co-leadership of our Advancing Community Together (ACT) initiative and service on my cabinet, where she was a vital partner to our leadership team in setting College policies, always keeping our full community top of mind.

I am grateful that Tani is leaving our team in a position of strength, with a student-centered enrollment management framework and a staff who are motivated and prepared to meet the needs of our students and the enrollment landscape overall. 

As we seek to replace this key leadership position, Kate Brittain, Associate VP Enrollment Management, Offices of Admission and Marketing & Communications; Megan Massaro, Executive Director, Enrollment Management, Offices of Financial Aid and Registrar; and Tom Rock, Chief Student Affairs Officer and Associate Vice President, will report to my office. I am grateful for the continued leadership of these staff members during this time of transition as well as the 70+ staff members who comprise this important area of work for the College. I know we will work hard together to continue to build on Tani’s legacy.

Please join me in thanking Tani for her exceptional work at TC and wishing her much success at Carnegie Mellon University. 

With best wishes,

Thomas Bailey
President
Teachers College, Columbia University