Two employees of the Division of Student Life, including the interim dean of students, have departed Lafayette College just weeks before the start of the 2024-25 academic year.
The departures of Interim Dean of Students Jennifer Dize and Assistant Director of Intercultural Development Karina Fuentes were revealed on Friday in a public Instagram post by Jake Bates, the associate director of fraternity and sorority life.
Dize, in a May 9 TikTok post, announced that she would leave the college to pursue animal behavior work. In a message obtained by The Lafayette, Fuentes informed the Hispanic Society of Lafayette GroupMe on July 30 that she had “resigned,” effective Friday. According to Fuentes’ LinkedIn, she has joined the office of admissions at her alma mater, Moravian University.
Fuentes declined to comment and Dize did not respond to a request for comment.
The exits follow a series of administrative departures within the student life division in the past academic year and increased turnover within the institution seen since college President Nicole Hurd took office in 2021.
“I realize change can be challenging, but change also allows people with different strengths and talents to contribute to the future of the College, which keeps it evolving and benefitting from new abilities and perspectives, which are important for all of us,” Hurd wrote in an email received after this article’s original publication.
Dize’s time as the interim dean of students began after Brian Samble abruptly left the position in January. Dize’s departure leaves the dean of students role empty, and it will remain so until October when the newly hired dean will begin his tenure.
Throughout her career at Lafayette, Dize served as the director of student conduct. She stepped into the assistant dean of students role in 2017 where she was involved in Alcohol and Other Drugs prevention efforts, crisis management and behavioral intervention, according to her LinkedIn.
“It just feels like such a relief to have this out in the open and to kind of be able to celebrate it,” Dize said of her departure in her TikTok post. “And also to almost be finished with what has been a very rewarding, but also very difficult semester, and to know that I’m heading into something new and exciting.”
Fuentes’ final day came just a week after the college appointed Kimberly Weatherly as the new executive director of intercultural development, filling a position vacated in March.
“It was a tough decision and it hurts me to leave you all, especially those I have worked with and gotten close with,” Fuentes wrote in her GroupMe message. During her time at the college, Fuentes helped to implement diversity, equity and inclusion education training as well as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program and undocumented student support initiatives. She also served as an advisor to the Hispanic Society of Lafayette.
“While we are sorry to see these colleagues take opportunities elsewhere, we are confident that through the searches that will be initiated early this semester we will find outstanding new professionals to assume these roles,” college spokesman Scott Morse wrote in an email received after this article’s original publication.
William Gutiérrez ’27 contributed reporting.
This article was updated on Aug. 29.
