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Biography

Dean Tanesha A. Leathers is excited to collaborate with Dean Leah Gadd to support students pursuing combined degrees between SMFA and various liberal arts programs within the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts. 

A native of Queens, NY, Dean Leathers ventured up to Massachusetts to earn her B.A. in Anthropology at Williams College, which included a semester abroad at the University of York in the U.K. She also participated in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program at Williams and served as a CrISP Scholar at the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland, College Park where she earned her doctorate in American Studies. Her doctoral work focused on parenting as activism in Baltimore, Maryland and the revolutionary potential of Black love. 

During her career in higher education, Dean Leathers has worked in student affairs and academic affairs as a resident director at the University of Maryland, a community life coordinator at her undergraduate alma mater, an assistant program manager at Johns Hopkins's Center for Talented Youth, an academic advisor at the University of Maryland, and as a class dean at Wesleyan University before assuming her role here at Tufts. She enjoys helping students discover paths that will help them reach their full potential.

On a personal note, Dean Leathers loves to laugh! She also enjoys baking, watercolor painting, and modern embroidery. Kehinde Wiley, Kara Walker, Mikenzi Jones, Nneka Jones, Avis Lashonda, Youmeng Liu, Sila Gur, Jenna Rainey, and Jerry Shepard are among her favorite artists these days. 

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