By Hadar Katsman, Features Editor
On the morning of Monday, March 30, Beren undergraduate students learned of the passing of Stern College for Women English professor and Beren Writing Center director Gina Grimaldi. The news was announced in an email from Undergraduate Dean Rebecca Cypess who detailed the profound impact Grimaldi had on the Beren campus and reflected on her teaching philosophy.
“Prof. Grimaldi was known among students and faculty alike as a dedicated teacher who loved her work here at Stern,” Cypess said in her email.
After receiving her master’s degree in English and American Literature from the University of South Florida in the early 2000s, Grimaldi began pursuing her Ph.D. in English Literature from City University of New York (CUNY) around 2010. While pursuing her Ph.D., she began teaching English at Hunter College and writing at the City College of New York (CCNY).
Grimaldi began teaching in Stern College’s English department in 2011 as an adjunct professor, where she primarily taught English Writing and Composition to first-year students. She also taught a variety of thematic English literature courses including British Literature, Arthurian Legends, Renaissance Drama, Shakespeare, Monstrous Imaginations and Essentials of Writing. She left in the middle of the Fall 2025 semester for health-related reasons, as announced by Dean Cypess on her course’s online announcements, and did not return.
The time and effort Grimaldi invested in her students was evident to both faculty and students. “Gina Grimaldi was a beloved, longtime member of the English Department and a teacher who believed passionately in the power of direct student engagement,” Professor Matt Miller, Chair of the Stern College English Department, told the YU Observer. “She had a unique gift for making students feel seen and supported, a quality rooted in her genuine care for them as individuals.”
Grimaldi supported her students outside the classroom as well. In 2017, Grimaldi was named coordinator of the Beren Lea and Leon Eisenberg Writing Center, which offers free one-on-one tutoring for students on different forms of writing. “Many students enter Stern with apprehensions about their writing, and meeting with experienced peer tutors is an excellent way for them to discuss and develop responses to class assignments,” Grimaldi told The Commentator a few months into her new role. “They can vent, too, and just talk through what’s going on with their writing processes alongside somebody who’s been there.”
In her position, according to YU News, Grimaldi “mentor[ed] the student tutors and supervise[d] the Center’s daily operations.” Grimaldi told YU News, “I am thrilled – I love the students and English department.” She added, “I’ve always encouraged my classes to take advantage of the services of the Writing Center, so it’s exciting to now be a part of its great work.”
The impact she made in this position was felt across much of the student body. Just one semester into her new role, the Beren Writing Center saw an almost 45% increase in appointments from the Fall 2016 semester to the Fall 2017 semester. “She curated the Writing Center as a space where students would feel comfortable and supported,” Dean Cypess wrote in her email announcing Grimaldi’s passing. “She developed a close relationship with many of the students who served as Writing Tutors there.”
While Writing Center tutor Talia Feldman (SCW ‘26) never had Grimaldi as a teacher, she got a clear sense of how much Grimaldi cared for her students’ writing abilities and of her belief in giving tutors the ability to confidently and efficiently tutor others. “She had a really great outlook on the writing center and what it can do for students,” Feldman told the YU Observer, adding, “She wanted to make sure that her tutors were understanding and being understood.”
Shoshana Fisher (SCW ‘26), also a Writing Center tutor, was struck by Grimaldi’s care for her students, not just teaching them the class material. “Every student arrived with thoughtful, specific feedback and a clear sense that Professor Grimaldi was invested in their growth,” Fisher told the YU Observer. “The confidence and skill her students demonstrate in expressing themselves through writing are a powerful testament to her impact and success.”
“It is clear that she was invested in teaching her students, not just her subject,” Dean Cypess said.
Dean Cypess learned from a conversation she had with Grimaldi last summer that she would hold individual meetings with each of her students. “She went out of her way to know each student and support them in their aspirations to become ever stronger readers and writers,” Cypress wrote in her email. “Students in Prof. Grimaldi’s classes often commented on the care that she showed for them and her commitment to helping each of them succeed.”
In teaching several English Writing and Composition courses each year, Grimaldi primarily taught many of Stern’s first-year students, giving her the opportunity to introduce them to a new world of literature. Alex Lederman (SCW ‘28), who took Grimaldi’s Composition course last fall, told the YU Observer that Grimaldi was an “amazing teacher” who “always had a smile on her face” and “was so, so passionate about everything that she taught.”
“It really breaks my heart to hear this news,” Lederman said of Grimaldi’s passing.
Lederman added that Grimaldi would often stay after class to answer students’ questions, and she never rushed her students when they did, always wanting to help every student to the best of her ability. “She would always take time with each student and valued the time with each student,” Lederman said. “She was always there to support us with academics as well as emotional support.”
Grimaldi encouraged students to engage deeply with literature and other media in meaningful ways. “She helped open my eyes to see English and readings and shows, that even though you might see something on the outside, there’s such a deeper story that’s going on on the inside,” Lederman said. “I really could not have asked for a better English comp teacher.”
In his concluding words to the YU Observer about the impact Grimaldi made on the English department and its students, Professor Miller said, “I will remember Gina as a kind, humble, and funny colleague who loved reading and writing–and who inspired her students, including many future English majors who loved her dearly, to do the same.”
“The English faculty and the college leadership are looking for an appropriate time and manner to honor Prof. Grimaldi’s memory and keep it alive within our community,” Dean Cypess said. “We will keep you apprised of those plans.”
She added, “May [Professor] Grimaldi’s memory be a blessing to all who knew her.”
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