Assistant Dean, Senior Director of Finance and Administration
Kristina Costanzo-Metcalfe, MEd, was named Assistant Dean, Senior Director for Finance and Administration and joined the Jacobs School leadership team in May 2023. In her role, she is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for finance, budget, human resources, tuition revenue planning, and business operations for the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Vice President for Health Sciences division. She is responsible for building sustainable resource models and funds flow strategies to meet overall financial performance and operational targets in support of the school’s growth and long-term financial health.
Costanzo-Metcalfe works collaboratively with the vice president and dean to advance strategic initiatives and operational effectiveness. In this role, she leads the development and implementation of an operational plan that drives the annual budget process in collaboration with school leadership and UBMD practice plans. In addition, she provides overall financial leadership in strategic planning and growth initiatives for the school. Her expertise in strategic resource planning as an academic business officer is integral in the school’s expansion as an internationally recognized leader in medical education, research, and clinical care improving health and wellness across the life span for people in WNY and beyond.
With more than 17 years as an academic administrator at the University at Buffalo, she has served in various roles building expertise in budget, financial management, enrollment and tuition revenue planning, human resources and workforce planning, business operations, leading university-wide strategic initiatives, and student success and retention, in both central administrative and decanal units.
Most recently, she was the assistant dean/chief business officer in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, where she helped guide the school through major financial milestones and played pivotal roles in doubling student enrollment, increasing operating revenues, growing the number of tenure-track faculty by 33%, and making substantial investments in the school’s research enterprise.
Prior to joining the School of Public Health and Health Professions, Costanzo-Metcalfe worked in various roles in Academic Affairs, where she led several university strategic initiatives resulting in high-impact transformative change.
Costanzo-Metcalfe is also the founding member of the UB LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Association, an affinity group aimed at contributing to and supporting a welcoming and inclusive university community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer faculty and staff through education, networking, and advocacy, and continues to be involved with the organization today.
Costanzo-Metcalfe received a master’s degree in education in higher education administration from the University at Buffalo and completed the Administrative Management Institute program at Cornell University. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies from Niagara University where she was also a scholarship athlete on the Division I women’s softball team.
Costanzo-Metcalfe served as a volunteer firefighter and EMS Lieutenant with the Kenmore Fire Department from 2015-2021.
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