About the Coordinator

Background

Education
Joshua earned his BFA in Fashion Design from The Art Institute of Dallas in 2013, his BFA in English/Creative Writing from Brooklyn College in 2022, and his MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College in 2024. He had also studied Marketing & Communication Design at Louisiana Tech University.

Past Experience
Joshua served as the Interim Assistant Director for the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute and the Administrative Assistant for ChatterboxNYC, and he was a creative writing tutor and academic counselor at Brooklyn College. In addition to his administrative experience, Joshua is also a speculative fiction writer and instructor, and he formerly worked in the fashion industry.

Interests

Joshua is personally interested in the intersection between children and the horror genre across media (books, games, television, film, etc.) and its impacts (both positive and negative) on development.

Joshua Answers Your Questions

You were a student in Sarah Lawrence’s MFA in Writing program. Tell me about your experiences and what made you choose Sarah Lawrence?

After a decade working in fashion, I was ready to explore other creative paths. Maybe going through a little burn out? I started attending public writing workshops in 2018 as a side hobby, and when the opportunity came, I decided to go back to college for creative writing. Applying to the MFA in Writing program here was a very easy decision to make! I wrote primarily speculative fiction (horror, to be more specific), and I discovered that is a touchy topic for some MFA programs. Not for Sarah Lawrence! Not only does it welcome speculative writers, it has a concentration in Speculative Fiction. I went on to write some of my strangest work here—from a dress that steals your soul to a sentient house that may or may not have caused the apocalypse.

How did you end up working as the Coordinator in the Child Development Institute and the Child Development Masters Program?

Really by happenstance! The summer after graduating from the MFA program, I was very fortunate to stick around and work as the Interim Assistant Director of the Writing Institute. There’s this really great energy in a learning environment I didn’t fully appreciate during my first college career, and that job helped me realize how much I loved working with students and being surrounded by learners. Here is the interesting twist: During this, I was working a few hours a week as an administrative assistant at ChatterboxNYC, a children’s speech therapy clinic in the city. This job was wildly new and different for me. I had never worked around kids before, or even thought of myself as “good with kids.” But this was such a great experience! Around the time my tenure at the Writing Institute was coming to a close, the Coordinator position was posted. So, here was this role, completely different from anything that I’d done before, that covered many of the lessons and experiences I’d collected the last few years. I applied right away.

How has your experience as a graduate student helped you in your role and your interactions with students?

I think it’s helped me to be more understanding and empathic with college students today. My second college career (2021 to 2024) was a very different experience than my first (2007 to 2013). Technology is different, daily struggles are different. The types of engagement students are interested in and what they have the bandwidth for are night and day to what it was in the late aughts.

What are your favorite parts of the job?

It’s not an exaggeration to say I learn something new everyday. The CDI community is made up of educators, social workers, parents, psychologists, community leaders—so many different people across professions who work with children. Being in conversation with anyone from our community is like being in a classroom for me. I tell our graduate students that, in many ways, I’m learning right alongside them. From them, too! I feel like a student myself at their thesis presentations.

And starting Fall 2026, you will be learning alongside them in the Child Development Masters Program. Tell me more about your decision to go through the program.

Last summer, I attended the Youth and Horror Research Network’s international conference at the University of Birmingham. It opened up an entire new world of interest for me! At the conference, I saw all the research being done on the relationship between children and the horror genre and thought, “I wanna do this!” And as my colleagues can tell you, I’ve been devouring material on the topic since. Going through our program is such an exciting opportunity to expand this new-found passion, but also will make a better Coordinator for our students and a more involved member of the community.

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to study at Sarah Lawrence?

Be open to exploration. I suppose that’s advice I would give to any college student, but certainly here at Sarah Lawrence. This is a great place to find that hyper-specific, niche topic you had no idea you were interested in. Attend a campus lecture on something you’ve never studied, or audit a class (if you have the time) on a subject that feels foreign to you.

Watch, Listen, Read

• Leonard, Joshua Randal. “Tommy and the Ice Cream Truck.” Saints + Sinners: New Fiction From the Festival 2023. Rebel Satori Press, 2023, pp. 196-209.
• Leonard, Joshua Randal. “Ruin.” Lumina Journal, Vol. 21. Link to Read.
• AAPIS MTSRP. “Why is there no Asian American Studies Program in Brooklyn College?” YouTube, 3 Dec. 2021. Link to Watch.
• Sy, Cherry Lou, et al. “Why Bother with Asian American Studies? Reflections on a Documentary Research Project.” Ethnic Studies Review, vol. 45, no. 1, Spring 2022, pp. 73–81.
• Various articles in Brooklyn College’s The Junction Journal. Link to Read.