Launched in 2016, the American Talent Initiative (ATI) was founded with the ambitious goal of ensuring that 50,000 more low-to-moderate students enrolled at top colleges and universities across the US. Since then, many of our Presidents and Provosts have joined this important movement, pledging to bolster equitable access to and success in their respective institutions and developing new recruitment, financial aid, and retention strategies to instantiate this change.  

These initiatives have resulted in major demographic shifts in selective colleges and universities. Pell percentages have risen, first-generation students have started to outnumber legacy students, and transfer students from community colleges are more common. As professionals in this space, we have worked hard to develop programs and initiatives to support and empower our first-generation, lower-income students. But as this population continues to grow, many of our programs no longer suffice to meet the expanding need. Summer programs are capped at certain numbers, staff-to-student ratios are growing, and our FGLI student body is becoming more diverse in their needs. The bespoke, individualized approaches we have long taken toward student support (and taken pride in!)  are no longer tenable ways to serve a growing population. 

This year’s conference theme is “Support At Scale: Expanding FGLI Support Initiatives For An Expanding FGLI Population.” Many of our institutions have heeded national calls to increase the numbers of first-generation, lower-income students. As such, the FGLI student communities on our campuses have rapidly expanded. 

Throughout this expansion, our FGLI-focused offices have created best practices for advising and supporting our students, but this work is often very high-touch and individualized. How can we continue to offer the holistic, high-touch support that we value when our student population is growing so rapidly? What collaborations or partnerships might be leveraged to help spread this work more broadly? How might institutionalized policy and cultural change help alleviate some of the most common pressures? And how do we ensure that no students are lost in this growth?

Our conference will address these questions, considering how growth and scale might necessitate a genuine re-imagining of policies, curricula, and structures. Our call for proposals will solicit workshops that grapple with these questions and those that provide case studies on potential solutions. 

Keynote Speakers

Read more about our keynote speakers and panelists here.

Concurrent Sessions

Please review our great lineup of concurrent sessions here!

Conference Session Tracks:

• Collaborations and Partnerships– What collaborations or partnerships with colleagues outside of our offices and areas, or even outside of our institutions – might be leveraged to help spread this work more broadly?

• Student Success and Student Support– How do we ensure that no students are lost along the way as our FGLI communities grow?

• Policy and Campus Culture– How might institutionalized policy and cultural change contribute to positive outcomes for our growing FGLI student populations and support our workload as administrators?

Regular conference registration is now closed. Please contact admin@fgliconsortium.org with any questions.

Pre-Conference Programming on Tuesday, November 14

Conference Sessions Wednesday, November 15 - Friday, November 17

Conference registrants received the link to the full conference agenda via email.

We recommend staying in one of the hotels in Hyde Park, if possible, as traffic can be challenging from downtown to Hyde Park and public transit is limited.

The Study Hyde Park - Hotel Block Deadline 10/23/23

1227 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

On the Midway Plaisance on the University of Chicago campus, walking distance to conference sessions.

There are two other hotels in Hyde Park to consider. These are located 1-1.5 miles from conference sessions:

Hyatt Place Chicago South

Sophy Hyde Park

There are also a multitude of hotels in downtown Chicago. Details on transit from downtown to campus can be found here.

The majority of the conference will take place on The University of Chicago's Campus in Hyde Park (located on the South Side of Chicago). There will be a handful of events in downtown Chicago, and an optional closing tour on Friday afternoon on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (located on the far North Side of Chicago). As such, we recommend flying into Midway Airport, as the Kennedy Expressway Construction project is underway and causing significant delays from O'Hare to Chicago.

Midway

Midway International Airport is approximately eight miles west of the University of Chicago campus. Midway is easily accessible from our campus by public transportation, car, shuttle, and taxi.

From Midway Airport, visitors can take a direct 55 bus to our campus in Hyde Park, which takes about 50 minutes. Ride shares from Midway only take about 20-25 minutes to get directly to campus.

O’Hare

O’Hare International Airport is approximately 30 miles northwest and is also accessible from our campus by public transportation, shuttle, car, and taxi.

From O’Hare, visitors can take the Blue Line to the Loop and transfer at the Jackson Blue Line stop to the 6 or 2 bus to Hyde Park (both run express, but the 2 bus is only active during AM and PM rush hour times). Given the distance, visitors are encouraged to allot an hour and 45 minutes to two hours of travel time for reaching Hyde Park from O’Hare via public transportation. Ride shares from O’Hare to Hyde Park take about 45-50 minutes.

Thank you so much to our dedicated Conference Planning Committee Members!

Dartmouth College: Jay Davis (he/him), Director of First Generation Office

Haverford College: Raquel Esteves-Joyces (she/her), Associate Dean of the College, Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

JPMorgan Chase & Co.: Kourtney Cockrell (she/her), Vice President and Regional Director, The Fellowship Initiative in Global Philanthropy

Lafayette College: Alana Klass (she/her), Senior Associate Director & Coordinator for Access, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

Lehigh University: Denise Beautreau (she/her), Director, Center for Student Access and Success

Northwestern University: Nicole Eggleston-Watkins (she/her), Associate Dean of Students & Director Student Assistance & Support Services

Northwestern University: SaShay Butler (she/her), Assistant Director, Student Enrichment Services (SES)

Northwestern University: Michael Fitzpatrick (he/him), Senior Director, FGLI Initiatives

Princeton University: Khristina Gonzalez (she/her), Associate Dean of the College and Director of the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity

Princeton University: Christina Inyang (she/her), Assistant Director for External Resource Support & Student Success, Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity

Princeton University: Madison Stewart (she/her), Communications Associate, Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity

Princeton University: Dawn Wilson (she/her), Associate Director for College Counseling and Scholar Development, Princeton University Preparatory Program, Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity

Scholar Match: Devon Moore (she/her), Senior Director of Programs and Compliance

The University of Chicago: Cindy Agustin (she/her), Director of Student Support Services

The University of Chicago: Talaya LeGette (she/her), Assistant Dean of Students and Director, Center for College Student Success

The University of Notre Dame: Robyn Centilli (she/her), First Year Academic Advisor for the School of Architecture and Keough School of Global Affairs

The University of Notre Dame: Consuela Wilson (she/her), Director in the Office of Student Enrichment

Wesleyan University: April Ruiz (she/her), Dean for Academic Equity, Inclusion, and Success

Yale University: Sara Spear (she/her), Director of Academic Affairs