Concurrent Session FIVE

THURSDAY | 1:30 to 2:45 PM

75 min sessions | Wieboldt Hall (339 E. Chicago Ave.)

northwestern university downtown campus

BEING FGLI IN THE ARTS

Meeting Room: Wieboldt Hall 406

Conference Track: Student Success and Student Support

Session Abstract:

Two recent FGLI grads discuss their experiences navigating pursuing artistic careers and economic precarity. FGLI students are often told to go into engineering or other higher-paying careers. What happens when you want to pursue something less linear or structured? This is a program and workshop built to engage administrators and staff working with FGLI students to think about what role the arts can play in student pathways through their own institutions. Working to balance, explore, and manage a well rounded graduation pathway is often a challenge for FGLI students, and the arts and other creative endeavors often help to give space for their own voices and build confidence in making, producing, and sharing their own narratives and thoughts. This in turn can help under-served students self advocate and find communities that will continue to support them both academically and socially.

Lane Marsh | Princeton University

Alumni Associate for Transfer and College Outreach, Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity

Lane Marsh is the Alumni Associate for Transfer and College Outreach in the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity. Graduating from Princeton University in 2023 with a Bachelor's in Art & Archaeology with a focus on the Practice of Art and a Certificate in German Language and Culture, He was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts and was an advocate for fellow students within the arts program as senior representative and has mentored and encouraged many students to pursue the arts alongside their other interests.

Kaelani Burja | Princeton University

Dale Fellow

Kaelani graduated from Princeton University in 2023, and is the current recipient of the university’s Dale Fellowship. She is a director, dramaturg, performance artist, and ethnographer, using her Dale funding to spend the year researching and writing a play about her mother’s life. Arts access, mentorship, and uplifting historically-excluded narratives are at the forefront of Kaelani’s artistic and academic endeavors. She worked at Princeton’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity as a community ambassador, residential college advisor, alumni advisor, and was also a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She is ecstatic to be in community with all at the consortium!

Developing a Supporting FGLI Student Success Initiative: More Questions than Answers

Meeting Room: Wieboldt Hall 712

Conference Track: Policy and Campus Culture

Session Abstract:

In the fall of 2022, three offices at Northwestern University — Institutional Research (IR), Organizational Strategy and Change (OSC) and Undergraduate Education (UE)— came together to develop a new initiative in support of Northwestern’s first generation and/or lower-income (FGLI) students, what we call the Supporting FGLI Student Success Initiative. Our first step involved the collection of quantitative and qualitative data to shed light on how FGLI students experience Northwestern as compared to their continuing generation and higher-income peers. Next, we proposed a small set of metrics to be used on an ongoing basis to assess the FGLI undergraduate experience at Northwestern. After sharing our initial findings and proposed metrics with a range of university partners, we have more questions than answers about what and how to use data to meaningfully characterize the FGLI experience at Northwestern. We would like to discuss these questions with the audience, including the use of 4-year versus 6-year graduation rates and the difficulty of measuring and defining a sense of belonging. This session will involve a short presentation, a panel discussion and ample time for Q&A.

Miriam Sherin | Northwestern University

Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education

Miriam Gamoran Sherin is Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at Northwestern University and the Alice Gabrielle Twight Professor of Learning Sciences in the School of Education and Social Policy. As Associate Provost, Sherin’s priorities are to enrich the educational experiences of Northwestern’s undergraduate students through collaborative cross-school and cross-unit undergraduate initiatives. Sherin’s research seeks to improve our understanding of how teachers think and learn by examining a range of teacher knowledge across a variety of cognitive tasks with a particular focus on the nature of teacher noticing.

Debbie Crimmins | Northwestern University

Senior Director of Institutional Research

Debbie Crimmins is the Senior Director of Institutional Research at Northwestern University where she has worked since 2005. In addition to analyzing data on first generation and/or low income students, she works on faculty salary equity studies, student survey data, and many other projects. Debbie holds a BA from Smith College and an MBA from Boston University. She is an active member of the Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE), having served on their council and committees and presented at conferences.

Michael Fitzpatrick | Northwestern University

Senior Director of FGLI Initiatives

Michael Fitzpatrick is the Senior Director of FGLI Initiatives at Northwestern University. In this role, he collaborates with schools and units across campus to establish institutional and local policies that foster an inclusive campus community and equitable access to educational opportunities for FGLI students. Previously, Michael was at Yale and was responsible for summer curriculum development, faculty affairs, and managing the First-Year Scholars at Yale program. As a former FGLI student, Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Cornell, and graduate degrees in Anthropology from Penn and Columbia, where his research focused on cultural constructions of place.

Rebecca Pinchuk | Northwestern University

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Rebecca Pinchuk is the Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Provost Office at Northwestern University. In this capacity, she works with leaders and units across campus to enact institutional priorities. Her expertise is in data analysis and translating data into effective stories that drive action. Rebecca has been involved in initiatives in support of FGLI students for the majority of the 8 years she has worked at Northwestern. Prior to joining Northwestern, Rebecca worked at the University of Chicago. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration and Policy from Northwestern University.

To & Through: Bridging our FGLI scholars as a pipeline access program from 7th grade TO AND THROUGH higher education, careers and future endeavors!

Meeting Room: Wieboldt Hall 413

Conference Track: Student Success and Student Support

Session Abstract:

This session will highlight the Rutgers Future Scholars program and their LaunchPad initiative which has expanded the mission to support FGLI scholars gaining access TO higher education AND THROUGH their college and career experience. RFS initially a solely pre-college program now continues to serve it's FGLI community through undergrad, graduate studies, careers and beyond. Strengthening the pipeline of support LaunchPad allows for deeper exploration of the undergraduate experience (academics, experiential education, etc.), building a network of University Champions and assisting with navigating resources as they transition through college and beyond. The LaunchPad program has increased undergraduate scholar engagement, retention and attainment of graduate studies/career placement. In this workshop we will share our approach at Rutgers University towards this initiative, and facilitate discussion among participants as to how to develop similar support at their own institutions.

Zoe Makropoulos | Rutgers University

Assistant Director, Rutgers Future Scholars

Zoe Makropoulos (MHRM) has the honor and privilege as serving as the Rutgers Future Scholars Assistant Director and inaugural lead of the RFS LaunchPad Program. Zoe is passionate about the Rutgers community, cultivating a focus on career exploration/education and working with first-gen students to pursue their futures with confidence. In her role she has built the curriculum, programming and metrics to ensure RFS LaunchPad’s expanded offerings and help our FGLI community solve the problems they see in the world!

Aaron Reevey | Rutgers University

Associate Director, Rutgers Future Scholars

Aaron Reevey (MPP) is a graduate of Monmouth University where he double majored in Communication and Political Science with a minor in Sociology and later earned Master Degrees in both Public Policy and Corporate and Public Communications which helped him discover his passion of urban education reform. Aaron, a first-generation college graduate himself, has helped to train hundreds of undergraduate students in the areas of leadership, mentoring, and youth development at Rutgers University where he helped develop a nationally renowned mentoring curriculum for the Rutgers Future Scholars program highlights many 21st century goals and important skills necessary for high school students to succeed. Today he serves as the Associate Director of the Rutgers Future Scholars program where he actively oversees the statewide application of the program’s mission to provide greater access to higher education to the FGLI community.

Kim Williams | Rutgers University

Director, Rutgers Future Scholars

Kim Williams (MSW) a dynamic administrator, and national leader, who serves as Director of The Rutgers Future Scholars (RFS) Program, leads a university-wide team, and has revolutionized the pre-college pathway for over 3,000 New Jersey students. In her role, not only does she work collaboratively with leadership on each Rutgers campus, but she also builds relations with five key school districts throughout NJ, providing college access and empowering underrepresented youth by providing hope and opportunity to attain a higher education. She understands the value of building partnerships within the university and surrounding communities to make a positive difference and has provided guidance for other universities to begin pre-college, college readiness and access programs designed using the RFS model.

Transforming Band-Aid Solutions Into Institutional Change: Academic, Social, and Financial Pathways

Meeting Room: Wieboldt Hall 711

Conference Track: Policy and Campus Culture

Session Abstract:

The diverse needs of first-generation, low-income students have manifested themselves on campus at a rate that is difficult to keep up with across a majority of institutions. Often, a lack of institutional and administrative support combined with a spike in the number of FGLI students results in the need of quick, band-aid solutions across different sectors of academic and student life continuously throughout the school year. However, these solutions are often not sustainable across multiple years and/or for the increasing scale of demand. Additionally, these style of solutions could lead to the burnout of administrators operating out of crises. Though stop-gap solutions are generally as a result of necessity, we hope this session empowers you to utilize your skills and ideas into implementing structural change.

This session will focus on Yale as a case study for driving institutional change as a result of band-aid solutions that were implemented in the last five years. Topics will include academic and professional hidden curriculum programming, meals over extended breaks, and changes to financial aid packages.

Karen Gosselink | Yale University

Director of Academic Strategies and Academic Opportunity at the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning

Karin Gosselink is the Director of Academic Strategies and Academic Opportunity at the Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. In this position she provides peer-led and community-focused hidden curriculum and academic success programing for undergraduates, serves as one of the administrative leaders of the undergraduate Yale FGLI Community Initiative, and coordinates peer mentoring and academic support programs for students with disabilities.

Audrey Yeung | Yale University

Woodbridge Fellow for Academic Strategies

Audrey is a recent FGLI Yale College graduate majoring in Neuroscience and intends to pursue medical school following her work for Academic Strategies at the Center for Teaching & Learning. She was a QuestBridge Scholar and is committed to equalizing opportunities for those who are disadvantaged - this includes food access, education, and healthcare equity. In her free time, she enjoys (watching other people play) video games, listening to music, dancing, and baking!

Wellness at Scale: Fostering Resilience in the Face of Burnout

Meeting Room: Wieboldt Hall 507

Conference Track: Policy and Campus Culture

Session Abstract:

As FGLI offices are being asked to do more with less, the risk of burnout grows increasingly higher among administrators. Think about this: has there ever been a time when you were supporting FGLI students with wellness practices while silently thinking to yourself “I should be doing this too”?

For staff and faculty doing the mission-driven of supporting FGLI students, often our dedication to the work can override self-care and lead to burnout. But self-care is only one piece of the wellness puzzle, and there are other practices that can be prioritized on the team and institutional levels to support wellness and boost resilience. Based on materials adapted from the New Sector Alliance Leadership Longevity Fellowship, this interactive session will provide time for reflection, a toolkit of strategies that focus on the individual, team, and organizational levels, and time for action planning. Attendees will discuss myths around mission-driven work that perpetuate burnout, learn about the burnout spectrum and sources of burnout, and identify areas for scaling wellness practices in order to make this work more sustainable.

Devon Moore | ScholarMatch

Senior Director of Programs and Compliance

(She/her/hers) Prior to joining the ScholarMatch team, Devon worked in higher education for fourteen years at various highly selective colleges, supporting students and creating more equitable spaces for first-generation and lower-income students. She was the founding director of the Center for College Student Success for first-generation, lower-income, and undocumented students at the University of Chicago and is also a co-founder of the FGLI Consortium. She is passionate about educational access and believes that students should have the opportunity to succeed and thrive through higher education. Devon received her bachelor’s degree in art history at Princeton and her master’s degree in higher education at Harvard. Outside of work, Devon enjoys reading, running, and spending time with her extended family.