2022 Symposium
2022 Symposium
5th Annual First-Generation Symposium
Reimagining Our Success: The Reshaping of First-Gen Futures
Thank you for a wonderful event!
As colleges and universities have adapted to changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of us in higher education are challenged to reassess our goals, operations, and activities. This has involved far more than modifying programs; many of us are now taking a far-reaching look at the vision we have for creating caring university communities that can respond to our campuses’ ever-changing needs. Well-being, mental health, and empowerment of first-generation students remain at the forefront of these concerns, and addressing these and other issues requires both reflective and innovative thinking from all stakeholders. This year’s theme, “Reimagining Our Success: The Reshaping of First-Gen Futures,” invites students, families, professionals, scholars, and educators to share lessons from the pandemic and consider the many ways we might reshape our society to create even more opportunities for the first-gen communities we serve.
A completely virtual experience, the core of the symposium will remain the same: to educate, share ideas, and work to serve the needs of First Generation students and their families. The symposium will feature presentations, breakout sessions, resources, a roundtable discussion, as well as the return of the Student Panel session! The anticipated audience will include students, faculty, and staff from Rowan University and local colleges and universities.
2022 Keynote Speaker
Whitnee D. Boyd, Ed.D.
Coordinator of Special Projects at Texas Christian University
Chair of the Advocacy Group for the Center for First-generation Student Success in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Whitnee Boyd is a native Arkansan. She received her Doctorate of Education in the Higher Education Leadership from TCU. Her passion for higher education stemmed from her time as a student leader at the University of Arkansas where she received her B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. She went on to earn a M.A. in Higher Education from Louisiana State University. She started her career in higher education working with first-generation college students in TRiO. She has also worked with first-generation college students through Upward Bound, Student Support Services, work with student-athletes, and community-based college access programs. Her research centers the experiences of first-generation college students and their ability to thrive from a strengths-based lens. She is the chair for the Center for First-generation Student Success Advocacy Group. Whitnee enjoys and values family, faith and friendship. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a creative at heart. She has space to create through operating her own consultancy firm, Doc B. Empowers. Her vision for her company is: “Empowering others to explore their future by first discovering themselves.” She hopes that with each encounter each of us can empower others along the way.
Join Our Mailing List
