North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 649)
On this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, Jennifer Herring, University of North Georgia, joined host John Ray to discuss Gen 1, UNG’s program for first-generation college students. Jennifer talked about her own experience as a first-generation college student and how that experience makes her passionate about her work. She also discussed what it means to be a first-generation college student, how first-generation students are different from other students, what UNG is doing differently than other institutions to support them, the diversity of Gen 1 students, and much more.
North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Being the first in your family to attend college means potential challenges navigating an institution and its confusing roadmap of new terminology, processes, and procedures.
The First Generation Initiatives at UNG are designed to simplify that roadmap by creating strategic partnerships that will provide the necessary academic, social, and financial supports to increase retention and degree completion by:
- Normalizing experiences in college by meeting other first generation students
- Providing a safe environment to ask questions and receive information
- Providing connections to positive adult role models and mentors on campus
- Creating networking opportunities with community organizations who support first generation students
UNG also offers a mentoring program that connects first-generation faculty and staff to first-generation students for formalized mentoring relationships. The program launched in the fall of 2020 and was founded on the Gainesville Campus in collaboration with the Dean of Students, Dean of University College, and Office of the Vice President, Gainesville Campus.
Mentors and mentees meet once a month and have regular check-ins between meetings.
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Jennifer Herring, a Hall County native, currently serves as the Special Assistant to the Regional Campus Administration Vice President at the University of North Georgia.
She served North Georgia and Metro Atlanta in the banking industry for nearly 20 years, most notably as a small business, commercial lender, and local bank president. Before she arrived at UNG, she served the state of Georgia as the Senior Vice President of College Affordability Initiatives at Georgia Student Finance Commission, where she focused on programs that increased students’ access to higher education and promoted ways to make higher education more affordable.
Herring has served on various boards, including the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Lottery Corporation. In addition, she has served as a volunteer for multiple nonprofit organizations supporting and empowering economically disadvantaged women and children and as a certified financial education instructor for the City of Refuge in Atlanta.
She attended Gordon College in Barnesville, Georgia, and Gainesville State College, now known as the University of North Georgia in Oakwood, Georgia. Herring was selected in 2014 as a member of the Leadership Georgia Program to represent Hall County. In addition, she is a member of the South Hall Rotary Club and serves as one of three advisors for the UNG chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha Honor Society for First-Generation Students, as well as a coordinator for the First Generation Student Initiatives at UNG.
As a First Generation College Student, she is passionate about paving the way for students who are the first in their families to attend college and earn a degree, relieving burdens and removing barriers that prevent students from achieving their dreams. She and her husband, David, live in North Hall County.
- What Does it mean to be a First Generation College Student?
- Why had UNG chosen to focus on First Generation College students?
- How are First-Generation College students different from those with parents or grandparents who earned college degrees?
- What is UNG doing that is different from other institutions to support First-Generation college students?
- How did you arrive at the structure for the mentoring program?
- What results are you seeing with the mentoring pilot cohorts?
- How are you awarding the First-Generation Scholarships now?
- If people want to know more about what UNG is doing to support First-Generation students, where can they go?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
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