Due to the recent enthusiasm from the UP community and FGEN (First Generation students), Matt Daily has been able to purchase additional FGEN webinar sessions and is now offering them to faculty and staff. Daily proposes to use Fridays as a time to virtually gather as a community, learn together, and possibly debrief or brainstorm ideas. If you haven’t had a chance to watch the sessions on “Jargon,” “Partnering with Parents” and “Imposter Syndrome,” please consider doing so by using this link.
- “Virtual Learning Briefings/Webinar” Schedule and Topics:
- Thursday, July 2, Noon to 1 p.m. (optional group debrief/chat 1-1:30): “NA Moderated Discussion: Fall 2020 First-gen Student Enrollment Considerations”
- Friday, July 1o, Noon to 1 p.m. (optional group debrief/chat 1-1:30): “A Balancing Act: Faculty and First-gen”
- Friday, July 17, Noon to 1 pm (optional group debrief/chat 1-1:30): “Utilizing Social Platforms to Connect with First-gen Students”
- Friday, July 24, Noon to 1 p.m. (optional group debrief/chat 1-1:30): “Validating First Generation Student Experiences Through Transformative Leadership.”
If interested in attending any/all of these sessions, please email Daily at daily@up.edu for a zoom invitation. Should these time blocks not work for your schedule, Daily will also record each session and make them available.
Friday, November 8 is National First Generation Day, and the Shepard Academic Resource Center invites the entire UP community to join in recognizing all students and families, faculty, and staff that are the first in their family to pursue a 4-year college degree. First generation students currently make up 20 percent of the UP student body.
Ryan Henley has been hired by Accessible Education Services as testing and accommodation coordinator, within the Shepard Academic Resource Center. You might know Henley from his previous position at the University where he served as administrative assistant to the associate dean for students, College of Arts and Sciences. Henley previously served as administrative assistant for the Albertina Kerr Center. Additionally, for over ten years Henley has volunteered his time as an event graphic designer for a local nonprofit, My Voice Music, Inc. which serves at-risk Portland-area youth.
A First-Generation (FGEN) college student is defined as when an individual attends college when neither their mother nor father earned a 4-year college degree. The Shepard Academic Resource Center supports programming specifically for UP First-Generation (FGEN) students, and can use the help of faculty and staff. We would love to update our master roster of current UP faculty and staff that were FGEN students themselves. If you were an FGEN student, please take a moment and contact Matt Daily, assistant director, program manager for special populations in the Shepard Center, at 
Feeling fresh from summer’s rest, research, and writing? The new academic year provides new opportunities to design or redesign courses to increase support for student learning. Nationally, more faculty, departments, and institutions are adopting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies to provide students with multiple pathways to learn, individualized opportunities to demonstrate course competencies; and communities of learners to support individual and collective student learning outcomes. To learn more, please check out the “