Tiffin University to Host First Gen and a Friend Event in Conjunction with National First Generation College Celebration Day

Tiffin University will honor current students who are the first in their families to attend college at the Osceola Theater on TU's campus November 7 at 11:00 a.m. The event, named First-Gen and a Friend, coincides with National First-Generation College Celebration Day, an initiative of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Suder Foundation. This event is free and open to the public.

The lecture will feature a panel of former first-generation college students who are also Tiffin University graduates and faculty, sharing words of wisdom and advice with attendees. Kyle Johnson, Class of 2015, will be the keynote speaker. Johnson is currently the principal consultant for Mandiant/Google Cloud.

Members of the panel include:

• Professor Amanda Hummel, Assistant Professor of Education at Tiffin University
• Professor Nicholas Reinhard, Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at Tiffin University
• Jacob Simon ('13), Account Manager at StarRez, Inc.
• Dr. Erin Snapp ('13), Adjunct Faculty at Wayne State University; Coach & Group Fitness Instructor at Life Time
• Diamond Thomas, MBA ('21, '22), Corporate Communications Specialist at Calgon Carbon Corporation

"This is our fourth year hosting festivities for National First-Generation College Student Day and each year our celebrations gather more people," said Dr. Kylie Skeel Assistant Professor of English and Faculty Advisor for First-Generation Dragons at Tiffin University. "Being the first in your family to do anything is an accomplishment but being the first in your family to go to college breaks barriers for generations to come. This day is all about celebrating student success so that they know how proud we are of them and how fortunate we are to have them on our campus."

According to NASPA "November 8 was selected as the date for the annual National First-Generation College Celebration to honor the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Higher Education Act (HEA) emerged from President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. Much like other hallmark legislation of that era, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, HEA was intended to help level a playing field that for too long had been weighed against Americans from minority and low-income backgrounds."

For more information about the event, contact Dr. Kylie Skeel at 419.448.5868 or [email protected]