Advising and supporting first-generation students
Professor Susan Verberne-Sutton serves as the adviser for FirstVU, a student-run organization supporting first-generation students at Vanderbilt University. As a first-generation, low-income student herself, Professor Verberne-Sutton hopes to lead by example: "I am aware of the common struggles and want to impart what I have gained through experience."
With support from the Provost's Faculty Immersion Grant, Professor Sutton worked extensively with Suhaah Nadir ('25) and Karen Herrera ('27) as they reformatted a mentoring program among first-generation students and first-generation faculty and staff. "My goal is to develop leaders," said Professor Verberne-Sutton. "This is the central concept of my work with First-Gen students." Professor Verberne-Sutton was awarded the Excellence in Immersion Mentoring Award at the Spring 2025 Faculty Assembly.
Pictured left are Suhaah Nadir (‘25), Izabella Maestroiani (’27), Kathleen Hartono (‘27), and Professor Verberne-Sutton at 1vyG, a conference for first generation, low-income students at Ivy-League and peer institutions, in October 2024.
