In this special issue of Suffolk University Magazine, we celebrate the success of our first-gen students and graduates, and their immeasurable impact on our institution and their communities.
Their stories are rich and varied, but they share a common tie: They are living examples of why this University was first established—to provide educational opportunity to people who might not otherwise have access to it.
Suffolk creates transformational opportunities for all our students. But that’s particularly true for students who are the first in their families to attend college—and it is especially important for them. We know how much these students contribute to our community, and we also understand the very real challenges they can face.
The magazine explores how Suffolk has evolved and innovated to meet their needs, with a broad network of services and a strong culture of support embedded in everything we do.
We also salute the alumni whose generous financial support helps make first-gen success possible. Every individual should have the opportunity to define what success means for them and to pursue pathways that lead them there. Yet it’s an incredibly rare individual who can do that without help. The Suffolk community provides that help. Together, across generations, we have helped thousands and thousands of students find their pathways to success.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that many of our most generous supporters are themselves first-generation graduates. You can read about some of them here, including Michael, BSBA ’61, and Larry Smith, BSBA ’65, who have added to a lifetime of support for Suffolk with a new $2 million gift to support our Athletics program and student scholarships. That list also includes Ken Taubes, MBA ’84, and Stacy Mills, BSBA ’87, who give unsparingly of their time and expertise (like Larry Smith, both are trustees) and who have each made leadership financial aid gifts.
You’ll see this same desire to give back in recent first-gen grads like Kevin Luna-Torres, BA ’22, now beginning active duty service as a 2nd lieutenant in the US Army, and in current students like honors psychology major Nicole Kingdon, a McNair Scholar whose research focuses on improving outcomes for low-income children.
“We are here to have an impact,” is how Nicole describes her work—which is also a very good way to describe Suffolk. We have grown into a much larger university than we were at our founding in 1906, but we have stayed grounded in our original mission: to positively impact our graduates, and through them, our world.
Return to Table of Contents
President Marissa Kelly
Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
Letter from the president
| Fall 2022
“Suffolk is here for its students,” says first-gen college student Logan Gozzi, a junior from Natick who is majoring in law.
Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
