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Article Type

Professional Proficiency

Competency

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Article Abstract

Related Issue:

What would it look like to create a mentoring program specifically designed for transfer students, supporting them from pre-arrival to their graduation day? Whereas transfer student transition programs are often created with a deficit mindset or modeled after first-time, first-year research, these higher education professionals sought to create a program that focused on engagement in a way that met transfer students’ individualized needs and built their sense of belonging.

Author(s)

Tessa Benedict-Philipp is committed to reducing educational barriers and
building more equitable, student-centered systems in higher education. Since
beginning her higher education career in 2019, she has worked across a range
of university programs focused on access, equity, and student support.
Benedict-Philipp currently serves as the Assistant Director of UC San Diego’s
Triton Transfer Hub, where she supports more than 8,000 transfer students and
leads efforts to create inclusive, community-driven spaces that empower
student success. Her passion for serving diverse and multicultural student
communities was shaped by her experience as a graduate assistant with San
Diego State University’s EOP SOAR Mentorship Program and the San Diego
Community College District’s PATHS program. Across all her work,
Benedict-Philipp is driven by a deep commitment to equity, community-building,
and student belonging.

Jaclyn Duerr, Ed.D., impassioned by her own transfer student experience, acts
as an advocate and agent for student success initiatives at the university
level. She has been collaborating and creating retention services and programs
for thirteen years, currently serving as the Director of the IDEA Engineering
Student Center at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Duerr
specializes in engineering student success, transfer student success, academic
difficulty, and sense of belonging among commuter students. Within our
technology-saturated culture, Dr. Duerr seeks to create accessible,
cutting-edge, student-centered programs and services in efforts to build
students’ connection to the university, other students, and their goals. Dr.
Duerr has her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from California State
University, Fresno, master’s in counseling for higher education from Cal Poly,
San Luis Obispo, bachelor’s in psychology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and
an associate’s from Santa Barbara City College.

References

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