The First Generation Plus Success Center serves as a resource hub within the Student Equity & Inclusion Programs (SEIP) that provides community, connection, and support for undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Southern California.
Announced in June 2020, USC has launched the First Generation Plus Success Center to provide support and resources for undergraduate and graduate students who identify as first generation, undocumented, transfer, and former foster youth.
We’re currently concluding the design phase of the on-campus First Generation Plus Success Center and construction is expected to break ground in mid-August. We plan to open the center in Spring and it will be led by Dr. Queena Hoang, the First Generation Plus Success Center Coordinator.
This fall the FG+SC will offer essential virtual programming and online student success workshops, and collaborate with offices across campus to create co-sponsored online programs, design welcome experience remote activities for incoming first-generation students, and develop a virtual peer mentorship program to encourage peer to peer support. We will also offer high-touch advising and coaching, creating a culture of belonging and inclusion that will facilitate the transition of first-generation students into college life.
About the Staff
Dr. Queena Hoang joined the University of Southern California as the Assistant Center Director for Asian Pacific American Student Services in 2016. After three years, Queena transitioned to serve as the Coordinator for Student Basic Needs in its inaugural year. With her experience supporting students of color within a cultural advocacy center and providing resources for students experiencing economic hardship while in college, Queena is excited to lead and open the university’s First Generation Plus Success Center, which serves first generation college students, undocumented immigrants, and former foster youth at USC.
Prior to USC, Queena served as the Assistant Director for Campus Programs at the University of Vermont overseeing the programming board and large scale events and programs for the university.. In addition, Queena served as the programs coordinator of the Aztec Student Union at San Diego State University, and has held national leadership appointments in NASPA and ACPA, associations for student affairs professionals.
As a first-generation college student herself, Queena is a proud alumna of UC Santa Barbara where she received her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Education. Queena received her Masters of Education in Higher Education Student Affairs Administration at the University of Vermont and completed her Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership at the USC Rossier School of Education focusing her research on creating an equity framework towards organizational change around housing and food insecurity within higher education.
Honoring Native Land
The First Generation Plus Success Center acknowledges that we are on the traditional land of the Tongva People. For thousands of years, the Tongva people lived on this land we occupy today, and were considered the most powerful indigenous peoples to inhabit the Los Angeles basin. Along with the Tongva, we also recognize the Chumash, Tataviam, Serrano, Cahuilla, Juaneno, and Luiseno People, for the land that USC also occupies around Southern California. We pay respects to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us here today. And please join us in uncovering such truths at any and all events.
