HI! My name is Karen Dunn Lopez. I teach and do research at the College of Nursing. As a first-generation college student, I am so excited to be a First-Generation mentor at UIowa! The first thing I want my potential mentees to know is that although I work in the College of Nursing, I have the needed experience to mentor students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. I have 3 adult children who are all college graduates who had 3 different majors. One was math/ computer science, one sociology and one as an engineer. During the time they were in college, I helped them through a lot of situations from things like:

• I missed an assignment deadline- what should I do? • I just don’t understand what my instructors are talking about in their lectures.
• I failed a test, what should I do?
• I am confused about what classes I should take next semester.
• I feel lonely.
• I think I want to go to graduate school- but don’t know where to start.
• When should I go to office hours?

The second thing I want you to know is a little bit about me and my family story. My father was a child in London during World War 2. His father died when he was two. He moved to the United States as a young teenager, and his mom died when he was 15. Without parents, he and his sister had to find their way in their new country and although he started college, he was drafted to the army and never had the encouragement to finish his degree. My mom lived in a small town in Indiana. Her parents were divorced when she was young and she spent much of her life living with aunts/uncles, stepmoms/stepdads. She is smart but no one encouraged her to go to college and she didn’t have the money to pay for it. Even without college degrees, my parents knew I should go to college and helped me in any way they could. I also got a lot of help from teachers and coaches along the way. I am grateful for the many people that supported me and ready to help you. I worked part time in college and paid my tuition with a combination of grants and loans. I know it’s possible to succeed in college while working part time, but some jobs just don’t work well with college.