Marquette’s Educational Opportunity Program will have a new director to oversee operations by this time next week.
Joseph Green, whose tenure will begin Oct. 11, was announced as the new director of the EOP in a press release last week.
Green will be taking over as permanent director after long-time director Sande Robinson retired in June. She had worked as director of the EOP for 35 years.
“Sande had been with us for a very long time,” said Ethel Woods, an administrative secretary at the EOP. “She did a lot for us, and now everyone is looking forward to Dr. Green’s arrival.”
The EOP acts as an umbrella program for the federally funded TRIO programs, said Gregory Frederick, EOP associate director, who is serving as interim director until Green’s arrival.
The TRIO programs are a group of federal programs designed to identify and assist students from a disadvantaged backgrounds, including first-generation college students, low-income students and students with disabilities.
Iris Blunt, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, has been in the EOP since high school as a participant in the Upward Bound program, and can testify to the support provided by the TRIO programs.
“The counselors at EOP are always there for you,” Blunt said. “They try to feel you out and identify your strengths and weaknesses and help you out whenever and wherever they can. They lead you in the right direction, of not just being a better student, but a better person.”
The TRIO programs were started in 1964 in order to support and advance students from middle school through a bachelor’s degree and beyond, according to the federal TRIO website.
“These year-round programs provide a broad range of higher education support and enrichment services,” Frederick said. “They enable students to be accepted, retained and graduated from a college or university, and to subsequently begin careers or pursue graduate education.”
The four TRIO programs at Marquette are: Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Student Support Services and the McNair Scholars program. All four programs are grouped together in one department underneath the EOP.
Frederick said 220 high school students are enrolled in Marquette’s Upward Bound programs and 320 undergraduate students are in Student Support Services and the McNair Scholars program.
Green will take over after holding similar positions at four other universities, including North Carolina Agriculture & Technology State University, Bowie State University, University of Central Florida, and most recently, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
In addition to his TRIO positions at other schools, Green also served as an assistant professor of political science.
“His teaching experience in political science and sociology, in addition to his work with TRIO programs, will help in building on the EOP’s tradition of success,” Frederick said.
