
New RISE Initiative Empowers First-Gen Students Set to launch this fall, RISE will support first-generation students and their families in navigating a successful college experience.
By
Colette Greenstein
June 7, 2023
Image by Dave Green
Berklee is excited to announce RISE (Reaching Independence through Support and Engagement), a new initiative dedicated to supporting and empowering first-generation students and their families in navigating a successful college experience. Beginning in fall 2023, RISE aims to enhance the student experience through social networks, academic support, financial education, and parent and family engagement, creating a holistic approach to education.
We are excited to launch RISE and believe it greatly assists our first-generation artist-scholars, said Scott Trach, associate dean of student success programs. As a first-generation college student and Berklee alumnus, I understand how navigating higher education structures can be challenging. We have designed RISE to anticipate these challenges and assist students and families as they plan for and experience their first year at Berklee.
Under Trachs supervision, Student Success Programming has spent years developing the guiding principles for the RISE program and establishing opportunities to measure the success of first-generation students using institutional metrics. They recently found that over 16 percent of Berklees undergraduate population can be identified as first-generation based on their parent or guardians level of degree attainment. Berklee defines first-generation as any student whose parent(s) or guardian(s) did not complete a bachelor's degree, and/or the student has no current contact with their parent(s) or guardian(s), regardless of degree completion.
It is our hope that through RISE students will gain the knowledge and comfort to navigate the often confusing waters of higher education with increased confidence, and that parents and families will have a stronger sense of connection to their students college experiences, said Kera Murphy-Perron, director of student success programming.
Drawing from research and best practices, Murphy-Perron and her team found that first-generation students face unique challenges, including greater financial need, lower rates of degree attainment within 10 years, and less engagement with campus support services compared to their continuing-generation peers. We wanted to address these issues, but not from a deficit perspective, said Murphy-Perron.
At its core, RISE aims to further the three key priorities of Berklee's Thrive strategic direction: enabling students to graduate at higher rates and with less debt; supporting students to have a high-quality, engaging experience; and preparing students for purposeful, successful, and sustainable careers.
Nationally, first-generation college students and families are a growing population within our post-secondary communities, and this should be celebrated, said Christopher Kandus-Fisher, Ed.D., vice president of Berklees Student Success Division. I am overjoyed to be part of this important work at Berklee, and to continue to offer direct care and support services to ensure that our first-generation students are successful in achieving their academic and personal goals.
In May 2023, the Center for First-Generation Student Success, an initiative of NASPA and the Suder Foundation, announced that Berklee was accepted to the First Scholars Network for 2023-2024. According to the center, Berklee displayed a demonstrated commitment to improving experiences and advancing success for first-generation college students.
We are extremely honored to be selected as a First Scholars Network member by the Center for First-Generation Student Success, said Murphy-Perron. This selection is a confirmation of the college's strong dedication to supporting first-generation students and their families.
Related Categories
News
Most Popular
Illustration by Dana Smith
Music Licensing 101: How to Sync Your Music Learn how to create syncable music, stand out to music supervisors, and negotiate sync deals with these tips and insights from music licensing experts.
Latest
A spread from the spring/summer 2022 issue of Berklee Today
Images by Brian Guido/Design by Patrick Mitchell
Berklee Today Wins Bronze CASE Awards The awards recognized the magazines high-art design and improved redesign.
Rub n Segovia Cobo
Student Spotlight: Rub n Segovia Cobo The Berklee Valencia graduate student talks about expanding his production skills, empowering artists to express their ideas, and the release of his first studio album, Plastic Boy.
Image courtesy of Bahar Badieitar
Student Spotlight: Bahar Badieitabar The composition and performance major talks about her journey to Berklee from Iran, composing on the oud, and how she finds inspiration in the traditional and folkloric music of her home country.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
Production sound mixer Dirk Sciarrotta has mixed Family Feud for 28 seasons. Thats up to 200 syndicated episodes per year, plus primetime celebrity specials - a...
07/05/2026
As audience expectations have evolved, Owen has stopped trying to hide microphones or excuse amplification. Instead, he treats sound as a fully immersive part o...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...