Changing Lives
Gerene Thompson
Assistant Director — Metro Initiatives
There may be telephones ringing around her and people streaming in and out of the busy Metro Initiatives office, but if you’re sitting on the other side of Gerene Thompson’s desk, at that moment, you are the only person in her world. Focused and intent, Thompson listens to everything a prospective student has to say, and with her self-claimed “third ear,” just as carefully to what is not being said.
The current economic climate and contracting job market, as well as rapidly changing technologies and marketplaces, have more people turning to education as a path to increased employment opportunity and stability. Those new realities also make Thompson’s skilled and empathetic ear, insightful advising – and friendly demeanor – welcome support for people searching for new direction in their lives.
Thompson is assistant director of Metro Initiatives, the office at USF that helps non-traditional students, namely adult learners and career professionals who may not have been on a college campus in a while, come back to the classroom. Metro Initiatives assists prospective students in identifying the educational programs that best suit their needs, which at USF, are numerous and diverse – from distance and online education and graduate certificates to professional master’s degree programs and more.
In her previous position as an admissions recruiter/advisor in Metro Initiatives, Thompson spent the majority of her time assisting prospective students in the career exploration process and providing pre-admissions counseling. In her current position, she coordinates administrative functions for USF’s new Bachelor of General Studies degree completion program, online/distance learning programs and the Osher Reentry Scholarship Program.
Yet, it’s the one-on-one time she spends advising students that she loves the most. Perhaps that’s because she can identify with prospective students since not long ago she, too, was a working adult who decided to return to school.
Thompson grew up on the Caribbean island of St. Martin and says that her parents were the “consummate believers in education and the doors it can open.” She earned her undergraduate degree by the time she was 19 and her first master’s degree by 21. A stint in sales and marketing for a large island resort led to a position as director of admissions for the University of St. Martin. And it was there, in higher education, that she found her “true calling.”
“All of a sudden, I just knew that this was where I was supposed to be,” she says. So she resumed her education earning a master of education degree in college student affairs at USF while working as a graduate assistant in the program. Today, she is pursuing her doctorate in higher education administration with a cognate in counselor education.
“I absolutely love college campuses and working with students,” she says, noting she has a genuine affinity for non-traditional students.
“It brings me joy to connect students with the right programs and services that, in their words, have changed their lives.”
-- Mary Beth Erskine, University Communications & Marketing