Erin Kwan

Background

About Erin Kwan

My mission as a professional in higher education is to interrogate, assess, and reimagine the ways that institutions present exceptionalism inside and outside the classroom, especially to students from underrepresented and underserved salient identities. In my current position as Senior Advisor with the Office of Prestigious Fellowships and Awards at Seattle University I work to create an office that is focused on developing and building transferable skills in the framework of fellowship applications, and to work directly with fellowship applicants to envision their futures and lift them up as they navigate the myriad of ways to achieve their goals.In my work, I hope to help all students understand that their lives and experiences are important, meaningful, and exceptional. I am humbled to help students realize that they can explore these aspects of themselves through opportunities inside and outside the classroom. It it necessary in my work to examine practices on campus that have been reserved for students that have experienced the privilege of being told they are worthy of exceptionalism, and to open them to those who have been told they are not worthy.In everything I do, I aim to promote a more equitable way of navigating systems that were not built for the students who are, and have historically been, systemically underserved in higher education institutions and academic spaces.