Renee joined The Center for Student Engagement in November of 2014 and serves as the Assistant Director for the First-Year Experience. Renee is a loyal Detroit Tigers fan having grown up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan before attending Western Michigan University for an undergraduate degree in Organizational Communication. After climbing the mountains of Colorado for a year after graduation, Renee earned a master’s degree in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education at Texas A&M University. Since graduate school Renee has served in professional staff and adjunct faculty positions at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Virginia Tech, and with the international study aboard program Semester at Sea. Renee prides herself as a passionate professional who genuinely believes that her service in Student Affairs is a calling. She strives to serve as a mentor, role model, and 'friend' that can inspire, guide, empower, and challenge the students and young professionals she has the honor of interacting and forming relationships with. When Renee is not working she is likely grilling with friends, kayaking the Potomac, reading along side Abe or Franklin, and/or playing with her two nieces, Natalie and Charlotte.