Meet the Team

Charmaine E. Troy, Ph.D.

Charmaine Troy Ph.D. currently serves as the Associate Director of First-Generation Student Initiatives at Georgia Tech. In this role, she is focused on the access, equity, and success of first-generation students. She leads the university’s work in supporting the co-curricular success of first-generation college students and overseeing the planning, development and implementation of programming for first-generation students. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, she served as Assistant Dean for First-Generation Student Success at Virginia Tech.

She is co-editor of the book Graduate Education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): A Student Perspective and co-author of the book chapter “Mentoring Experiences of Graduate Students in HBCU Professional Programs.”  Dr. Troy earned a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master in Public Administration from North Carolina Central University, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Higher Education from Morgan State University.

Katherine Lawlor

Program & Operations Manager

Katherine Lawlor comes to Georgia Tech with over a decade of experience in the Higher Education field. Recently, she was a Senior Coordinator at Northern Arizona University where she mentored first-generation and transfer students.

Katherine served as a student organization advisor for the Tri-Alpha Honor Society for the first-generation college community and the Tau Sigma Honor Society for transfer students. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Liberty University, a Master of Education degree with the emphasis of Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Science degree in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.