The Staff
Program Director: Florence Garcia Ed.D
Florence directs the TRiO Program and is an academic counselor to students.  Before coming to MSU in 2005, Dr. Garcia was a Student Support Services director who has been active with TRiO and ASPIRE for many years. At MSU, Florence works with the Deans and Directors and is a member of Indian Program Directors. At one time, Florence was an undergraduate TRiO student who became a state, regional, and national TRiO Achiever!

Sara Vaccaro Administrative Assistant II
Sara oversees office administration, assists with the Program grant, greets students, and answers roughly a thousand questions a day.

Mary Beth Green, MA, Tutor Coordinator
Mary Beth coordinates the TRiO tutoring program by hiring, training, and assigning tutors. She also works with students as an academic counselor, has been with the MSU TRiO program since 1994, edits the TRiO newsletter, and has taught English at the high school and college levels. In addition to all of this, Mary Beth serves as the TRiO interim director as needed and on the MSU VOICE Center advocacy committee.

Rita Rozier, Ed.D,
Academic Strategies Coordinator
Rita teaches the Applied Learning Strategies course and academic strategy workshops. She also provides individual learning assistance and academic counseling, and is a member of the MSU Professional Council, the Teaching/Learning Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and is a volunteer legal and family mediator for Gallatin County Project Settle.

Kari Oelkers , MA, Academic Specialist
Kari works parttime as an academic counselor at TRiO. She has taught history and government at the high school level, and freshman seminar classes at MSU for University Studies, College of Letters and Sciences, and College of Technology. She is also an  onsite-coordinator and presenter for the NCHE (National Council for History Education).

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