Overview

Maria Dykema Erb is a higher education professional with over three decades of extensive experience. She has worked in a broad range of areas including DEI; student recruitment/admissions, enrollment management, academic advising, retention, and outreach; academic dean’s office and graduate/professional school program administration; and student affairs/life.

As a Korean transracial adoptee, Maria grew up in a Dutch immigrant family on a dairy farm in Vermont. Going to college was not the common pathway for her rural community, but Maria knew that would be her key to future opportunities. Throughout all of Maria’s career, the common theme has been providing access to higher education for all students either directly or indirectly in her job responsibilities. Specifically, some of her past positions have included directing the Summer Enrichment Scholars Program (SESP) as Assistant Director of the UVM ALANA (Asian, Latinx, African, and Native American) Student Center, now known as the Mosaic Center for Students of Color; SESP is a summer bridge program for students of color, first-generation, and/or from limited-income backgrounds. As Associate Director for Student Access and Success in the Multicultural Center at Elon University, she directed the Watson Odyssey Scholars Program for first-generation and limited-income background students.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), she served as Co-Director of Diversity & Student Success in The Graduate School creating a program for underrepresented graduate and professional students (first in the family to pursue a graduate or professional degree, students of color, international, LGBTQIA+, and military-affiliated). In May 2019, UNC was recognized by the NASPA Center for First-generation Student Success (CFGSS) in the inaugural cohort of 80 First-gen Forward institutions for their “commitment to advancing first-generation student success.” With UNC’s First-gen Forward Advisory Institution designation (1 of only 9 institutions nationally), Maria led the First-gen Forward Mid-Atlantic Regional Community. She was also appointed to the CFGSS Advocacy Group, specifically to share her expertise and knowledge related to first-generation graduate student success and was chair in 2022-2023. Maria is currently the inaugural executive director of the Newbury Center at Boston University (BU) which was established to foster the success of first-generation undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. BU was named a First-gen Forward Advisory Institution and leads the New England Regional Community. Maria has also been appointed as an expert facilitator role to lead the new First-gen Forward entering cohorts since 2022.

As a proud first-generation college graduate, Maria holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Hampshire and Master of Education degree from The University of Vermont (UVM). Some of Maria’s honors include the UNC Diversity Award for Intergroup Collaboration, the UNC Student Affairs Campus Partner Award, the UNC Veterans Services Challenge Coin Award, the Duke University School of Nursing Commitment to Excellence Staff Award, the UVM ALANA Student Center Outstanding Staff Member of the Year Award for Continual Commitment to Leadership, Advocacy, and Social Justice, and the UVM Woman of the Year Award.

As a higher education and student affairs practitioner, Maria has shared her scholarship through numerous presentations and book chapters. Most recently, she has chapters in: Know That You Are Worthy: Experiences from First-Generation College Graduates; A Handbook for Supporting Today's Graduate Students; and A Practitioner’s Guide to Supporting Graduate and Professional Students; She has developed a meaning-making workshop series curriculum that she has delivered to variety of audiences, including undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to her formal mentoring roles through several NASPA Knowledge Communities, she thrives on being a meaning-making mentor to students and young professionals to help them realize their full potential and find their purpose in life.