Emboldened to try something new

Dr. Rita Hartung Cheng knows the courage and bold spirit it takes to be first in a family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. As a first-generation student herself, she set out to make higher education accessible to all.

As the 16th president of Northern Arizona University, Dr. Rita Hartung Cheng made sure that first-generation students found a welcoming and supportive environment at NAU. As a first-generation student herself, she was committed to making higher education accessible to all.

“I can’t overstate the courage and bold spirit required to be the first in your family to try something new,” she told first-gen graduates in a 2021 commencement address.

First-generation students are those whose parents or guardians have not completed a four-year college degree. These students are considered academic trailblazers who often leave a college pathway for other family members to follow.

Growing up

The eldest of six siblings, Rita Hartung grew up in rural Wisconsin. Her dad ran the family dairy farm as her mother, a former one-room country school teacher, took care of the children. They embraced the values of hard work and education. Dr. Cheng said she received encouragement in schoolwork from her mom while her dad taught by example, imbuing her with lessons in business and economics as he worked the farm.

“I was the first person in my family to graduate from college, so I understand both first-generation college students’ commitment to education and the challenges they face in navigating higher education,” President Cheng said in 2019. That year, NAU was named in an inaugural group of First-Gen Forward Institutions for its dedication to first-generation student accomplishment.

I can’t overstate the courage and bold spirit required to be the first in your family to try something new.

With encouragement from her parents, a close neighbor, and her husband, Rita Hartung Cheng achieved an undergraduate degree in accounting, followed by MBA and doctorate degrees. She’s a CPA and served as a professor and in top-level administration roles at several institutions before being named president of NAU in 2014.

Under her leadership, NAU pursued an aggressive plan to thrive in the fast-changing environment of higher education. Attention to student success and academic excellence stayed at the forefront.

Approximately 46 percent of NAU students—in Flagstaff, at the university’s locations across Arizona, and online—identify as first-generation students. NAU supports them with robust first-generation programs, including help transitioning from high school, peer and professional mentoring, guidance to college graduation, the First-Generation Pathways initiative, and the Tri-Alpha Honor Society.

Graduate record

Delivering a record 6,000 degrees in the spring of 2021, NAU added many more graduates to the first-generation tribe. They are in some very esteemed company. Former first lady Michelle Obama, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, business executive Indra Nooyi, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, and singer-songwriter John Legend are all first-generation university graduates.

NAU continues to forge even wider paths to academic accessibility and student success.

“We are doing all we can to make our first-generation students and all of our students achieve their educational aspirations,” President Cheng said.

Growing up

Graduate record

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