Jane Kring

Jane Kring, Health Careers Committee Co-Chair, Academic Support in Biology

Jane Kring

I am a First Generation Ally and a second generation college graduate.  My father worked several jobs while completing his degree at Syracuse University, while my mother attended just one year of college.  While I was a child, my father worked as a traveling shoe salesman and more recently retired from the post office.  My mother was a homemaker, caring for her four children and volunteering in the community.

I attended SUNY Binghamton University, graduating with a BS in Biology and minor in Chemistry.  During college I participated in a sophomore seminar with a faculty mentor, who connected me with the Pre-Health Advisor on campus.  The advisor encouraged me to apply to medical school early assurance (as a sophomore), and I was accepted to SUNY Upstate Medical University, which I later attended, earning my MD.  After finishing 8 months of my Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, I decided to retire early from medicine and pursue teaching.  I earned an Alternative Teaching Licensure certificate from East Carolina University and taught science first at J.H. Rose High School and then at Pitt Community College. When my husband and I moved back to New York, I spent several years at home with my children before joining the SLU Biology department in 2013.

It took me a while to find a career that fit my interests, abilities, personality and values.  There were times when I listened to others instead of taking the time to figure out what was right for me.  As an advisor and champion of first generation students, I hope to ask questions, listen, and identify options that might fit with what you’d like your life to be.  Sometimes where you end up is as much about the connections you make and the conversations you have, as it is about your own dreams and performance.  I support all first generation students, and hope they’ll consider a health career as part of their future, if it aligns with their goals and personal strengths.