Kristen M. Guiseppi brings seven years of experience in student support services to the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC), where she is program manager of the Pre-Law Pipeline Program.
Having previously coordinated the pipeline program at the Ronald H. Brown Center of Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John’s University School of Law in New York, Guiseppi is helping the UHLC program make strides in its third year. Under her leadership, the award-winning program has strategically prepared students from underrepresented groups for law school and the legal profession.
This leadership was built on the Trinidad and Tobago native’s experience after she had to adapt to a new style of teaching, learning and studying for college in the United States.
“When I first came to the U.S. for college, everything was different from what I was used to: the culture, the mannerisms, the expectations,” Guiseppi said. “I had to put in a lot of time figuring out the nuances of attending an American university. Many of the struggles that my students currently face, I myself have faced.”
Guiseppi’s understanding of many of her students’ obstacles, in addition to her work at the Ron Brown Center, allowed her to hit the ground running when she arrived in Houston. Because the law center did not have a “pipeline” program per se, she immediately began working diligently – speaking on panels, recruiting at fairs and speaking to pre-law groups – to establish a reputable program that would attract students.
As importantly, she had to build a new set of relationships with UHLC’s faculty and staff, the Houston area firms, attorneys and judges, and the community at large as she knew they would play critical roles in the success of the pipeline program for student internships, introductory law courses, workshops and mentoring opportunities.
“I had a lot of support from the University of Houston, the University of Houston Law Center, and the legal community that I think made it a lot easier when I was trying to build this program from scratch,” Guiseppi said.
