Evette M. Layne is a life-long resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts and a graduate of the Cambridge Public Schools system. As a youth growing up in Cambridge, she was blessed with the opportunity to be a student in the MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound Program. It was her rewarding experience as a participant in the Program that guided her path to postsecondary education, matriculating at Morgan State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and ultimately influenced her return to the Program as a professional. She has been a dedicated employee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1983, serving in numerous capacities within the Upward Bound Program, and is currently serving as the Director of Educational Opportunity Programs.