I'm a Pathfinder: Jennifer Allen

Published on Dec 16, 2025

Jennifer Allen’s connection to Ashland Community and Technical College began long before she ever enrolled as a student.

“Ashland Community College was the first college I ever saw because my dance studio performed annual recitals in the theatre,” Allen said.

Raised as an only child in Flatwoods, Allen says she grew up in a loving home surrounded by woods, where she spent much of her childhood outdoors.

She says education was always a top priority in her household, and her parents instilled in her the importance of putting schoolwork first.

During her high school years, Allen says she regularly passed a billboard promoting the partnership between ACTC and Morehead State University, highlighting the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree while staying close to home. For her, that mattered.

“Learning I could complete a bachelor’s degree while staying close to home, as an only child, was an important factor for me,” Allen says.

Years later, she would rediscover an elementary school journal that confirmed just how early ACTC had captured her imagination. In response to the prompt “One day I will attend (blank) for college,” she had written “ACC.”

Allen began her academic career at ACTC in 2002, right out of high school, majoring in Small Business Management.

She graduated in 2005 with an associate degree and initially planned to transfer to Morehead State University. However, she says a promotion into a management position at her workplace presented an unexpected opportunity, and she chose to focus on her growing career.

A few years later, after becoming a mother, Allen says she felt called to finish what she had started.

She returned to ACTC, completed additional coursework, and graduated for a second time in 2010, fully prepared to transfer to Morehead State University.

Following her 2010 graduation, Allen began working full-time at ACTC as a Financial Aid Specialist while completing her bachelor’s degree in general business online through Morehead State.

She says it was during this time that she discovered a passion for helping students navigate the college experience. That passion has shaped her career ever since.

Over fifteen years later, Allen currently serves as an Academic Advisor at ACTC and as the transfer liaison for Morehead State University…guiding students through the same paths she once walked herself.

When asked what she would say to prospective students, Allen describes ACTC as an institution that truly cares about student success.

” ACTC is a wonderful institution of higher education,” she says. “We offer an affordable education with many program options, small class sizes, caring instructors, and a team of people who are passionate about your success.”

ACTC’s impact on Allen’s life has been both personal and professional. Through mentorship and encouragement from faculty and advisors, she found her calling at the very institution that helped launch her future.

“It is hard to even imagine my life without ACTC as it has been my facility of higher education and my career, all in one,” she says.

Today, Allen’s ACTC story continues as a family legacy. In Spring 2026, her son will become a third-generation ACTC alumnus, as her father also completed the electrical program at Ashland Junior College.

“My personal experiences help motivate me daily, she said. “Sharing those experiences with students and helping serve them, then witnessing their success stories as they become fellow alumnus at ACTC, it’s just so great.”

Written by: Megan Smedley, ACTC strategic communications administrator