Saby Labor, Lindsay Murdock, and Kayley Robsham review how professionals can reframe their perspectives to that of a 'first-gen mindset' better serve students.

1. Why The First-Gen Mindset Is
Crucial to Student Retention
#firstgen #NASPA17

2. Lindsay Murdock
Engagement Specialist
Inclusion Strategist
@linds_murdock
she/hers
Kayley Robsham
Community Engagement Manager
Inclusion Strategist
@kayleyrobsham
she/hers
Saby Labor
Resilient Campus
CEO & Founder
@ResilientCampus
she/ hers
they/ them

3. Background
• Origin of topic
• Timing & dialogue in the higher ed
field
• Article posted on Presence (Check
I’m Here’s site)

4. Why First-Gen Stories?
• Gaps in first-generation college student work
• Characteristics and commonalities, often
conflicting
• Lack of consensus on a universal definition
• Admissions & Enrollment Management

5. Outcomes
• To increase awareness of first-gen students and professionals’
lived experiences in the form of storytelling
• To inform student affairs professionals of first-gen experiences
as a means to better support this student population
• To understand how to advocate for and communicate with
students in an inclusive way
• To engage student affairs professionals in a discussion with
the purpose of sharing models of practice regarding first-gen
support, retention and success

6. First-Gen Mindset Overview
• Challenging our own assumptions, often
narrowly define student populations into ‘boxes’
• Shifting our perspectives, reflecting on our own
journeys even if we ourselves are not ‘first-gen’
• What if we put aside definitions?

7. First-Gen Mindset Overview
• More questions than answers
• “Thank you for the opportunity”

8. Description of Methods
• Personal outreach and interviews
• Qualitative surveys

9. First-Gen Student Stories
1. What type of institution are you currently attending? (check
all that apply)
2. Which pieces of your identity do you feel are the most
significant as you navigate your campus experience?
3. When was the first time you realized you were a first
generation student?
4. What does it mean to you to be a first-generation college
student?

10. First-Gen Student Stories
5. Tell me about a time when you wish a college
professional knew more about supporting first generation
students in navigating the inter-workings of campus.
6. Take me to a moment when you felt as if your experience
navigating campus was greatly supported by someone at
your institution
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about your
first-generation college student identify?

11. First-Gen Student Stories
“When you are a first-generation student, you don't have no
one to tell you how college works. You have to learn
everything yourself, when it comes to filling out paper work, or
even touring the campus. Most college professional, treats all
the students the same and thinking that most students parents
have some college experience. Some of the students don't,
everything is new to them. And sometimes it's hard to tell
other teachers and students that because they don't want to
get look down on.”
- Vicky M.

12. First-Gen Student Stories
• Themes
• Help finding jobs
• Faculty & staff understand first-gen challenges without
having to tell them
• Intersectionality [esp. race, gender & class]
• Different intentions for education & campus experience

13. Student Affairs Stories
1. How do your identities connect to the
work you do in student affairs?
2. When was the first time you realized you
were a first-generation student?
3. What does it mean to you to be a first-
generation college student?

14. Student Affairs Stories
4. Tell us about how your own college experience relates to
your work with the first-gen students you serve?
5. How do your identities connect to the work you do in
student affairs?
6. Is there anything else you would like to share about your
first-generation college student identify?
7. Want a copy of the first-gen ebook we produce? Include
your email below to receive one in late March/early April 2017.

15. Student Affairs Stories
“It really takes a village, even at the
orientation program. Race and age are
also salient identities in an institutional
environment where I have both
privileged and non-privileged identities.”
- Tara M.

16. Student Affairs Stories
• Themes:
• Invisible Identity
• Relationships with Parents
• Identities influencing & connecting to
work

17. “Those of us who were first-generation students must stand
up and make our presence known. We should act as
ambassadors, guides, and advocates for current first-
generation students. We need to find ways to educate these
students in the social aspects of college… In short, we need
to write up the unwritten rules of college for them… We owe it
to our students to take luck out of it – that is the power of
higher education.”
Greenwald, 2012

18. Implications
• Engaging in reflexivity
• Dr. Sumun (Sumi) Pendakur,
“…actively embed identity – as well as the
related facets of power, privilege, access, and
assets – into their work as transformational
agents in higher education.” (2016, p. 111)

21. Implementation & Recommendations
• Identifying gaps with team, strategize
• Adopting a first-gen lens, if not first-
gen SA pro or admin
• Facilitating storytelling among first-
gen students

22. Implementation & Recommendations
• Harvey Mudd College
• PALs (Peer Academic Liaisons)
who live in the residence halls
• How do we elevate FG stories?

23. Reflection Questions
• How do universities think students navigate higher education
environments?
• What is the reality of students’ paths at your institution?
• What are we assuming students know? Where did we get that
information from?
• How are we collecting input from FGC students regarding their access
and success in college environments?
• How can we leverage our identity-based experiences, skills, and assets
to promote a thriving population of FGC students?

24. Toolkit & Presentation
• Presentation available through NASPA
• Toolkit available via Google Drive
• Articles, Lumina Foundation, Podcasts,
Additional Resources, Surveys

25. References
Choy, S.P. (2001). Students whose parents did not go to college: Postsecondary access, persistence, and attainment
(NCES 2001-126). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. http://
nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001126.pdf.
Education Advisory Board. (April 22, 2015). Why being a new student can feel like playing 'Chutes and Ladders'.
Retrieved from https://www.eab.com/daily-briefing/2015/04/22/three-challenges-facing-community-colleges
Greenwald, R. (2012). Think of first-generation students as pioneers, not problems. The Chronicle of Higher Education,
59(12).
Espinoza, L.L., Gaertner, M.N. & Orfield, G. (2015). Race, Class, & College Access: Achieving Diversity in a Shifting
Legal Landscape. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
Jehangir, R. R., Stebleton, M. J., & Deenanath, V. (2015). An Exploration of Intersecting Identities of first-generation,
low-income students (Research Report No. 5). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, National Resource Center
for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
Pryor, J.H., Hurtado, S., Saenz, V.B., Santos, J.L., Korn, W.S. (2007). The American freshman: Forty year trends. Los
Angeles: Higher Education Institute, UCLA. http://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/TheAmericanFreshman2015.pdf
Smith, A. (2015). Who’s in First (Generation)? Inside Higher Ed (Nov 10).