First-Generation Research
First-Generation Research
First-Generation Research
GRADUATE STUDENTS BECOMING QUALITATIVE RESEARCHERS: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY
Ullman et al. / / November 2020
Through conducting an ethnographic study about doctoral students from traditionally underrepresented groups who are learning to conduct ethnographic research, this volume offers unique insight into the challenges and experiences through which these students develop their skills and identities as qualitative researchers.
Foregrounding the stories and perspectives of students from minority backgrounds including Latinx, Black, differently abled, and queer students, Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers identifies how the process of learning to conduct ethnographic research underpins doctoral students’ success, confidence, and persistence in the academy. Chapters follow students during a one-year ethnographic research course during which they learn about ethnography, but also conduct observations, write field notes, interview participants, and gather artifacts. Offering important pedagogical insights into how ethnography and academic writing are communicated, the text also tackles questions of access and diversity within scholarship and highlights barriers to first-generation and minoritized student success, including impostor syndrome, stereotype vulnerability, and access to time, knowledge, and capital.
This volume will prove valuable to doctoral students, postgraduate researchers, scholars, and educators conducting qualitative research across the fields of education and rhetoric, as well as the humanities and social sciences. It will also appeal to those interested in multiculturalism and diversity within the education sector.
FACING COVID-19 AT HOME: AN ASSESSMENT OF COLLEGE PERSISTENCE FOR UNC-CH'S FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill / Sep 8, 2020
The purpose of this report is to present findings from our initial survey of FGCS at UNC-CH. We aim to assess the persistence of FGCS through a pandemic by identifying new and existing barriers students face. Our results will be shared with university officials as they strive to identify and reduce the difficulties of FGCS and create meaningful interventions for students through COVID19.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cassandra R. Davis, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the Scholars Strategy Network. Dr. Davis is the principal investigator of this project and studies disruptions to schooling environments, particularly natural disasters.
A FIELD GUIDE TO GRAD SCHOOL: UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM
Calarco / Princeton University Press / August 2020
Some of the most important things you need to know in order to succeed in graduate school—like how to choose a good advisor, how to get funding for your work, and whether to celebrate or cry when a journal tells you to revise and resubmit an article—won’t be covered in any class. They are part of a hidden curriculum that you are just expected to know or somehow learn on your own—or else. In this comprehensive survival guide for grad school, Jessica McCrory Calarco walks you through the secret knowledge and skills that are essential for navigating every critical stage of the postgraduate experience, from deciding whether to go to grad school in the first place to finishing your degree and landing a job. An invaluable resource for every prospective and current grad student in any discipline, A Field Guide to Grad School will save you grief—and help you thrive—in school and beyond.
Provides invaluable advice about how to:
- Choose and apply to a graduate program
- Stay on track in your program
- Publish and promote your work
- Get the most out of conferences
- Navigate the job market
- Balance teaching, research, service, and life
A PATH ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF FIRST-GENERATION STATUS AND ENGAGEMENT IN SOCIAL INTERACTION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND THERAPY IN SATISFACTION WITH LIFE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
PsyArXiv / August 2020
First-generation college students (FGCSs) are at a greater risk of college dropout and mental illness than non-FGCSs. Less is known about their engagement in physical activity and the extent to which engagement in social interaction, physical activity, and utilization of psychotherapy is associated with depression symptomology or satisfaction with life. The purpose of this study was to assess these relationships via path analysis using a large, cross-sectional dataset (N=1,625 college students). The model fit the data (χ2=9.01[df=4], p=.06; CFI=.99, RMSEA=.03, SRMR=.01), accounted for 25% of the variance in satisfaction with life, and partially supported our hypotheses. The findings suggest that FGCSs would benefit from increased lifestyle physical activity and greater access to, and utilization of on-campus resources offering therapy and related social support programs for the management of symptoms of mental illness.
A TITLE V CENTER AS A COUNTERSPACE FOR UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY AND FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education / August 2020
This study examined a Title V Student Center within a Hispanic Serving Institution and how it acted as a counterspace for undergraduate students. The Center provided multiple academic and non-academic supports that students utilized, including mentoring, office hours, and programming. It also provided a place for community development, offering a sense of safety, encouragement, and belonging. This study contributes to limited research on Title V centers for Latinx students at four-year institutions.
GEOGRAPHIES OF CAMPUS INEQUALITY: MAPPING THE DIVERSE EXPERIENCES OF FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS
Benson & Lee / Oxford University Press / August 2020
In efforts to improve equity, selective college campuses are increasingly focused on recruiting and retaining first-generation students-those whose parents have not graduated from college. In Geographies of Campus Inequality, sociologists Benson and Lee argue that these approaches may fall short if they fail to consider the complex ways first-generation status intersects with race, ethnicity, and gender.
Drawing on interview and survey data from selective campuses, the authors show that first-generation students do not share a universal experience. Rather, first-generation students occupy one of four disparate geographies on campus within which they negotiate academic responsibilities, build relationships, engage in campus life, and develop post-college aspirations. Importantly, the authors demonstrate how geographies are shaped by organizational practices and campus constructions of class, race, and gender. Geographies of Campus Inequality expands the understanding of first-generation students' campus lives and opportunities for mobility by showing there is more than one way to be first-generation.
FROM COLORING THE ACADEMIC LANDSCAPE TO INTEGRAL PLAYERS OF THE COMMUNITY: UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY LIBRARIANS FLEXING THEIR SERVICE MUSCLES
The Journal of Academic Librarianship / August 2020
Despite the many existing efforts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, the library field has remained disproportionally white. Instead of waiting for the system to change, underrepresented minority librarians can take a number of steps within their institutions to effect positive changes on predominantly white campuses. Using two mid-career librarians' experiences serving on their institution's diversity committee and as academic advisors and mentors to students, including international students and first-generation students, this article illustrates ways through which minority librarians can exert leadership and leverage their multitudinous identities, interests, and passions to make a difference.
