Dissertation Defense Announcement E.d.D. Program: Damali Tolson “Navigating First-Generation Identity: The Experiences of First-Generation College Students and the Assets They Utilize to Challenge and Overcome the Hidden Curriculum”

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Due to the disparities in graduation outcomes between first-generation and continuing-generation students, higher-education institutions are focused on increasing postsecondary access, retention, and completion rates for first-generation college students. While support services for first-generation students have increased, the deficit perspective of the research on first-generation students and resulting support and interventions centers continuing-generation student success and reinforces the otherness of first-generation status. This study aimed to disrupt the centering of continuing-generation students by using asset-based frameworks to examine how first-generation students who have experienced success interact with their first-generation identity and utilize their first-generation status and existing assets to negotiate and effectively challenge the unwritten expectations of higher education. Focused on students in a Northeast public institution for whom neither parent has earned a bachelor’s degree, this qualitative study explored how first-generation college students engaged with their first-generation identity before and during their collegiate experience and explored their relationship to campus life and experiences and the skills they report using to navigate the expectations of college life successfully.

To attend this event virtually and for more information, please contact academic.services@gse.rutgers.edu.