First-Generation Academics: A Critical Analysis of Literature and Research Agenda Proposal

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Marginalized Voices in Higher Education

Abstract

Although scholarship well-establishes the tribulations and triumphs of first generation college students, none systematically addresses first generation academics (FGA)—faculty and administrators who were first in their family to go to college. This paper responds to this gap by investigating existing scholarship focused on FGAs, which suggests that being first generation continues to be a salient identity for FGAs and that it shapes their interactions, experiences, and behaviors within the academy, including orientations toward equity-oriented organizational change. To address absences in this scholarship and to spur needed investigation, this paper concludes by advocating for development of a FGA research agenda focused on how this status influences FGAs’ beliefs and practices and variation by social status groups (e.g. race, ability, gender).

Author

• derria byrd, Marquette University