A Critical Examination of First-Generation Faculty Scholarship: The Need for Intersectional Analysis

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Faculty Issues 1 (Table 18)

Abstract

Although scholarship well-establishes the tribulations and triumphs of first-generation (FG) college students, little systematically addresses first-generation faculty (FGF)—faculty who were first in their family to graduate from college. The authors responds to this gap by reviewing 178 sources (1984-2022) focused on FGF. Five emergent themes document that FG status is a salient identity that shapes FGF interactions, experiences, and behaviors as they navigate discordant cultural realities in the academy. To address absences in this scholarship, we advocate for an intersectional FGF research agenda focused on how FG status influences FGF experience, beliefs, and practices as well as variation by social group (e.g. race, gender). We conclude with guiding questions to frame such systematic inquiry.

Authors

• derria byrd, Marquette University

• Noreen Siddiqui, University of WIsconsin - Madison