A Conversation about First-Generation College Students: Reflections on a Bridge Year Program and the Promise of a Relationship-Rich University Education (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: A Conversation about First-Generation College Students: Reflections on a Bridge Year Program and the Promise of a Relationship-Rich University Education
Abstract: First generation college students often face a multitude of academic, social, and economic barriers to success in higher education. This is especially true when these students lack rich relationships with their peers and instructors or confidence in their academic abilities. With the generous support from a National Endowment for the Humanities Access Grant and the Kalamazoo Promise, our team of instructors and peer mentors ran a Bridge Year Program (2018-2021) designed to provide material, academic, and socio-emotional support to a small group of first-generation college students during their first year at Western Michigan University. I will briefly reflect on the successes and failures of this program and also suggest possible ways that institutions of higher education might create supportive, relationship-rich educational experiences for all students. I then hope to facilitate a meaningful conversation with faculty and staff about effective teaching and mentorship that promote first generation college student success.
Author: Dini Metro-Roland, Professor of Educational Studies, Western Michigan University
Date: 05/09/2023
Location: Malmö University, Malmö Sweden

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