Weaving Invisible Threads in a Hidden Community: Making Visible the Wicked Problem of First Generation Students at CSU Stanislaus

Tamara Sniezek & Ann StrahmOctober 23, 2015

Purpose• 1st Gen college students, working-class

college students, women, and/or students of color often feel like they are frauds who don't deserve to be a member of an intellectual/campus community. Students from poorer and less educated families tend to have cumulative disadvantages. They also learn differently.

• Updated advising, developing mentorship, networking & community building, nurture student research, development of cultural & social capital.

Process• Activities engaged in during the process.

– Workshops– Mentorship Survey– Advising Manual– Undergraduate Research Opportunities

• Timeline for the project. – 2014/15 school year

• Who was involved? – Ann Strahm - Tamara Sniezek– Meggan Jordan - Jey Strangfeld– Dana Nakano - Danielle Duckett– Sneha Dutta

End Result• What was the result / change due to the

process used?– Updated advising

• More personal• Greater focus on taking time to discuss student’s needs

and goals• Ongoing discussions such as adding student photo to

file– Mentorship survey

• Faculty attempting to be more deliberate when mentoring students

• Faculty approaching students for research/mentorship opportunities

– Department has added workshops as part of outreach (constraint - $ for food)

– Department increased faculty working with undergraduate student’s doing research

End Result• What assessment methods were used?

– Surveys– Ongoing data collection

• Did your process increase student success?– 119 students graduated spring semester -

significantly more than previous years– Approx. 20 students are working on research

projects with goal of professional conference presentations (20 more than before)

– Students who attended workshops have taken leadership roles in clubs (Soc Club, Hunger Network, Love Evolution) [note: we’ve had years when non-sociology majors held the leadership roles] & have approached faculty to work with on projects

ProcessFour Student Workshops conducted (2 per semester)• Topics: "Kicking Ass and Getting A's",

"Impostor Syndrome Sucks", "Writing Nightmares" and "Family Matters"

• Student feedback in workshops informed future workshop topics

• Panel discussion format. – The panel included senior sociology students,

sociology alumni, sociology graduate students and sociology faculty.

– The family workshop had counselors, staff, and faculty who led small group sessions.

• All workshops included food.

Workshop Results• 15-25 students attended each workshop (mostly

first generation, working class and students of color). Having food was key to attendance.

• We successfully uncovered student's pressing academic challenges through open dialogue (writing fears and family conflicts, for example, named as problems)

• Most common feedback from students was that they experienced relief that others shared their challenges and they appreciated the practical suggestions for dealing with the challenges

• We suspect students experienced networking opportunities, developed support sytems and acquired new coping skills (follow up surveys will confirm)

Lessons Learned

• What lessons were learned?– Workshops create cultural and social capital &

sense of belonging– Found disconnect between faculty and student

understanding of mentorship• Only 20% of students surveyed believed they had

mentor, but survey results show many more are receiving mentorship

– Sustainability is tenuous because time, resources, and faculty are in short supply

Lessons Learned• What advice can you share with others?

How can others translate what you have done to their courses / departments? – Updated list of undergraduate research funding

• There’s no reason for individual departments to do this research. ORSP could easily comb through databases and provide a curated list of general undergraduate research funding opportunities.

– For discipline-specific research funding, departments could utilize work study students, etc.

– Excellent advising manual (faculty & students)• This can easily be updated by the department/program

each semester• Digital copy seems the wave of the future (but requires

someone with time & access to CSU Stan web for upkeep– Workshops on writing, family issues, impostor

syndrome, and achieving goals are universal

Lessons Learned• What are the next steps you will use to

continuously improve?– John is organizing CSA undergrad roundtable– Ann, Tamara, Jey organizing PSA undergrad roundtables– Faculty working w/ 20 students on research to present

at professional conferences– Ann, Tamara, Jey, John, Vince, Barbara organizing a

panel on impostor syndrome at PSA– Department is attempting to set aside funds for 2-3

workshops– Faculty outreach to students via a Sociology Forum on

Blackboard. – Faculty must actively seek out students to work with on

research– Faculty using advising time to mentor students– Thinking, Rethinking, Reworking, Testing