Faculty as bridges to co-curricular engagement and community for first-generation international students

International Undergraduate Student Engagement: Implications for Higher Education Administrators

“…A study by Cole and Zhou (2014) showed that self-connectedness can be achieved through multicultural interactions. Glass, Gesing, Hales, and Cong (2017) and Cole and Zhou (2014) found that multicultural interactions have a substantial impact on educational settings, both academically and socially (i.e., improving connectedness). However, this opportunity is not being fully exploited on campuses.…”

Understanding the motivation behind the success of first generation college students

“…Research showed the level of social support was an indicator of how well a student transitioned into college, and the results overwhelmingly showed how social support from parents and college professors led to improved academic performance and student learning (Thompson, 2008;Moschetti & Hudley, 2015). Glass, Gesing, Hales, and Cong (2017) asserted that FGC students were at an academic disadvantage compared to their peers because of the lack of support for and awareness about the student population from faculty. Soria and Stebleton's (2012) research demonstrated that FGC students did not inherently possess the same levels of social capital, which is the ability to understand and use social networks for personal gain (Oikonomidoy, 2015) to assist with navigating the college environment.…”

“…Research shows that, when FGC students had positive and enriched engagement with faculty and staff, they adjusted to college more successfully. Building better bridges between faculty and FGC students increased support and fundamental understanding of this student population's needs (Glass, Gesing, Hales, & Cong, 2017). Fischer (2007) expressed that, across the nation, those who identified as FGC students might drop out because college wasn't a good fit, alienation and/or financial ability to continue at an institution.…”

“…Roksa, Feldon and Maher (2018) considered that individuals from marginalized student populations were exposed to more opportunities related to research, publications, and presenting or furthering the conversation when a faculty member was able to inspire and provide encouragement. Glass et al (2017) posited that the FGC students might have sustained and engaged relationships with their faculty if the faculty were more willing to be holistic in their approach to teaching different topics within their class. FGC students were able to better relate to their faculty when the barrier of not knowing if a faculty member would understand their plight was removed by craftily constructing an understanding of class through a cultural and societal lens that extended to all members of the class and not just the dominant student population into the overall group discussions (Glass et al, 2017).…”

“…Glass et al (2017) posited that the FGC students might have sustained and engaged relationships with their faculty if the faculty were more willing to be holistic in their approach to teaching different topics within their class. FGC students were able to better relate to their faculty when the barrier of not knowing if a faculty member would understand their plight was removed by craftily constructing an understanding of class through a cultural and societal lens that extended to all members of the class and not just the dominant student population into the overall group discussions (Glass et al, 2017). Research suggested that if faculty present material from a variety of perspectives and then allowed opportunities for interaction and discussion to occur in class, a safe space, where students could become aware of the cultural and social differences among their peers, then FGC students might have had less of a barrier to develop more comfortable interpersonal relationships with their faculty and peers (Glass et al, 2017).…”