Towards a Culture of Student Success

In this article published in the Journal of First-generation Student Success, Cassy Pressimone Beckowski and I analyze mission statements of colleges that have made an explicit, public commitment to serving first-gen students by becoming recognized as First-gen forward institutions. We have presented this paper for practitioners in collaboration with Mikaela Mokofisi of Salt Lake Community College for NASPA’s Center for First-generation Student Success in November, 2021.

Abstract

Institutions of higher education continue to seek ways to engage first-generation students. This content analysis of the 157 mission statements of First-gen Forward Institutions explores how the articulation of institutional priorities can signal or promote a success-oriented culture and inform campus-wide approaches to first-generation student success. We identify four predominant themes–student learning experiences; community-serving; diversity and inclusion; and access and affordability–that may help guide unified, mission-centric efforts to develop resources and opportunities that resist deficit-based assumptions about first-generation students and that reflect an institutional commitment to student success.

Citations

Pressimone Beckowski, C. M. & Winfield, J. D. (2021). Towards a culture of student success: An analysis of mission statements from first-generation serving institutions. Journal of First-generation Student Success, 1(2),73-91 . https://doi.org/10.1080/26906015.2021.1930291 Pressimone Beckowski, C. M., Winfield, J. D., & Mokofisi, M. (2021, November 18). Making missions work: Mission-driven first-generation student initiatives [Webinar]. NASPA Center for First-generation Student Success.

A PDF of this paper is available upon request.

The cover image from this paper was generated with Tinkersynth by Jake Winfield.