8th Annual First-Generation Graduate Student Symposium
8th Annual First-Generation Graduate Student Symposium
February 7, 2025
Join the Boston University Newbury Center, Duke University First-Generation Graduate Student Network, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS, along with our Cooperating Sponsor, FirstGen Forward, for our 8th annual symposium for graduate and professional students on February 7, 2025 via Zoom. This national symposium is open to any student who identifies as a current first-generation graduate or professional student and is studying any discipline. We define a first-generation graduate/professional student as someone whose parents, guardians, or caregivers have not completed an advanced degree, e.g. master’s, doctoral, or professional degree (like a JD or MD).
Network Journey
We invite you to explore the three phases that make up the FirstGen Forward journey for an institution upon joining the Network. New institutions will begin in the Network Member phase before progressing through the journey to become a Network Champion!
Why Celebrate on November 8
FGCC is celebrated annually on November 8 to commemorate the signing of the Higher Education Act (“HEA”) of 1965 by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson. This act created federal financial aid programs to fund students’ educations and made key investments in colleges and universities. Many of the HEA’s programs, particularly the Federal TRIO programs, promote postsecondary access, retention, and completion for today’s limited-income, first-generation college students.
FGCC strives not only to celebrate first-gen students’ contributions to their communities but also to occasion systemic social change by dismantling barriers to first-generation student success. Through this intentional advocacy focus, FGCC engages key constituencies in building upon the work left unfinished by the HEA.
Click here to learn more about the HEA, the creation of Federal TRIO programs, and the history of the First-Generation College Celebration.
Plan Your Celebration
This year, we encourage you to celebrate the first-generation college student and graduate community in every way possible! From inviting speakers to hosting professional development events, the possibilities for celebration are endless.
Many single-day events have spawned month-long celebrations. Below, you'll find everything you need to begin planning your 2024 events.
Step-by-Step Planning Guide
101 Ways to Celebrate Blog
Design & Collateral Toolkit
Tag @COEtalk and @FirstGenForward and use the #CelebrateFirstGen when sharing your plans on social media!
Grant Opportunity
Each year, we’re pleased to award grants to NASPA- and COE-member institutions to aid them in reaching more first-generation college students or graduates; engaging more stakeholders; launching new first-gen-specific events or initiatives; and/or providing additional services around FGCC.
TRIO Program Resources
COE has created two resources to support TRIO fund recipients' First-Generation College Celebration participation. The first details relevant regulations and allowable cost categories, while the second shares tips for recognizing TRIO's 60th anniversary during your #CelebrateFirstGen events.
National Events
FGF and COE have co-hosted several national events highlighting different facets of the first-gen journey. In 2023, our event centered first-gen college students' career trajectories by featuring a panel of first-gen graduates who hold senior roles in some of the world's most recognizable companies.
Our Founders
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Purpose
This virtual symposium is exclusively for current first-generation graduate and professional students. While we greatly value the support of administrators, faculty, and staff, we kindly ask that registration be reserved for students due to the limited capacity of this event. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Registration
Registration for this symposium is FREE for all graduate and professional students. If you have a NASPA account, please use your login credentials to complete the registration form. If you do not have a NASPA account, follow the guide below to set up your free account. Once your account is set up, use those login credentials to complete the registration form.
Keynote Speaker
Anthony Abraham Jack, Ph.D.
We are excited to welcome our keynote speaker, Anthony Abraham Jack. Anthony Abraham Jack is the Inaugural Faculty Director of the Boston University Newbury Center and Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. His scholarship appears in the Common Reader, Du Bois Review, Social Problems, Sociological Forum, and Sociology of Education and has earned awards from the American Educational Studies Association, American Sociological Association, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Eastern Sociological Society, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. In 2020, Muhlenberg College awarded him an honorary doctorate and the National Head Start Association named him a BOLD Alumni Leader for his work in transforming higher education.
The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Nation, American Conservative Magazine, The National Review, The Washington Post, Vice, Vox, and NPR have featured his research and writing as well as biographical profiles of his experiences as a first-generation college student. His first book, The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, was awarded the 2020 Mirra Komarovsky Book Award, the 2019 CEP Mildred Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship, and the Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize and was also named a finalist for the 2019 C. Wright Mills Award and a NPR Book’s Best Book of 2019. His second book project, Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price, is due out in August 2024
He received his BA in Women’s and Gender Studies and Religion cum laude from Amherst College and an AM and Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University.
Schedule at a Glance
| 12:30-12:40 pm | Welcome |
| 12:40-1:20 pm | Icebreaker/Networking |
| 1:20-1:30 pm | Break |
| 1:30-2:30 pm | Keynote: Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack |
| 2:30-2:40 pm | Break |
| 2:40-3:40 pm | Session 1 |
| 3:40-3:50 pm | Break |
| 3:50-4:50 pm | Session 2 |
| 4:50-5:00 pm | Closing Remarks |