Changing Campus Culture: First-Gen Students at a Predominantly White Institution
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Start Date
15-2-2023 9:15 AM
End Date
15-2-2023 10:00 AM
Document Type
Presentation
Description
Bentley University was founded in 1917 as an urban night school for the working-class. Throughout our past century of growth, we have evolved into a suburban, predominantly white, predominantly male, and predominantly affluent four-year residential university. To diversify our student body, Bentley recently began a series of initiatives to increase the number of first-generation college students on our campus. Consequently, the number of first-gen students to join the university in fall 2022 increased by 65%, such that 25% of the incoming first-year class, roughly 300 students, are now first-generation. These changes in the demographics of our student body must be met with significant cultural change on our campus if our first-gen students are to succeed at Bentley and beyond. Our presentation will discuss strategies we employ to initiate and sustain changes in our campus culture, policies, business practices and mindsets, including financial support to students, new faculty and staff positions, new events and cultural traditions, an emphasis on student data collection, analysis, and governance, and, most importantly, leadership from the highest levels of the institution and collaboration across divisions, specifically Academic and Student Affairs.
Copy of slides
Changing Campus Culture: First-Gen Students at a Predominantly White Institution
Bentley University was founded in 1917 as an urban night school for the working-class. Throughout our past century of growth, we have evolved into a suburban, predominantly white, predominantly male, and predominantly affluent four-year residential university. To diversify our student body, Bentley recently began a series of initiatives to increase the number of first-generation college students on our campus. Consequently, the number of first-gen students to join the university in fall 2022 increased by 65%, such that 25% of the incoming first-year class, roughly 300 students, are now first-generation. These changes in the demographics of our student body must be met with significant cultural change on our campus if our first-gen students are to succeed at Bentley and beyond. Our presentation will discuss strategies we employ to initiate and sustain changes in our campus culture, policies, business practices and mindsets, including financial support to students, new faculty and staff positions, new events and cultural traditions, an emphasis on student data collection, analysis, and governance, and, most importantly, leadership from the highest levels of the institution and collaboration across divisions, specifically Academic and Student Affairs.