I'm First Faculty & PhD Directory
Check out our Community Directory of faculty and PhD students at Northwestern who were all first generation college students. Learn more about their journeys and reach out to connect.
Northwestern Faculty Members - Were you a first generation college student?
I'm First Faculty & PhD
Michael Allen
Associate Professor, History
Educational Background
University of Chicago, BA; Northwestern University, MA; Northwestern University, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
As the son of divorced working-class parents who grew up in rural Kansas, I was fortunate to be the first in my family to attend or graduate college. For me, being first-gen often means feeling betwixt and between, distant from those I grew up around without feeling fully at home in the communities I now inhabit. That distance is essential to my critical acuity as a scholar but can also be personally painful. I know intimately the transformative power of education even as I remain keenly aware of how few people have the opportunities to learn, grow, and prosper that I enjoy at Northwestern. I try to make the most of those invaluable opportunities--and to make them available to others like me--in order to feel more at home in this, my adopted home.
Neal Blair
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Earth and Planetary Science
Educational Background
University of Maryland – College Park, BS in Chemistry; Stanford, PhD in Chemistry
What does being first generation mean to me?
I grew up in rural Maryland and was the first in my family to go to college, and the only in my immediate family to finish. Possessing an affinity for chemistry and a love for the countryside, I gravitated to geochemistry as a field. My PhD was in Organic Chemistry at Stanford.
Robyn Bockrath
Attending Physician, Instructor of Pediatrics, Associate Clerkship Director, PBL Co-Director
Educational Background
Bachelor of Arts - Miami University; MD from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine; Masters of Medical Education from University of Cincinnati
What does being first generation mean to me?
Originally from a small town in Ohio, it means making my father, who was a farmer, and my mother, who was primarily a home-maker, proud.
Kevin Boyle
William Smith Mason Professor of American History
Educational Background
University of Detroit, BA; University of Michigan, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
My dad wanted nothing more than to go to college. He’d tried for a little while when my brother and I were young. But it was too hard to head off to classes after a full day of work. So he let it go, with only a handful of old textbooks down in the basement to remind us of the effort he’d made. Being a first-gen means a lot of things to me, some of them abstract, some of them concrete, a few of them uncomfortably self-indulgent. Mostly, though, it means that I got to do what my dad dreamed of doing, and to have the chance to make him proud.
Lindsay Chase-Lansdale
Professor Emeritus, Human Development and Social Policy
Educational Background
Harvard, AB; University of Michigan, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
It means that I am so grateful to my parents who sacrificed and worked to give me amazing educational opportunities. It also means that there is a lot to learn about university life, college education, and career opportunities. It also means being a pioneer and feeling inspired!
Lauren Cole
PhD Candidate, History
Educational Background
University of Bristol, BA; University of Bristol, MA
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being an international first-generation student means forging a new path for my life, and challenging assumptions in the academy. Not only do we deserve to be here, but we are the embodiment of the meritocratic ideal. Finding academic mentors has been essential to my journey, so please reach out to me if you would like.
Lisa Corrin
Senior Lecturer; Ellen Philips Katz Director, Block Museum of Art
What does being first generation mean to me?
I know first-hand the complexity of the experience to be the first in your family to take part in a college journey. While such campaigns as “I’m First” did not exist during my college years, I am so glad that this status now constitutes a visible community at Northwestern and across the nation. First-generation college students have a special understanding of one another’s experiences and it is a group I am proud to stand with. My decision to be an educator and to give back as a mentor is my way of honoring my family and my own mentors who paved the way for the extraordinary opportunities I have had since I attended college.
Stephanie Edgerly
Professor and Assistant Dean of Research
Educational Background
University of California Santa Barbara, BA in Communication and Political Science; University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD in Mass Communication
What does being first-generation mean to you?
As a student and now a professor, it means that I often have to convince myself that I belong here and that, even though I don’t have the support and experiences that many of my peers do, I can still succeed.
Myrna Garcia
Associate Professor of Instruction in Latinx Studies
Educational Background
University of Illinois, BA in Latin American Studies; Fordham University, MS in Education; University of California – San Diego, PhD in Ethnic Studies
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first generation means being expected to understand the tacit rules and cultural norms of the academy. Our mere presence in the academy transgresses those dominant frameworks, and sometimes it comes with a great toll. Still, we must heal, and continue with our journey on the rugged, uncharted terrain. The stakes are high. We undertake academic endeavors because of and for our communities. As the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, I am indebted to my family’s history of trabajadores. It has inspired me to overcome the hardships I’ve encountered in my schooling. I struggled to grasp why my experiences were “illegible” to the institution or why I was one of a few people of color in academic settings and professional spaces. I now understand the structural forces shaping these conditions, and I have dedicated my life’s work to cultivating a space for radical possibilities, transformative learning, and knowledge production.
Ava Greenwell
Professor of Journalism
Educational Background
Northwestern University, BS in Journalism; Northwestern University, MS in Journalism; Northwestern University, PhD in African American Studies
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first-generation means that I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and I expect future generations will stand on my shoulders. My grandmother, who was born in 1918, was only able to complete 8th grade. My mother was able to go to college for two years, but then ran out of money. The fact that I was able to complete a Ph.D. in 2014 is beyond my wildest dreams.
Gabriel Guzmán
PhD Student
Educational Background
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
B.A, Cum Laude, English, Media & Cultural Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, June 2019
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
M.A., Performance Studies, June 2020
What does being first generation mean to me?
My FGLI status has been integral towards shaping my experiences across academic institutions and reminding me of the path that my great-grandparents paved for my family and I. My journey in academia has been a collective one, in the sense that my successes are reflective of the resilience I inherited generationally. Amidst obstacles, I have also found community from connecting with other first-gen identifying mentors and allies who have reaffirmed my commitment to earning a PhD. Being first-generation and Latinx, I want to contribute to the diversification of educators in the higher educational context, stimulate new directions of thinking, and to positively nurture future students of color. I am both proud and grateful to call myself first-generation especially as a queer Latinx scholar.
Desiree Hanford
Professor and Director of Academic Integrity and Appeals
Educational Background
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, BA; Northwestern University, MSJ
What does being first generation mean to me?
For me, being first-generation is a sense of accomplishment. My parents were divorced and my dad, supportive though he was, didn't know how to navigate the college application process and we almost never discussed it. But for me, not going to college wasn't an option;
I didn't want to work in the industries that employed most of the people of my dad's generation in my hometown. I trusted that a college education would help me see and experience a world well beyond my hometown. I was fortunate to make life-long friendships with other first-generation students (although none of us knew that the other was first-gen when we met) who came from similar situations and who faced similar challenges.
Sean Hanretta
Associate Professor of History
Educational Background
University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
I am interested in reversing the narrative that first-gen students experience "challenges" and instead focus on the unique assets that first-gen students bring to the campus community.
Stephen Hersh
Senior Lecturer, Integrated Marketing Communications
Educational Background
University of Michigan, BA; Northwestern, MA
What does being first generation mean to me?
I am the child of immigrants from Poland who didn't speak English very well, but were successful small business owners in the United States. My dad went to grade school for only two years before he had to go to work, and my mom stayed in school longer--she graduated from grade school. I grew up living in my parents' foreign culture at home, and in American culture at school. I understand it can be hard to succeed at getting good grades in classes when the people you grew up around did not have a lot of education. My older sister and I were the first in the family to go to college.
I had a 30 year career working mainly for large companies in advertising and marketing, and now I teach in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern and have a small marketing consulting business. I like to partner and problem-solve with students who have made it into college but feel a little overwhelmed by the academic work.
Rick Incorvati
Academic Advisor / Professor of Instruction
Educational Background
John Carroll University, BSBA in Marketing
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, MA and PhD in English
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first generation means that I'm part of a family narrative that's generation's long and that's rich with aspiration as well as convictions about the value of education. It also means that I bring a particular perspective to the work that I do at Northwestern. On my best days, I'm drawing attention to the needs of people who may not have a seat at the table.
Donna Jurdy
Professor Emeritus
Educational Background
University of Michigan, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
I always say that I'm a 'Sputnik-kid': my education and subsequent career was made possible by the resulting space program that blossomed in October 1957 when the Russians launched Sputnik. Living in public housing, aka "the projects", my family did not interact with college graduates. Fortunately, my father even with only a 6th grade education, and from a Middle Eastern heritage, could see the importance of education. He sent girls to college when it was uncommon with his peer group. My father and Sputnik opened the door for my career in science. I am so grateful for having that opportunity. The journey's been wonderful.
Vicky Kalogera
D. I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Educational Background
1992 - BSc in Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
1994 - MSc in Astronomy, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1997 - PhD in Astronomy, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first-gen makes me feel both very proud of how far I have come but also very uncomfortable, all at the same time. What is uncomfortable is my parents (now gone) and my few still closest friends from childhood not having any understanding of what I do, not the specific science, but overall: how my life is structured and how I experience life. It is also uncomfortable to feel, more often than desirable, that I don't belong. On the other hand, I have a great sense of appreciation of my life, and I love that my journey helped me develop resilience and grit, and a can-do attitude that keeps me going. I love talking to young students and postdocs who are first-gen themselves. Our experience overall is a gift to us and to our communities, as we bring a different point of view of the world of the academe.
Nancy Kuntz
Professor of Pediatrics; Professor of Neurology
Educational Background
Boston University, MD
What does being first generation mean to me?
Navigating college was difficult for me, but I just assumed that this was what everyone experienced...it wasn’t until very recently that I realized that I was a first-generation college student. Not knowing how to pick classes and struggling to decipher financial aid information are just a few examples of how I felt "behind" everyone else. The support I had from my parents, friends, and mentors helped to get me where I am today. As a part of Northwestern, I want to be able to provide support for other first-generation students to make sure they can be successful.
Elena Lanza
Associate Professor of Instruction, Spanish and Portuguese
Educational Background
University of Illinois at Chicago, MA
What does being first generation mean to me?
I was born in a small, rural town in the North of Spain. I always took my studies very seriously, even as a child. My town only had an elementary school, so I had to go to the bigger city to live with my grandparents in order to enroll in high school. I got good grades and when I graduated, I went to the University of Salamanca, a prestigious university where I completed my bachelors degree while I worked in different part-time jobs. Going to college was an important achievement in my family, and my parents made a tremendous financial effort so that I would be able to graduate and fulfill my dream to become a Spanish teacher. I also studied abroad in the UK and afterwards came to the US to attend grad school. I have been teaching Spanish at NU since 2003, but my life today would have never been possible without my parents' sacrifice and support, and my hard work and dedication to not disappoint them and myself.
Monica Laronda
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Educational Background
Bridgewater State University, BS; Northwestern University, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
I come from a rural, small town in MA. I am the oldest of 4 children who grew up with all four grandparents either in our home or in the house next door. My dad went to vocational high school and took over his dad's automotive repair and towing business when he was young. My mom worked in a bank until I was born. I was to go to college and also the first to move away when I decided to come to NU for my PhD.
Michelle Goun Lee
Weinberg Academic Advisor
Educational Background
University of California, Berkeley. BA; Columbia University, MA; Northwestern University, MFA
What does being first generation mean to me?
As an undergraduate, I didn’t have much guidance on how to navigate college life. Being first-gen means becoming the advocate I wish I had for the next generation of first-gen students.
Loretta Li
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Educational Background
Yale University, B.S.; Harvard Medical School, M.D.
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first generation means not forgetting how your past has shaped you but also using your education to create new opportunities for yourself and others. It means not having a previously established network, but working to build that network over time. I am grateful to the mentors who have taken an interest in me and I am committed to paying it forward to the next generation.
Christine McCary
Associate Professor of Instruction; Weinberg College Adviser
Educational Background
University of Maryland, BS; Northwestern University, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
It means being proud of my academic accomplishments and giving equal honor to the work my family members in previous generations have done. Though I am first-generation "higher education", so many of my family members were talented, first-generation "something else": entrepreneurs, builders, public servants, and tradespeople.
Almaz Mesghina
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Psychology; Weinberg Adviser
Educational Background
Vanderbilt University, BS; University of Chicago, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first gen is difficult, but empowering. It's not only recognizing that we can navigate the demands of college with less institutional knowledge, but in doing so we can also realize the strengths of our unique backgrounds, including the skills and cultural capital we bring that are less visible in higher ed yet still set us up for success. Being first gen means challenging assumptions about who has access to success and how one achieves it.
Robert Orsi
Professor of Religious Studies; Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies
Educational Background
Trinity College, BA; Yale University, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
I grew up in an immigrant working class Italian American family in the Bronx. I am the only member of my extended family to go to college.
Andrew Papachristos
John G. Searle Professor and Chair of Sociology
Educational Background
Loyola University Chicago, BS; University of Chicago, PhD
What does being first-generation mean to you?
Perhaps one of the most pervasive feelings I associate with being first gen is the “imposter complex,” the sense that I shouldn't be here and it’s just a matter of time before someone figures it out. For me, this was true as an undergraduate student, even more true as a graduate student, and continues to linger even today. What I realize now is that some part of this feeling was simply not knowing about things that other students knew—about the importance of going to office hours, acquiring research experience, finding a good summer internship, or even studying abroad. However, I can say 20 years after college, that being first gen—and how it affected the way I experienced college—better prepared me for life after college than many of my non-first gen friends.
I had a better sense of time management, how to interact with people outside of the classroom in a variety of settings, and how to complete tasks on time and with a sense of professionalism. The reason is I had to do all of these things just to get through college. There was less of a “shock” of leaving college and entering the “real world” because, for me, paying for and making my way towards graduation was already the “real world.” I had to deal with bureaucracies, make decisions that had real effects on whether I was going to eat and where I was going to live, and had to have employment both inside and outside the college setting.
Marita Labedz Poll
Sr. Academic Advisor and Lecturer
Educational Background
EdD, University of Rochester
MSC, Northwestern University
MSed, Eastern Illinois University
BFA, Millikin University
What does being first-generation mean to you?
From the first day that I stepped foot on my undergraduate campus, I was encouraged, challenged, and supported by my professors, deans, and student affairs professionals. These experiences helped me successfully navigate the higher education landscape, and they are one of many reasons I fell in love with the college learning environment and it's the reason I chose to make my career in higher education.
David Rapp
Professor, Psychology and Learning Sciences
Educational Background
2000–2002 Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology and Department of Classics,
Tufts University
2000 Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, State University of New York at Stony
Brook
1996 M.A. in Psychology, New York University
1994 B.A. in Psychology (Minor in Sociology), Cum Laude, State University of New York at Albany
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first-gen means being responsible for representing my family, their hard work, and their support for me, in my own work and academic practices. This means not just taking on personal/professional challenges, but also foregrounding my support of others' development as they explore research questions and navigate University spaces. For me, as a first-gen student, there was both a continuous goal of figuring things out, and also of intentionally seeking out resources, along the way. The help I received was important, and something I take as crucial and necessary for providing to others here at NU.
Babette Sanders
Professor Emeritus, Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences
Educational Background
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, BS; Long Island University, MS; Simmons College, DPT
What does being first generation mean to me?
My parents immigrated from Germany in 1936, neither of whom were college graduates. To honor their sacrifices, both my sister and I graduated from college and have had successful careers.
James Spillane
Olin Professor in Learning & Organizational Change
Educational Background
St. Patrick's College, Bed; California State University Chico, MA; Michigan State University, PhD
What does being first generation mean to me?
I am a first generation high school graduate. Growing up in rural Ireland in the 1960's and 70's, my parents instilled in my five siblings and me an appreciation for doing well in school though both of them had to leave schooling after elementary education, the norm for working class children of their generation. They worked seven days a week on a small family dairy farm to make ends meet and support six children, urging us to do well in school and providing constant support with the help of an extended family. Though I failed to appreciate it as a child, they sacrificed so much for us and for that I am now deeply thankful and know I can never pay them back for all they did for our sake and gave up for themselves. I try to pay back by paying forward by reaching out and supporting others who are first generation high school or college.
Regan Thomson
Professor of Chemistry
What does being first-generation mean to me?
At the time I never really thought about it, but when I was younger it meant I got to experience opportunities my parents did not have when they were young. Reflecting upon this question, I realize it is a special privilege. Now, as a faculty member, I try to relate to and help current generations of 1st gen students as they navigate college.
Suzan Van Der Lee
Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor; Director of Computing
Educational Background
Utrecht University – The Netherlands, MS; Princeton University, PhD
What does being first-generation mean to me?
Being first generation means that I was given the privilege to counterbalance the cultural norms that prevented my parents from going to college. My mother became a home-making teacher to help support the college education of her brothers, and my father needed to make a living after several years of high school and became a sailor on the Holland-America Line. I have learned and accomplished many things the hard way, but it’s been a great honor to have experienced individual and mentored success in academia and I feel proud to have helped educate a group of talented students along the way that is even more diverse than in my own experience.
Rachel Wallner
PhD Candidate, History
Educational Background
University of Wisconsin, Superior BA; University of Oregon, MA
What does being first-generation mean to me?
I'm a first-generation college graduate from rural northern Wisconsin. I joined the workforce at fourteen as a berry picker and later began serving tables which paid my bills for more than seven years. Earning a bachelor's degree, a master's, and now a Ph.D. has been more than just hard intellectual work. Integration into a new social environment also posed, and continues to pose, a unique set of challenges. Academic achievement also means cultivating an identity that straddles two kinds of cultures, which can be difficult. I think it's important for first-gen students to share our experiences and challenges within the context of a supportive community with formal recognition from NU.
Charles Whitaker
Professor and Dean, Medill
Educational Background
Northwestern University, BA; Northwestern University, MS
What does being first generation mean to me?
For me, being a first generation college student is a reflection of the hard work and sacrifice of my parents, two brilliant people who were born in the dawn of the Great Depression, and whose educational opportunities were circumscribed by structural poverty and racism. It was their dream to help make my professional and educational dreams come true.
Nina Wieda
Assistant Professor of Instruction
Educational Background
PhD, Northwestern University
MA, Northwestern University
MA Honors, Central European University, Budapest
BA, Pyatigorsk Linguistic University, Russia
What does being first generation mean to me?
Being first-generation means building your own path through life. Unable to draw on our parents' experience and advice, we need to dream bigger and work harder.
Brandon Zborowski
PhD Student in Finance
What does being first generation mean to me?
A first-generation student is someone who is attending or graduated from college while their parents did not receive a post-secondary education. It is someone who shows initiative by navigating the college admission and the college experience with less guidance than peers with college-educated parents.
