Doing More, Together: The Power of Partnerships

– Helen Keller

First-gen folks are known to be resourceful and collaborative. These are two traits that drive successful partnerships, especially as resources become increasingly scarce. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), we’ve leveraged meaningful and intentional partnerships to build our #FirstGenAK program supporting first-generation student success.

In 2019, we intentionally brought together the Nanook Diversity and Action Center’s (NDAC) experience in providing intersectional diversity, inclusion, wellness, and prevention programming for students with Student Support Services’ (SSS) mission to increase the academic achievement, retention, and graduation rates of first-generation, low-income students, and students with disabilities. This partnership led to a five-year plan to institutionalize efforts to support first-generation students and UAF’s recognition as a First-gen Forward Institution. “It is important to consider various perspectives and approaches when it comes to serving our students,” said Jo Malbert Narvaez, the Nanook Diversity and Action Center’s Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator and first-gen professional. “A partnership between NDAC and SSS ensures that our first-generation students have access to important resources, while also ensuring that we provide support for them in other parts of their identity. Our partnership has allowed us to take an intersectional and holistic approach to first-generation student support.”

My role as a mentor has reminded me of my own identity as a first-generation college graduate. I’ve moved from seeing my status as a source of struggle to one of strength. This transformation is already seen in my mentee.

The first major program of our five-year plan–a new mentorship program for first-gen students–was launched this fall. Nearly 40 first-gen students were paired with more than 25 first-gen faculty and staff mentors, far exceeding our expectations. We partnered with UAF’s Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program to offer mentorship training for our faculty and staff partners, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to meaningfully engage with their mentees. Armed with this training, our mentors and mentees have been meeting throughout the semester, despite the pandemic, forming meaningful, student-centered relationships.

Partnering with faculty and staff from across the university has helped to promote the #FirstGenAK program while also finding unexpected allies for student success. “My role as a mentor has reminded me of my own identity as a first-generation college graduate,” said Andrew Aquino, project and office manager in UAF’s Office of Advancement. “I’ve moved from seeing my status as a source of struggle to one of strength. This transformation is already seen in my mentee. Our shared status is—at times—the single motivator to succeed.” Andrew has used his prior experience working in the Fairbanks non-profit community to help his mentee, a social work major, explore possible career paths in the social service sector.

We’re excited to launch a new partnership this spring–a partnership that will see our university’s first dedicated staff member working to support first-generation student success. With funding from the UAF Graduate School, Center for Student Engagement, and Vice Provost, we created a graduate assistantship for first-generation student success. “The new graduate student is a great symbol for, and recognition of, the collaborative work that staff in both Student Affairs and Academic Affairs have been able to accomplish over the past two years,” said Victoria Smith, Director of UAF’s Student Support Services Program and first-gen professional. “This has truly been a grassroots effort, and to see administrative support come through in the form of this graduate assistantship is so encouraging–it means that the work our team has done to bring awareness and understanding of the first-gen experience thus far is being recognized and that there's clearly a need for a dedicated support structure to help with programming and community building for this student population. My hope? This is just the beginning of a Center for First-Gen Success at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.”

It is important to consider various perspectives and approaches when it comes to serving our students.

This assistantship will provide a meaningful learning experience for a graduate student, allowing them to apply classroom learning to practical program administration, while also providing dedicated staff time for programs and workshops for UAF’s first-gen students to build community, develop skills, and promote resilience.

Partnerships have been central to our first-generation efforts at UAF. By leveraging relationships with campus partners, we’ve created learning and development opportunities to support first-generation students, build community among all first-gen members of the UAF community, and begin to institutionalize the #FirstGenAK program. Together with our campus partners, we’ve been able to accomplish far more than we’d have been able to accomplish alone.