It's in the Syllabus and Other First Generation College Student Experiences

An immersive, playfully disorienting encounter, It's in the Syllabus offers participants a complex view of a heterogenous identity group: students who are the first generation in their family to attend college. Participants witness several intersecting stories about first generation college student (FGCS) experiences and challenges, which confront stereotypes about who FGCS are and what they bring to the classroom. Through facilitated activities and discussion, instructors strategize about ways to make their classrooms more transparent and foster belonging for FGCS. The session is appropriate for faculty, graduate student instructors, and academic leaders. 

The typical session length is 120 minutes. It's in the Syllabus is only offered as an in-person session. It will be available in April, 2025.

**The theatrical portion of this session contains strong language and descriptions of explicit challenges related to race, gender, sexuality, mental health, socioeconomic status, and first-gen college student status in higher ed.

In this session, participants will:

  • Discuss barriers that create challenges for FGCS.
  • Identify specific classroom strategies to better support FGCS.
  • Consider how to deploy resources on campus relevant to FGCS.
What people have said about It's in the Syllabus and Other First Generation College Student Experiences :
Excellent presentation of the characters. I appreciated the diversity of experiences the student characters shared - definitely made me more aware of the campus climate and its effects.
This was beautifully structured, powerfully delivered. The combination of different modes of providing information - historical context, UM timeline, national statistics, and the integrated play and time to process individually and together - was brilliant and very effective.
This workshop/production was phenomenal. It helped bring awareness to some practices I need to change and provided confirmation of some things I already do.
This was the most impactful presentation I've ever been to. The sketch at the beginning was very well-written, and hearing the material presented as a human story was so much more meaningful than reading information off of slides.
Click here to visit our What the Audience Is Saying page to read more.
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