Campus Service Workers Supporting First-Generation Students

Georgina Guzmán is Associate Professor of English at California State University Channel Islands, USA. La’Tonya Rease Miles is Dean of Student Affairs at Menlo College, USA. Stephanie Santos Youngblood is an Ed.D. student at Arizona State University.

Part 1: Paradigm Shifts: Critically Reframing Campus Service Workers’ Roles in Student Success






Seeing Ourselves on Campus in (Un)Likely Places: Campus Service Workers’ Ethos of Care and Horizontal Mentorship of First-Generation Students, Andrea N. Hunt and Alyson Bergner



Custodians of Student Success: Campus Citizenship in the Borderlands, T. Mark Montoya



We Do Way More Than Just Clean Up Puke...We Connect with Students: Custodial Staff as Informal Mentors at a Large, Public University, Yolanda M. Wiggins



To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before: What Captain Picard and His Mentor, Boothby, Can Teach Us About the Future of Student Support, La’Tonya Rease Miles
Part 2: Testimonials and Counternarratives: The Roles of Campus Service Workers in Supporting Student Success

A. Validating Identities




"Heyyy, sis!": Black Women Breaking Barriers Together at a P.W.I., Jada DaMae Anderson



"Call Me Young Chan": How a Campus Housekeeper Taught Me to Be Korean Again, Young Chan Lim



Siempre la Hija de una Campesina: My Journey from the Central Valley to Los Angeles, and Back, Susy N. Puente



From Nobody to Somebody: Finding a Friend and Mentor in a Campus Worker as an International Student, Yuhang (Doris) Cai
B. Forming Cultural Counterspaces




Latinas in the Chemistry Building: Making and Reclaiming Space, Isis Frausto-Vicencio



Social and Cultural Exchange as Means of Counterhegemonic Education: How A Campus Groundskeeper Helped Me Discover My Agency and Sense of Belonging as a First-Generation, Nontraditional, Reverse-Transfer Latina Student, Saraí V. Kashani



Dropping Anchor in Unfamiliar Spaces: Reflections of a First-Generation Black Woman’s Search for Community at a Predominantly White University, Penny S. Seals
C. Mentorship, Belonging, and Community Empowerment




Community Educator, Institutional Ally, Custodian: Lessons from Señor Mauricio’s Pedagogy of Care in UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program, Ifeoma A. Amah and Cindy Raquel Escobedo



¡Aquí, Allá, El Pueblo Vencerá!: Examining a Campus Service Worker’s Role as Activist, Mentor, and Inspiration, Martha N. Xuncax



Primera Generación, Pero No La Última: Finding a Support Network as a Student Worker in the Campus Dining Halls, Nancy Valencia with Tara Prescott-Johnson



Two Chicken Wings, an Apple, and a Bag of Chips: The Impact of Food Service Workers on the Retention of a First-Generation, Single Mother, Kimberly Walker
D. Supporting Post-Completion Success




From First-Year Student to Professor: Growing a Social Consciousness and Learning Life-Long Values From Campus Residence Hall Workers, Georgina Guzmán



Confessions of a First-Gen Professional: How I Learned to Survive the Professional World in the Break Rooms, Loading Docks, and Supply Rooms of UCLA, Stephanie Santos Youngblood



Becoming a First-Gen Lawyer: How Service Workers Shaped the Advocate I Am Today, Daysi N. Alonzo



Becoming Middle-Class Faculty With Working-Class Sensibilities, Jennie Luna



La Fille de Léonard: What Québécois Cultural Sovereignty Taught Me About Working with Historically Marginalized Students, Nancy-Jean Pément
Part 3: Call to Action/Praxis: Successful Projects and Justice for Campus Service Workers




Building Horizontal Relationships Through Spanish Community-Engaged Learning: Voices of First-Generation Latinx Students, Carla Suhr



Beyond the Bottom Line: Layoffs Leading to a Reflection on Transformational Resistance, Lindsay Romasanta and Belinda Zamacona



During a Pandemic, Who Protects the Protectors? LaShyra Nolen