Texas Tech will kick off the week on National First-Gen College Celebration Day and will continue celebrating throughout the week.
Texas Tech University's Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion will host First-Gen Week, a celebration of first-generation students that educators from across the nation observe each year.
First-Gen Week is an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to build relationships with their colleagues and leadership to create the support systems needed to thrive and succeed. The week will begin with the First-Gen Celebration on Monday (Nov. 8) and conclude with the all-day First-Gen Champions Institute on Friday (Nov. 12).
“Through the First-Gen Champions Institute, Texas Tech continues to build a network and expand the knowledge necessary to assist and support our first-gen students and their families,” said Carol Sumner, chief diversity officer and vice president of Institutional Diversity at Texas Tech.
“We are committed to providing resources so students can be confident they belong at Texas Tech and can assure their families of the same. Being first generation is just one of many ways our students experience campus and it's our hope that the institute will allow educators, administrators and others to better understand the complexity of being first generation and other intersections of identities our students have. We want every student to know they are the hope of generations past and the promise of a greater future we believe to be true when we say ‘From Here It's Possible!'”
First-Gen Week events include:
- First-Gen Celebration: 4-6 p.m. Monday (Nov. 8), Student Union Building (SUB) Ballroom
- Donuts & Diversity with First-Gen Veterans: 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 9), Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Fireplace Room
- First-Gen Networking 101: 5-6:30 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 9), SUB Ballroom
- Barbershop Talks: 4-5 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 10), SUB Red Raider Lounge
- Conversations with the Next Generation feat. Aliza Wong: 6-7 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 10), SUB Red Raider Lounge
- First-Gen Graduate Student Mixer: 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 11), SUB Lubbock Room
- First-Gen Champions Institute: 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday (Nov. 12), SUB
