Working-Class Studies Association
The Working-Class Studies Association supports scholarship, teaching, and activism related to working-class life and cultures.
Past Working-Class Studies Association President, and Professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, Michele Fazio has won the University of North Carolina’s System Award for Teaching Excellence.
The award is the highest post-secondary award in the state of North Carolina. Fazio will be formally honored and will serve as UNC-Pembroke’s winter commencement speaker.
Congratulations Michele!
Debbie Warnock, PhD, WCSA member at Bennington College, will present on “Creating Communities of Support for First Generation, Low Income, and Working Class Students,” as part of American International College’s Lectures and Forums Series. The series is coordinated in part by WCSA member, and Associate Professor of History at AIC, Gary Jones.
The event will be October 22, 2019 at 11am in AIC’s Campus Center Auditorium, and is free and open to the public.
WCSA members Colby King, associate professor of sociology, and Sean McPherson, assistant professor of art, (both of Bridgewater State University) contributed to an article on understanding the needs of first-generation students on campus. “New Territory: Ensuring First-Generation Students Feel at Home and Succeed on Campus” appeared in Bridgewater Magazine.
King will start a new position in the fall as assistant professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina at Upstate. Click here to read his views on what the next generation of working-class Americans will look like.
WCSA Working-Class Academics Chair, Debbie Warnock, is conducing a survey on low-income, first-generation, and working-class undergraduate students. See the information below if you’re interested:
Are you a first-generation college student? Are you from a low-income or working-class background? Would you like to volunteer to participate in a study about your experiences of class on campus?
In order gain insight into the experiences of low-income, first-generation, and working-class (LIFGWC) students, Dr. Debbie Warnock and student research assistants at Bennington College have developed a survey that asks about institutional supports on campus, as well as sources of informal support, such as relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow students from similar class backgrounds.
Participants will be contributing to our knowledge of the first-gen/low-income/working-class student experience on campus and can opt into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.
To participate, simply go to TINYURL.COM/CLASSONCAMPUS
Feel free to contact debbiewarnock@bennington.edu with any questions. Thanks!
Check out our new Resources page for recently-published essays and organizations promoting the success of first-generation and working-class students.
WCSA Steering Committee member Colby King, along with colleagues Jakari Griffith and Meghan Murphy, recently published an article in Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University describing outreach efforts in support of first-generation and working class college students at Bridgewater State University (BSU), a state comprehensive university where a majority of students come from first-generation or working class backgrounds. The article describes programming organized by Class Beyond the Classroom (CBtC), a faculty and staff group at BSU, in which CBtC members share their stories about going to college as a first-generation and/or working class college student. The article discusses how these events validate first-generation and working class students, encourage students’ sense of belonging, and supports the success of all students by fostering their development of social, cultural, and psychological forms of capital.
