Kelly Ann Cunningham, PhD
Work with First-Generation College Students
My work with first-generation college students began during my time as a Curb Center Public Scholar in Graduate School. At Bentley University, I am a member of the Tri-Alpha Honors Society where I help organize a mentorship program for first-generation college students. This page contains more information about the various initiatives and collaborations I've led or contributed to in recent years.
Tri-Alpha Honors Society
The Tri-Alpha Honors Society recognizes first-generation students with high academic achievement. Bentley's chapter began in 2023. I joined as a faculty member when I started at Bentley in Fall 2024. I have since worked with Tri-Alpha to organize a mentorship program connecting Tri-Alpha student with faculty and staff mentors.
Open Book Collective was an organization for and by first-generation, low-income (FGLI) college students, that I started during my time as a Curb Center Public Scholar. The project's goal was to foster community and promote creativity among the FGLI community. Our name was inspired by our mission to create spaces where FGLI students could speak openly about their experiences and engage in dialogue about the challenges and insights they encounter, as well as join together to form a stronger community. In addition to providing resources for FGLI students, we also featured their stories by showcasing their creative work. During the 2022-25 academic year, I worked with first-generation undergrads from Vanderbilt, Tennessee Tech, and Middle Tennessee State University to organize events and collect creative work from first-generation college students in the Middle Tennessee Region.
In the 2023-24 academic year, with continued support from the Curb Center at Vanderbilt as well as grants from Vanderbilt's Graduate Leadership Institute and Alumni Association, we piloted a mentorship program. In our pilot, faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates are grouped into intergenerational "pods" and meet regularly as pods and as a full group. We also worked with the Heard Library to offer a Buchanan Fellowship for two undergraduate students, who compiled resources for the FGLI community and highlighted the experience of FGLI students by sharing their stories in a podcast.
My partner in each of these initiatives, Erica Scarpitti has continued to with Vanderbilt administrators and staff to establish a more permanent mentorship program called FGLI Grads. You can read more about this exciting new initiative here.
In 2025, Erica and I published an article in The Journal of First-Generation of Student Success that reflects on our experience and shares the lessons we learned. You can find that work by clicking the button to the right.
