Academic advisors champion first-generation student success
Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences advisors foster student success with data-driven model
Before a single class begins, Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, AGLS, academic advisors Kelsey Hirsch and Hannah Muras are already showing up for their students.
Last summer, Muras proposed opening their advising hub during New Student Conferences to welcome incoming first-generation students alongside whoever they brought with them, whether that was a parent, a grandparent or a close friend. The Agriculture and Life Sciences, AGLS, Advising Hub, joined by the Kleberg Advising Hub, made it happen.
“We wanted to make sure that students navigating higher education for the first time in their family knew that there was someone there supporting and rooting for them,” Muras said.
That early welcome is part of something bigger. First-Gen Forward, launched in January 2023 under the leadership of Jenna Kurten, Ph.D., assistant dean of student success for the College, was built around a sobering data point: first-generation students are between 7% and 17% less likely to graduate than their peers.
Approximately one in five students in the College is the first in their family to attend college. For Kurten, that number represents both a challenge and a calling.
“The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has always been a place that takes care of its people,” Kurten said. “For our first-generation students, that means making sure the support is visible, accessible and personal from the very first day they set foot on campus.”
First-Gen Forward is one part of a broader institutional commitment to making that promise real. Since the initiative launched, first-generation student retention is on the rise, a trend the College expects to track more precisely as student cohorts progress through their full four-year experience.
“Everything we do to support first-gen experiences supports generational students too. When we infuse empathy into our daily interactions with students, it pays off for every student we serve.”
Jenna Kurten, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for Student Success, Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
A dedicated advisor for every major
At the heart of the effort is a simple idea: make support visible and accessible.
The initiative pairs intentional structure with personal connection. Advisors across the College opted to serve in a dedicated “first-gen role,” ensuring every academic major has at least one advisor specifically prepared to support first-generation students.
Kurten and Jennifer Rhinesmith-Carranza, Ph.D., director of advising for the College, also partnered with Texas A&M’s Office for Student Success and the Division of Academic Affairs to build a cross-functional community where advisors and student-success professionals come together two to three times per semester to review research, hear from campus speakers and refine best practices.
The collaboration has produced meaningful results. Hirsch and Muras created a professional development book club that earned recognition from the National Academic Advising Association.
The club has increased the availability of advising appointments for first-generation students and hosted two to four student-facing events each semester. The events range from snack-filled study spaces during finals to first-generation celebrations throughout the year.
“Everything we do to support first-gen experiences supports generational students too,” Kurten said. “When we infuse empathy into our daily interactions with students, it pays off for every student we serve.”
A model gaining university-wide attention
The work has not gone unnoticed. The university’s assessment team has taken a formal interest in the First-Gen Forward initiative, and an evaluation is currently underway to measure its impact and explore possible expansion across Texas A&M University’s campus.
For Hirsch and Muras, that recognition affirms what they have always believed about the initiative. Resources and programming are open to any student, regardless of first-generation status, because the goal was never about drawing lines. It was about opening doors.
“We don’t ask whether a student is the first in their family to attend college,” Hirsch said. “But we do make sure every student knows we are here.”
