KINGSTON, R.I. – March 10, 2025 – As a former first-generation student, Kristin Ridge, Ed.D., understands the daily challenges these students face without a built-in support system to navigate college life in and out of the classroom.

As the associate dean of students, community standards at the University of Rhode Island, Ridge used her experience in higher education to develop award-winning research that she hopes will encourage student conduct administrators to view their work through a different lens and come up with equitable processes that support access for all students.

Ridge’s dissertation, “Equity in the Student Conduct System for First-Generation College Students,” won the Dissertation of the Year Award from the Association for Student Conduct Administration at its recent 2025 Annual Conference.

The award recognizes a dissertation that makes an exceptional contribution to research on issues directly related to student conduct administration in higher education and that contributes to the knowledge base of the association’s membership and professional practice.

“It was a nice surprise,” said Ridge of Coventry, who completed her dissertation at Johnson & Wales University, where she earned her doctorate in educational leadership in 2024. “There are a lot of low- or no-cost things that all colleges and universities can be doing to close equity gaps and benefit first-generation students, and that’s the ultimate goal of this project.”

Ridge’s dissertation focuses on how the experience of a first-generation student facing potential discipline for a conduct violation might differ from that of a traditional college student, highlighting the need for colleges and universities to consider the context and lived experiences of first-generation students; be aware of their own implicit bias when making decisions; and fully consider the unique challenges first-generation students face when navigating these processes based on their often-minoritized identity and low socioeconomic status.

Over the course of three years, she spoke with experts in first-generation student conduct at three public institutions in the Northeast with large first-generation enrollments and robust first-generation support systems to identify best practices and policies, a process she described as “eye-opening.”

“The focus was looking at how a first-generation student would be impacted by the student conduct process from the lens of their support system,” Ridge said. “If I’m a first-gen student and I have a parent whose first language is not English, I would have access to our student handbook, but it’s in English, so would I have the level of English literacy required to understand the handbook versus a student, for example, whose father is a lawyer and understands the handbook and can parse it and understands contract law?

“Are they getting the same adjudication process and the same sanctioning? One student has this support system that’s effective and informed, and while the other student may have a very supportive parent or family group, they may not have the same knowledge, lived experience – or maybe even access – to be able to navigate the bureaucracy of a conduct process. This shows why you have to approach each case with a different lens.”

Ridge discovered the institutions she was studying were not doing anything specific with the conduct process for first-generation students, which, she said, “wasn’t exciting to hear.” However, the administrators she spoke with seemed receptive to the idea of implementing policies that address the unique needs of these students and work toward developing better support systems.

Her research also reiterated the need for student conduct administrators to focus on the root of conduct issues – “What’s the need that is driving this behavior?” she said – as they relate to a student’s culture, background, or circumstances. This can range from behavioral issues to matters of academic integrity.

“Our first-gen students come to campus with a greater natural skill for self-advocacy. They’re more likely to recognize they need to do things for themselves because they haven’t necessarily experienced the safety net,” Ridge said. “They’re more willing to articulate their needs. The issue becomes the efficacy with which they do that.

“Should we be putting our efforts into teaching first-generation students how to navigate the culture of academia? Or should we be getting our campuses ready for first-generation students and the cultural knowledge they bring with them?”

A native New Yorker and lifelong learner, Ridge said she had always wanted to write a dissertation on first-generation students based on her own experiences as a student and in the workforce. While earning her bachelor’s degree at New York University, she said she didn’t realize she was a first-generation student, nor did she know the terminology existed, until her junior year. She eventually worked in housing at two private institutions – Boston College and Bryant University – that didn’t have significant first-generation populations, and later earned her doctorate at Johnson & Wales alongside an entire cohort of first-generation students. Suffice to say, she remains dedicated to ensuring first-generation students have the same opportunities and access as their peers.

“A lot of this doesn’t take money,” she said. “It just takes some kind of overt education.”

Michael Parente, director of communications and marketing in the URI Division of Student Affairs, wrote this news release.