College Newsmakers

Martin Wins Dissertation of the Year Award

February 22, 2012

Georgianna Martin (PhD ’11) received the Burns B. Crookston Doctoral Research Award, the equivalent of the ACPA (American College Personnel Association) Dissertation of the Year, for her study, “Getting Out, Missing Out, and Surviving: The Social Class Experiences of Low-Income, First-Generation College Students.”

Martin’s dissertation research investigated how low-income, first-generation students experience and navigate their social class during college. Participants in the study became keenly aware of their social class during college largely because of frustrating and challenging interactions with their dominant middle-class to upper-class peers on campus.

“Over the course of the study, it became clear through students’ stories that their social class influenced how they viewed themselves, the world around them, and their higher SES peers in college,” Martin said. “I anticipate this research will offer depth to educators’ understanding of college students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and perhaps challenge higher education administrators to critically examine their roles in creating inclusive and supportive campus environments for these students.”

Professor Ernest Pascarella said Georgianna Martin is one of the program’s distinguished graduates.

“Her dissertation research is one of the finest applications of qualitative methods to an important issue in higher education that I have ever read,” he said. “It is most deserving of the prestigious Crookston Award and we are proud to have her as a representative of the Iowa Program.”

Martin said she is honored to be recognized because this award comes from her professional home and her faculty peers in student affairs.

“The mentorship I have had in ACPA mirrors the amazing mentorship I had while studying in the College of Education at the University of Iowa,” she said.