Thiên Thanh NguyễnUndergraduate Humanities Honors Fellow

Thiên Thanh Nguyễn is a senior double-majoring in Sociology and Economics.

 His thesis project will examine how first-generation college students (FGCS) understand work, given their higher likelihood of employment during college to meet their financial needs. By balancing being both a student and a worker, he will explore how FGCS struggle to satisfy the needs and expectations of both roles without compromising those of the other as a form of inter-role conflict. In particular, he is interested in how FGCS experience mental health challenges as a result of their competing demands. Using an oral history methodology, he will place FGCS’ relationships with work against the university context while capturing their overall life histories that have shaped their understanding of labor. He hopes his scholarship can humanize the FGCS community by illuminating the myriad of experiences these students carry with them into college that shape their very presence and participation on campus.