First at the top: narratives of college presidents who were first-generation college students

This narrative inquiry aimed to understand the experiences of college presidents who were first-generation students. Specifically, this study sought to identify the ways first-generation presidents transcended educational and career obstacles, explored their career pathways to the presidency, and recognized the ways first-generation college presidents approached leading institutions of higher education. Harpers (2010) anti-deficit achievement model grounded the study and served to center the research on persistence and resiliency. By participating in narrative interviews, nine college presidents shared accounts of overcoming obstacles and navigating college presidencies. Each individual narrative is presented and analyzed for its own individual themes, followed by thematic analysis across the nine narratives. The distinct themes that emerged from the data included (1) mentors, (2) transcending educational and career obstacles, (3) presidential pathways, and (4) approach as first-generation presidents. Discussion and implications identify the ways the research supports dominant narratives, challenges those narratives, and writes a new narrative for college presidents who were first-generation college students. The research supports that college presidents who come from a first-generation student background are uniquely prepared for the presidency and that they possess a skill-set and demeanor that sets them apart from their non-first-generation peers.