A Solution That Sticks: Q&A With MarYam Hamedani

Stories From the Field

A Solution That Sticks: Q&A With MarYam Hamedani

MarYam Hamedani, Ph.D., a SPARQ senior research scientist, conducted the research featured in this toolkit. She discusses the the inspiration for the work, surprises it presented, and directions it might take in the future.

SPARQ: Why did you do this study?

Hamedani: We were interested in designing interventions to reduce achievement gaps between students whose parents went to college [continuing-generation students] and those whose parents did not [first-generation students]. First-generation students’ issues were gaining a lot of prominence at the time. We thought that educating everyone about how people’s different social-class backgrounds can both raise issues and confer superpowers could help all students.

SPARQ: What was surprising about your findings?

Hamedani: A lot of interventions target first-generation students because they are the group that is struggling to keep up with continuing-generation students. But our intervention helped both continuing-gen and first-gen students.

SPARQ: Who else has implemented your intervention?

Hamedani: At Stanford, our research has inspired programs in both the Diversity and First-Gen Office (DGen) and the First-Gen Low-Income Program (FLIP). And at the University of Southern California, we scaled this program with an online version that students took before they came to campus. We found similar effects for students who attended the live in-person panel and students who took the online version.

SPARQ: What happens to the students who participate in your program after their first year? Do the good results last?

Hamedani: We followed up with our participants one year later and found that those who received the intervention handled stressful college situations better than did those who did not. We are planning to look at whether these effects persist into graduate school and the workforce.