Daniel Morales builds a university of understanding for first-gen students
The interim assistant director of classroom climate at the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence helps first-gen students navigate the institution and ensures faculty and advisers understand their unique needs.
By John Henry Sullivan
Daniel Morales, the interim assistant director of classroom climate at the University of Minnesota’s Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence, knows where to point students who need help. He provides guidance to students who otherwise would not know where to find crucial resources.
He will even help a student pay rent.
He does this within proper university channels: If students approach him short on a monthly rent bill, he has helped them fill out an application to get emergency funding from the university.
It’s the kind of act that makes a profound difference for students whose experience can be overwhelming.
Morales is a nexus point for first-generation students at the center, also known as MCAE. From academic to social life, he connects students with people who can answer questions their parents cannot. Whether a student needs tutoring, help finding a discounted basketball ticket or more inclusive syllabi that support multicultural perspectives, Morales works with university staff and faculty to support first-generation students integrating into college life.
“[I] envision a way to support faculty and staff in understanding and supporting multicultural and first-gen students,” Morales said. “So it’s classroom and non-classroom support for them to understand how to better navigate their classroom environments and also non-classroom environments.”
Morales was a first-gen student himself at the Universidad de Santiago in Chile, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in education. He came to the United States and received a master’s degree in intercultural communication from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and he is working on his Ph.D. in education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Will O’Berry, the director of the President’s Emerging Scholars program, was a member of Morales’ search committee and now works closely with him. O’Berry said in his interview with Morales, he saw him to be trustworthy — an important attribute to have when working with first-gen students who can be skeptical of educational systems.
Morales also had a focus on racial and social justice that was refreshing, O’Berry said. In August 2020, Morales was hired at the university.
Morales said the university is a big institution and navigating that can be a cultural adjustment for students, especially first-gen students. Family norms, family culture and high school culture might be very different from what one might encounter at the university and many first-gen students do not know how to navigate it.
“Many (first-gen students) can’t ask their parents because they didn’t go to school,” Morales said.
To address that gap, Morales and MCAE hold a yearly “Kick Off” event that helps incoming students connect with a community of peers. Each student attending gets matched with a “Kick Off Leader,” like a peer mentor, to create a space for first-gen students to ask questions.
Terra Brister, the interim assistant director of holistic support at MCAE, and Krysta Wetzel, the interim program coordinator of student leadership and signature events at MCAE, also organize the event.
The goal is to connect with a person who can help them navigate the university going forward, he said.
While Morales and MCAE create inclusive spaces for first-gen students, Morales said academic advisers are essential for guiding first-gen students through university resources including financial aid applications, campus involvement and referrals for support services, such as tutoring or mental health resources.
His job was created partly to help advisers understand that multicultural and first-gen students have distinct advising needs, which include helping them with matters beyond academics.
“The knowledge and experience of multicultural and first-gen students varies so much that you really have to get to know them well to understand where they are located right now and what kind of stuff they’re navigating,” Morales said.
Lisa Marshall, the director of communications at the Office for Equity and Diversity, said Morales brings an important perspective to the university’s support of first-generation students.
“Something that I’ve been wildly impressed about by Daniel is that he’s thinking proactively,” Marshall said. “He’s thinking, ‘What can we do across the university to holistically support students, first-gen students and, frankly, all the students MCAE supports?’”
A previous version of this story did not indicate that Brister and Wetzel organize the yearly “Kick Off” event. This information has been added per Morales’ request.