As summer break kicked off and many students wound down for the season, Anne Bair ’26 began one of the most challenging endeavors of her collegiate career.
The psychological science major from Gettysburg, Pa., began analyzing data that was collected during the 2024-25 academic year for a study on how first-generation students transition and integrate at Colgate.
Jessica Murray, the assistant director for student success at the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research (CLTR), began the study a year ago with a handful of psychology majors who were completing their thesis requirements. Murray was a visiting assistant professor of psychology at the time.
Bair, searching for a research opportunity to meet her own requirements, was intrigued with the topic of the study led by Murray. She joined the research team in the spring to work with Murray on the final stage of the project.
That meant sorting through answers to more than 250 questions given to more than 200 students. And in the process, Bair, a senior guard on the women’s basketball team, found time to train for the upcoming season.
“My summer was busy, but it was a very positive experience,” she said. “I learned a lot about research skills and using statistical software. The experience will help me in all aspects of the field of psychology, whether I go into research, counseling, or work in higher education.”
Analyzing the numbers was only part of Bair’s task. She also had to understand what the data told and compile it into a report.
“The most important thing Anne did was tell the story of the data and make the results relatable and useful for our audience,” Murray said. “She spent her whole summer getting to know the data, the theories, new statistical methods, ways of creating graphs and making sure that she understood the goals of this endeavor thoroughly. She was incredibly dedicated to the project from the start.”
Murray said she was impressed with how Bair connected the statistical facts, the theory, and the application while never losing sight that she was talking about real people.
“I did not have to teach Anne to think compassionately about our work; she was compassionate from the start,” Murray said.
After completing her work, Bair in early September shared the report at a teaching table, an event hosted by the CLTR that allows Colgate faculty and staff to learn and discuss a focused topic.
Many numbers and graphs were shared at the event. But one discovery that intrigued the research team — and the teaching table audience — involved the differences between first-generation and continuing-generation students. One of those differences, for instance, was an interest in joining social groups.
The percentage of first-generation students who didn’t join a social group was higher than that of continuing-generation students by nearly 3-to-1. One possible explanation for this is “life history theory” — an evolutionary developmental theory about how early life environments may impact the decisions people make throughout their lives.
