La'Tonya Rease Miles oral history - November 4, 2022

My name is Brian Keith Alexander, and I have the absolute pleasure of sitting here with a friend and a colleague, LaTonya Reese. Miles, this is where the applause come in.

Right. Absolute pleasure, my friend. Likewise, my friend. And I want us to use our time efficiently.

And I'd like for maybe for us to begin with what I'm going to call an origin story. I love that, by the way, you know, So, you know, however, wherever you mark origins, particularly leading to your

time here at LMU. Sure. So you may connect with us as well. I knew for sure.

I knew I was the first person in my family go to college that was in first person in my immediate family to go to college, not the first to attempt post-secondary ed, you know, community college.

But of course, I knew I was the golden child of my family, right? So all the resources and whatnot were put into little T.

I was t back then, didn't have the right got it. All the resources were put into me growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. So I knew that.

However, it was much later in my graduate program that I heard this term. First generation college, right? I was finishing my dissertation, which was in English, by

the way, and I was working for a trio program which serves first gen students. And a couple of the grad students said, you know, teach, you know, your first gen, right?

And listen, it was like one of those moments in the movies where everything stops and you reflect on your whole life. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's what that

was. And it was having that term, this, this, it was like it unlocked something for me. And so again, I was completing my doctorate.

I was the assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program at UCLA at that time when I really understood that identity. And so, so much made sense for me then.

And then going forward was when I guess I would say I would be more intentional about that. I became like the like the Pied Piper or, you know, or something like that.

So coming to you, asked about coming to L.A., this is true story. Okay, True story. True story, y'all.

True story. So I had been working for the McNair program at UCLA. I had accepted the position at LMU.

This is 2010. And I remember my mom saying specifically to me, Do you think you'll connect with students at LMU, especially first gen students, in the same way?

And I was like, No, it's a private school, mom. It's private school. Kids don't need they don't need they don't need my support.

And so I was I had no intent. I was not hired to specifically work with first gen students. I was hired to run what was then known as

the Learning Resource Center. The LRC is what it was called back then, and I subsequently started the first gen program. I think we're going to get into that.

Yeah, yeah. No, but this is, you know, so what I'm intrigued with, right, is that every origin story is different, at least in terms of how we want to enter that

conversation, right? So some people will say, I was born in a little log cabin and la la la la la la. Right.

But I love the way that that you brought us sort of fast forward into this moment. But there are two things that I want to ask you about.

And then and then maybe it is that that launch point to a discussion about first gen as an organized, systematic approach of addressing. Right.

You know, one in in your previous response, you mentioned the level of support, the level of investment in Little T, right, and the ways in which families sort of in some ways were investing in the possibility of you,

right. Of Dr.. ELT. Right.

And I'm wondering if you sensed any pressure from that investment, right? Yeah. To both succeed as an individual student.

But the ways in which the potential of a first gen student succeeding has a way of of uplifting the spirit and the possibility. Bility of of an entire family and sometimes an entire

community. Did you. Did you did you feel that? I, I think not Externally.

I never got the message from my family that I didn't feel pressured from them. It was definitely a lot of support and encouragement, mostly because folks just didn't know what I was doing.

Right. So but that translated into Keep going, Keep going. Not like, What are you doing over there? It was like, okay, whatever you're doing is great.

I got that was my my family experience. I know I still felt internal pressure. Okay. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Little T

goes off to college for the first time. And I chose that school. I hear there was you know, we couldn't just Google things.

You know, you had to go get that big Fisk I'm sorry. How far back are you going? You actually had to go get a book off the

shelf to find look for schools, okay, people. And so I remember I don't come from a college going family. I come from a sports loving family.

Right? And what I knew was basketball. So I applied to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

I applied to Duke. I applied to Georgetown University. I'm trying to make my family proud in a way that they could understand.

These are good basketball schools, right? And these are good schools. So my teachers are telling me these are good academic schools.

I'm like, Oh, I can make everybody happy by going to Georgetown or Chapel Hill's. I went to Chapel Hill, right. My family's from North Carolina originally, but I remember distinctly

being in biology first semester, had no business being in biology whatsoever. But as a result of being first gen, I don't know what I don't know.

I don't think to go to an advisor, I'm the person my family goes to. I'm the advisor in my family. I don't go to an advisor.

So I stuck it out as a result of being a black student and first Gen. I also didn't want to be that person that quit. I couldn't be the black girl that quit, so I

stayed in that class. Right? Didn't pass it, should have dropped it. But these are the things we're talking about when we're

saying, what does it mean to be first gen? And also I'm thinking of my family, but no one was. It's not like they were.

They would have been it didn't matter what my grades were. They? Yeah, I was the one that got out.

And so I had that pressure within myself to keep going. No, that's that's wonderful. And that is truly a part of my own experience

as well. Right. And even to the point that I lived at home as an undergrad and my grades would come to the

home and my parents refused to open the mail, the mail mail, because back in the day, I mean, my grades were going home to my parents. And my parents saw anything from the university was sort

of in my domain, right. And they would not open the mail, right. And so I would get home and I would go, did my grades come?

And my mother would say, well, look, there's a stack of mail. And there was like a stack of mail from the university.

And I would open it and I would engage in a conversation about what this is and what that is. And oh, look, there are my grades, right? And my parents would nod and go, Good, good, good.

Keep going. Right. Good job. Good job.

Even when I was suffering inside because I made a C in biology. Right, Right. But they were more encouraging.

So. So here's my other question, just based upon something that you said. Right.

And it's your mother's question or someone from your family who said, do you think you're going to encounter first gen students at LMU? And then the nature of your response that you said.

Right, help, help us understand when you encountered or how you encountered first gen students here and then what may have been the spark for some other more formalized mechanism of bringing them together?

Yeah. I'm going to bridge these two things. I want to talk about the role I play in my family and how that translates to the professional work

that I do. So because what you were describing even about yourself, because like we served as like the cultural brokers in our family, you're the ambassador, you're the face.

Anything that has to do, any male from the government, from school, you know what I'm talking about. You have to open that. Male Right.

And so I was the translator back to everyone, right? So I was the front facing person in my family. And then I would go experience the world in a particular way and then come back to the to the

family. To the community and. You know what we need to say is what we need to.

So I that was my role. Right. And I still play that role to this day. All right.

2010. I. Reshaping the learning. Resource Center.

So been in March or April where I was invited to. I guess it was a Chavez workers appreciation. It's like the annual lunch.

I'm sitting at the table and there's a student there. It's El Sanchez. ESL was a first year and I said, Hey, so how's how just how is your experience at LMU?

And she said, It's been great. I really wish we had something for first gen students and I just had this little, little light bulb moment, right?

I didn't bring this up, but she thought enough of it to mention it and it just stayed with me. It stayed with me. And I said, Huh, You know, and I went to

Dr. Ray, Linda Brown, who was my supervisor. She was the associate vice provost of undergraduate education. And I said, I know may she rest in peace. And I just said, Hey, you know, I'm really interested

in starting something. And this was the moment right here because she could have said, focus on something else. Don't do that.

We don't have the money. She said, go for it. And that's what that's that's that's all it took. And at that moment, I didn't even know what it

was. I didn't even know what it could be. I just thought initially, this is spring 2010, again, a mentoring program.

And that's one thing. Ray, Linda, Dr. Brown and I talked about is what does it mean to support students? And we thought a community is the important thing, right?

So we thought identify. So this program started with faculty and staff first. Not every program starts that way. That's how I started at LSU, was reaching out to

putting a call out. I remember specifically the Latino Faculty and Staff Association. I remember Mary Plum and Dean Richard Plum were the first to Mary said, I'll do it.

I'll make my husband do it. Right, Right, right, right, right, right. He was the dean of Seaver College of Science and Engineering.

They were the first to. But very, very quickly, we had we had more faculty and staff saying, I identify as first gen. Listen.

I said, if we have 25 students will be a success. That was the measure. 25 students said.

No, no, that's that's one, you know, so so I'm tickled. You used the phrase that's sort of a I mean, I recognize it as a kind of black colloquialism.

Right? But it's so important to the nature of our conversation when when you say, you know, I was minding my own business, I was doing my own stuff.

Right. And there's a way in which that phrase, minding my own business. Right.

Is both very specific. Right. In the sense of job descriptions and responsibilities. Right?

Yes. But there's another way in which we think, what is my business? That's right.

What you know, what is my role? So now I'm going to play off of your comment about the role in which we play within our family. Right.

You know, with this notion of doing my business at the university, because if our business is about the wellbeing, growth and development and prosperity of our students across the board, right.

And if we see a need that's right, then that becomes a part of our business. Right? Right.

And I'd love for you to repeat the name of that student that that inspired you because I would love for us to be able to maybe find that student to talk.

Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Thank goodness for social media.

Can stay in touch with people. Yeah. This this is great. I mean, so we want that name.

Oh, yeah. We want that name. Right, Right. She's in the slides.

Is she coming? She may. She may sneak in there. I don't know.

Where's it came back as I was walking over here you have the vendor coming out so I'm not quite sure. Okay.

The issue is okay, so if that happens, I'll just jump in, let you know. Okay. And, uh, you know, it's not a big deal for

the recording, okay? We're just cutting it anyway. But I don't want you to carry on and not record anything, okay?

It would still be a very rich experience for me. Even if it doesn't capture on camera. So we're captured. I'm surprised you're not sitting there with you with your

phone recording. I'm like, You. Don't want to breathe. Funny.

This is such a great. Space, isn't it? So who. Owns it?

It's. It's in. It's. Right.

The provost sort of funded it, you know, on behalf of the sort of educational needs of faculty. That's right. Right.

And so we have a number of faculty that do lectures here and record their lectures. Right. And then that green green screen allows them to to

project things on there as a background. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Sounds pretty good. We may want to just go back about a minute. You were making a point about trying to find the student.

Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So I just want to make sure that we get the name of that student right.

And I would love for us to be able to interview her, of course, about that moment right as she remembers it. And.

And whether or not she was the benefactor that her factory's of of the new programing. But but here's the thing that I want to ask you.

And and I'm avoiding all of my questions here because you're so beautiful and rich. Right? So in terms of the beginning of the programing of

this idea. Right. You mentioned in some ways how things started coming together rather quickly.

Right? You you you had a series of faculty members who were involved. You had a you know, if we had 25 students,

right. That sort of thing. What were the challenges? Did you encounter any challenges?

I mean, not just procedural, administrative, technical things, but any pushback from any anyone about the possibilities of foregrounding the needs, if you will, of this population of students? I did.

Unfortunately, especially when it came to trying to get data, collect data. And I think it was believable. We're.

ELAM you right Well here was the issue. Why I pay attention to first gen students. Our students are doing well here. If you look at graduation and retention rates, the story

is not there. Our students aren't aren't there's no equity gap is that's not the exact language that was used. But it was like, why?

Why do that? Right? If all the numbers are looking good? And so there was push back there.

My response to that is that there's more to a story other than just retention rates. What is the experience that student herself, ESL. Sanchez said she was having a great time at LSU,

but that wasn't the point. Clearly, something else was missing for a first year student, first year to articulate. I wish I'd had something for first gen students.

So that told me something. There's more about the community and connection, not just are they going to graduate. So it's great that students can come here and and

graduate and what we would call a timely way. But the question became about the quality of that experience. Right? Right.

And that's how we shape that program. Yeah. No, no, that's that's just really nice. And let me let me now play off of that

because you you use the tagline or phrase that we're using in the Inclusive History and Images project. And that tagline is there's more behind this story, right? So we can show a photograph.

Right. But what you see but many people will see it's just a moment captured in time, but we won't see the story behind that.

The struggle, the the the strain. Right. The absence. Right.

And so I love the fact that you use that phrase in relation to the beginning of this program, because, you know, that's a part of what we're trying to get at, those untold stories, those untold struggles and challenges.

Right? That is a part of the LMU history. Right, right, right. You know, and so so using that, I'm just wondering

about the first group of students who were involved in the program, right? Were they. So describe the demographics of those students for me.

I love this conversation so much. Okay. So we started with this great outpouring of support from the faculty and staff side.

So then that fall is when we did that initial outreach to identify who students were. Clearly, you know, like most programs, you target the first year students, right.

And as you were talking, I was thinking one of the things that the first to go community has done is shown LMU, who their students are, right? Because that's who we think they are and here's who

they are. So one of the things we found is that no surprise, many of those students identified as Latinx. Right?

Many, but not all. And that's what we need to remember. Right? Right.

The other thing we learned. So there's a significant critical mass of white students who were first in not being served. Right.

And a good portion of first gen students are also not low income, not low income. And I remember distinctly having a student whose parent was a manager at Trader Joe's where you can earn six

figures. Okay. Yeah. She was still first gen, she was still trying to

figure that out. And so this is what we started to see, right? Because those students didn't really have a home or space. And so it was that was that was the first

couple of things that I learned about those students. And then so initially, there was a lot of touch points with first year students. And then we especially working with Tom Goudeau and a

mission started getting transfers. We started to identify transfer students early and back then it was just a mentoring program. But there was one student in particular that changed things

and that's Marissa Servant's okay. Marissa Cervantes was a first year students. I think I sent an email out. I don't even remember all that.

But she replied, she replied, I was like, Oh my gosh, I was so excited. Oh, she wants to be a part of this thing. I don't even know what it is.

And I hired her. I didn't even know what the job was, right? But she was looking for something. So I hired Marissa Cervantes in her first year in

the fall to work with me and my office, and I was like, We're going to figure this out. I don't know what it is. I assigned her to do some research and to find

a bibliography. 2010 wasn't that much out there, and so she wasn't sure what she was looking for either, but was critical about that was having the student voice right from the

start. And very pretty quickly Marissa said we should have a class and then that changed everything. That's nice.

She started talking to other students. She started connecting with other students and asking them what they needed. She started talking to upperclassmen and said, What did you

wish that you had? And they said, Wow, we really wish we had a class where we could see each other all the time. And that took the program from a mentoring program, which

was really important. But then we started adding these other components very, very quickly. And I think what's also significant is that these components

we were adding were components that were already part of the fabric and thread of the of the campus. So there already were these one unit classes, right? I think maybe TLC had a class or other other

sort of affinity groups or other communities. So we created one for first Gens. And that was a strategy that was a very deliberate strategy that we had.

No, no, no. This is wonderful. I mean, one of the things that I'm hearing and it's so important for this IIP project is the emphasis

on inclusion, right? But inclusion without the pre determinations of need, right? I mean, meaning that there's a way in which when I think some people think about first gen, they're thinking

bipoc, they're thinking minoritized people of color, right? But immediately you identified this range of people who who can always and already be first gen regardless of what their racial, ethnic, cultural backgrounds are.

You know, they come to a moment relative to their point of entry into high higher education in ways that their their parents may not have had that experience, even if they're still determined successful however that that that's constructed.

So so when did you think when did you think the program was, like successful?