Q&A with Mary Ruppert-Stroescu

The WashU community is celebrating First-Generation Week November 4-8. The First-Generation College Celebration is an annual, nationwide opportunity to raise awareness of the first-generation college student identity by advancing narratives of their experiences and outcomes.

In this Q&A, Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, PhD, associate professor and fashion design area coordinator, shares insight on her experience as a first-generation college student.

What were your views about college growing up?
Both of my parents only went to school through eighth grade. My oldest sister went to vocational school for secretarial training; my brother served in the Army in Vietnam, then worked; my next sister went to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale (SIU), majoring in Biology; and my next brother went to SIU for business. During the riots of ’68, she and my brother came home from Carbondale and I felt very scared about college. I wanted to be independent, have a career, and earn my own money. I knew I didn’t want to be a secretary and knew college was the next step to take. 

What was your path to college like?   In high school, my teachers and counselors didn’t see me as college bound. I remember my counselor telling me I didn’t need to take geography or chemistry. I did have high ambitions though. When they bussed us off to take the ACT, I didn’t know what it was about. I applied to SIU because my friends who were going to college were going there, and it was an hour from home, so I could still hang out with the friends who worked rather than attended college.

I wanted to be a lawyer and chose to major in political science. I liked it, but when a friend told me that she took a fashion class, I was intrigued. I had been active in 4-H, sewing and competing for blue ribbons since I was eight years old. I did well in the fashion classes and decided to change my major to clothing and textiles, with a double major in design and merchandising and a minor in art.

After finishing my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in a travel-study program for graduate credit in Paris. I had an opportunity to stay in Paris and that changed my life. I ended up living and working in Paris, Dusseldorf, and Casablanca for about 10 years. 

How did your views on higher education change throughout your time as a student?   At first, I saw higher education as a step towards an independent life and a successful career. I really loved learning about the world, and it was so cool how the classes complemented each other — topics in my marketing classes would apply to the fashion classes, for example.  

Fifteen years later, after working professionally and then teaching, I saw higher education as a way to guide me in analyzing and understanding phenomena around me. When I learned about cultural anthropology, a light bulb went off in my head, as I had discovered a lens, a paradigm, that I could relate to. As I advanced to the doctoral level, I realized that higher education could enable me to contribute knowledge to the field in a way larger than myself.

What made you want to pursue graduate studies and a faculty position?
When I came back from Morocco, I had a husband who didn’t speak English and a three-year-old son. Professional fashion design work would have taken me to large metropolitan areas where I would probably not see my family much. I saw an ad for a teaching position, applied, and was hired. Being ambitious, I soon realized that to advance, for employment stability and for economic prosperity I needed to get my master’s and doctoral degrees. 

What do you wish more people understood about being a first-generation college student?
I wish people understood that being a first-generation college student has one entering a world that parents do not understand. Nearly all the academic and career advice, mentoring, and direction for me came from siblings, in-laws, professors, and friends. My parents had no points of reference, and my chosen field was also very foreign to them. 

What do you remember being the biggest adjustment to college life, especially as an undergraduate?
Being away from home, especially my mom. Another was negotiating the freedom in a wise way.

What’s your favorite part about being on a university campus?
Feeling the collective energy of different people and perspectives.