First-generation success

The First-Generation College Celebration (FGCC) is held annually across the country on Nov. 8 to raise awareness of first-generation students and commemorate the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Six years after starting college, only 24% of first-generation students nationwide earn a bachelor's degree, compared to 59% of continuing-generation students, according to FirstGen Forward.

University of Delaware alumna Tiffany Carro is among the 24% of first-generation college graduates. Today, she is the director of global regulatory sciences in the research and development organization for FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company with a research and technology center in Newark, Delaware. Carro also sits on the external advisory board of The Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) at UD.

"Underrepresented minority women receive less than 7% of doctorate degrees in STEM in the US," Carro said, citing a 2023 article from Pew Research Center. "Hispanic/Latina women in STEM represent less than 5% of STEM undergraduate degrees, but they have had the fastest growth in advanced degrees by race and ethnicity."

Carro is an advocate for underrepresented communities in the STEM field. She volunteers her time to mentor the next generation of scientists.

"I had the advantage of a supportive family when I started college in 2000," Carro said. "Even still, it would have been unlikely for me to obtain an advanced degree at the time - a woman, first-generation Hispanic college student, and pursuing a STEM major? I benefited from professors and mentors who invested in me at all levels of my education."

Carro found those mentors at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), where she earned a bachelor's degree in animal science and agricultural education in 2004 and a master's degree in animal science in 2007. She then earned a doctorate in environmental toxicology from the University of Maryland.