In America, we like to believe everyone starts out with equal access to the resources required to be successful, a person’s positive lifetime outcomes are strictly dependent on how hard they work to get to where they want to be, and that the same opportunities are available to all of us. Scholarly research demonstrates this is not true, and that socioeconomic status is dependent on a number of factors, some specific to human agency and many others socially structured and beyond our control.

Higher education is commonly viewed as the great equalizer, and a means to upward social mobility. Recognizing the intersection of a myriad of factors that inform student learning and academic engagement is critical to crafting educational experiences that meet the needs of all students. Applied learning opportunities are one way for students to build valuable capital that allows them access to rewarding professional lives and greater income potential than that which is predicted by family socioeconomic status and which may have otherwise been unavailable to them. This session will improve understanding of how perceived bias is conveyed through student service delivery, meetings with students, classroom experiences, and in all situations where we communicate with students and expect them to engage, and will lead to greater self-awareness of how we position ourselves to our students, and prepare our students for their academic experiences.