Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, Jennifer Morton looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to accomplish their educational goals.

This event is presented by The Humanities Institute and the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning, and will take place at the University Center, Bhojwani Room on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 from 4:00pm to 5:30pm with a reception to follow from 5:30-6:30pm.

In-Person attendance

Virtual attendance

Jennifer Morton is Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the Center for Ethics and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her areas of research are philosophy of action, moral philosophy, philosophy of education, and political philosophy, and her work has been featured in The Atlantic, Inside Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Nation, New York Daily News, Times Higher Education, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Public Books , and Vox. Her book Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility (Princeton University Press, 2020) was awarded the Frederic W. Ness Book Award by the Association of American Colleges, and Universities.

Jody Greene is the founding Director of the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning (CITL), UCSC’s first Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, as well as Special Advisor to the CP/EVC for Educational Equity and Academic Success. Their research interests include seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British literature; non-dualist Western philosophy, especially the work of Spivak, Derrida, and Nancy; human rights and international law; queer studies; and the history of literary discourse and literary institutions. They have served as Professor of Literature, Feminist Studies, and the History of Consciousness at UCSC. They are the recipient of the UCSC Humanities Division John Dizikes Teaching Award (2008), the Disability Resource Center Champion of Change Award (2018), and, twice, of the UCSC Academic Senate Excellence in Teaching Award (2001, 2014).