This study examined whether the effects of student-faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes-i.e., college GPA, degree aspiration, integration, critical thinking and communication, cultural appreciation and social awareness, and satisfaction with college experience-vary by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status. The study utilized data on 58,281 students who participated in the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). The findings reveal differences in the frequency of student-faculty interaction across student gender, race, social class and first-generation status, and differences in the effects of student-faculty interaction (i.e., conditional effects) that depended on each of these factors except first-generation status. The findings provide implications for educational practice on how to maximize the educational efficacy of student-faculty interaction by minimizing the gender, race, social class, and first-generation differences associated with it.Keywords Student-faculty interaction Á Research university Á Conditional effects Á Gender Á Race Á Social class Á First-generationInteracting with faculty-whether in the classroom, the laboratory, office hours, or other venue-is one of the key college experiences associated with student development. Positive and close interactions between undergraduates and their professors precipitate students' favorable educational experiences as well as their greater academic and personal development (Lau 2003;Pascarella and Terenzini 2005). Two higher education studies, Pascarella (1980) and Pascarella and Terenzini (2005), provide a comprehensive and 123Res High Educ (2009) 50:437-459 DOI 10.1007 critical literature review on student-faculty interaction and its relationship with college outcomes. Pascarella (1980) summarizes a number of studies, conducted prior to 1980, on the effects of informal (out-of-class) student-faculty interaction on various college student outcomes that are grouped into five categories: career plans and educational aspirations, satisfaction with college, intellectual and personal development, academic achievement, and college persistence. Based on his intensive analysis of the literature, Pascarella suggests that statistically significant positive associations exist between student contact with faculty and these five categories. He maintains that these associations are valid even after controlling for a broad range of student input characteristics and, in a few studies, other college experiences. In How College Affects Students, Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) reinforce Pascarella's early findings by including formal (in-class) student-faculty interaction, as well as the informal (out-of-class) interaction, and by adding a number of studies from the 1980s through 2000s. In line with Pascarella (1980), they demonstrate that the amount and quality of student-faculty interaction positively affect various student outcomes, including subject matter competence, cognitive skills and i...

No abstract

This study examined whether the impact of student-faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes—including academic achievement, goals, self-confidence, well-being, and attitudes—differed for women and men. The data were drawn from a national longitudinal sample of college students (N = 17,637) who were surveyed upon entry to college in 1994 and four years later in 1998. Results indicate that although many commonalities exist in how student-faculty interaction relates to college outcomes for women and men, differential effects based on gender were observed across a number of domains.

The authors summarize common factors that contribute to women's selection of and persistence in STEM majors. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the utility of this information for institutional researchers and how they might further study issues of gender and STEM on their own campuses.

This chapter explores civic commitment among college students and offers strategies for how colleges can best prepare students for a life as a caring and involved citizen.