Student-Faculty Relationships and Intellectual Growth among Transfer Students

Student–faculty Interactions: Dynamics and Determinants

“…Our results suggest that intellectual growth may be limited by students' lack of an active interest in learning and discovery for their own sake. Moreover, our observed lack of intellectually meaningful interactions between faculty and students is troubling given that existing quantitative studies have highlighted the importance of quality over quantity of interactions (Pascarella and Terenzini 1980;Endo and Harpel 1982;Terenzini et al 1984;Volkwein et al 1986). Interactions that have a substantive focus are thought to have a greater impact on students than interactions of a purely social nature.…”

“…Students surveyed by Terenzini and Wright (1987) reported that they interacted with faculty five to seven times per year on average for academic purposes, and one and a half to slightly over two times per year on average for non-academic purposes. Volkwein et al (1986) reported slightly higher figures for transfer students. In a study of community STUDENT-FACULTY INTERACTIONS college students, Fusani (1994) found that 23 percent of students surveyed had no out-of-class interactions with an instructor; 50 percent of students surveyed had less than three contacts.…”

“…It is also possible that interactions between RAs and their faculty mentors are largely social in nature rather than academically oriented, and that these interactions have less of an impact on students as a result. Both Volkwein et al (1986) and Kuh and Hu (2001) suggested that involvement of faculty in non-academic student life activities has limited developmental impact on students. Likewise, Anaya and Cole (2001) found little evidence of a relationship between informal contact with faculty and academic achievement.…”

“…The findings also indicated that the quality of contact between faculty and students has greater influence than the frequency with which interactions occur. Similarly, Volkwein et al (1986) found that the frequency of contact between faculty and transfer students is not significantly related to intellectual development. Their results suggested rather, that students' perceptions of the quality and strength of their relationships with faculty explain intellectual growth.…”

“…In particular, Snow (1973) found that, even among juniors and seniors, almost a third of students reported no ''significant'' contact with faculty members in their respective majors. 2 Snow's three-decadeold finding appears still to be the norm, as a number of more recent contributions likewise document limited interactions between students and faculty outside of the classroom (Volkwein et al 1986;Terenzini and Wright 1987;Fusani 1994;Jaasma and Koper 1999;Hagedorn et al 2000;Kuh and Hu 2001;Nadler and Nadler 2001). The nature of interactions is also limited, with interactions lasting only briefly (Jaasma and Koper 1999;Nadler and Nadler 2001), and centering primarily on specific course-related issues (Fusani 1994;Anaya and Cole 2001).…”